Recognizing a strong poker game and pay table is half the battle in video poker. You will do better in the long run on a 9-6 Jacks or better game, paying 9-for-1 on full houses and 6-for-1 on flushes, than you will on an 8-5 game, with reduced full house and flush payoffs. But once you’ve chosen your game, whether online or in a brick and mortar casino, you still have to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.

Let’s try five sample hands for this 9-6 Jacks or better Q&A.
For each hand below, choose the best play in 9-6 Jacks or Better:

1) You’re dealt Queen of spades, 8 of hearts, 6 of diamonds, 3 of spades and 3 of clubs:
         A. Hold the pair of  3s.
         B. Hold the  Queen.

Answer 1) A. Most inexperienced video poker players undervalue low pairs. Match one card on the draw, and you have three of a kind. A low pair is a good start toward two pair, even full houses and four of a kind. The expected value, or EV, of the low pair here is 4.1, meaning that in the long run; making this play will bring us an average of 4.1 coins in return for every five coins we wager. That’s far better than the 2.4 EV on holding the Queen. Holding the Queen by itself gives you four shots at a high pair for a 1-for-1 payback, but most of your winners will be those single pairs. You’ll get more multiple-coin winners by holding the low pair instead. (more…)

Many viewers decide to try live casino poker rooms after watching it played on TV. Only to find out what they think they learned from TV is not really what they need to know to win poker in a live game or in an online casino poker room.
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TV Educated Poker Players (TVEPPs) who have gained all their poker knowledge by watching broadcasts of the World Poker Tour or other televised tournaments are not going to be very successful if they do not get some additional education from other sources.  These can include reading books, magazines, and articles on the Internet about poker strategy.

Watching a one or two hour television broadcast of a poker tournament is akin two watching the highlight films of a championship boxing event. You get to see the knockout but you fail to see the grueling sparing that led up to the final blow. The TV tournaments have been edited down to the most entertaining and exciting hands. You will see the hands where a player bluffs another player out of a big pot or one where an all in player catches a miracle card on the river to knock out his opponent after shoving all their chips into the pot. (more…)

I am sure that many video poker players believe, as I do, that the straight flush hand does not receive the respect and certainly not the higher payout it deserves. During our expeditions online and off to search for full-pay video poker strategies, we scan many pay schedules. You can always count on one common denominator and that’s the straight flush payout of 250 credits.

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Finally, we arrive at All American Video Poker where the generous 1000 credit payout for a straight flush gets our attention.
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Another attention-grabber of All American is that ALL straights, flushes and full houses pay 40 credits, unlike any other VP slot.  The overall average payout for American Poker is 100.72% further highlighting the value of this game.

All American pay schedules may also be offered under the names of Gator Bonus Poker and Draw Deluxe.

I have provided an All American pay-schedule illustration below.

Overall Average Payback = 100.72%.

Strategy: To begin–do not and I repeat, do not play this game with the same Jacks+ strategy that you have wisely memorized, because you will reduce the overall average payback to 97%.

Optimum strategy is involved and I have simplified this learning curve by suggesting a few simple questions you should ask before determining hold and discard decisions based on this particular pay schedule. All pat hands dealt are, of course, held.

Is there four parts of a Royal?

Is there four parts of a straight flush?

Is there a four-card flush?

Is there a four-card outside straight?

Is there a four-card inside straight?

Is there a 3-card straight flush with only one gap? (E.g., 5, 6, 7, 9)

Is there a three card Royal?

Are there three cards of the same suit?

Are there three unsuited high cards (Jacks+) of a straight?

Is there a two card Royal?

Is there two pairs? (Hold both for possible full house)

Is there one pair?

You will discover that you seldom throw away all five dealt cards.

Lastly, accuracy counts more than speed here, especially for a beginner.

Gayle Mitchell

This article is a selection of Slots Questions and Comments received.

3 Readers share their slot-playing advice:
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Gayle:  I have been an avid slot player for over ten years now and have had my share of ups and downs as any player would.

I came across some video-slots that range from five times pay to red white and blue to double double Diamond and so forth. I decided to try the 10 X pay after watching people hit 1000 -2000 coin hits all over the place.

I put 20 dollars in then turned my attention to the large TV screens where you may sometimes find more entertainment than losing your money when to my surprise I turned around to see 10x/10x/ triple bar–9000 coins and a $2,250 jackpot.

I was very excited about my 20-dollar investment. Since then I have gone back twice and seen tons of jackpots hit from $800-$25,000.

Maybe the Indian casinos have heard about the complaints of unfair play and adjusted the machines a little for a higher payout. What do you think? Scott.

Scott: Congrats on your win! I, too would like to think that Indian casinos are becoming generous, but I have my reservations. Oops, bad pun.  Gayle.

Gayle: Below is a basic explanation of that busy little drone, RNG.

RNG Random Number Generator: No matter what type of machine you play, video poker, games within games, 3-reel slots or multi-line multi-coin with bonus play, they all have outcomes selected by the RNG the instant the reels are engaged.

Even at the bonus round the outcome is pre-determined, the selections you make in the bonus rounds are also pre-determined. The RNG is loaded with number selections, millions of number selections, which in turn are coupled with outcomes. Each number selection has a specific outcome, for example if the RNG stops on 2765598 it might represent three cherries or it might represent the progressive jackpot. 

Whatever it represents is what you will see on the win line.  RNG programmers can program 30% of the numbers to represent a no win combination.  If there are six million numbers to choose from, 1,800,000 will be no win outcomes or on average three out of ten spins will be non-winners.

Of the 70% remaining, the distribution of outcomes would be greatest for the least prize, probably 1 cherry, and progressively less as the prizes became larger. As you can see from this schedule, jackpots would indeed be rare.

The fact that only 30 percent of the numbers are programmed as non winners does not mean that you will win 7 times out of ten, you could go 40 or 50 times without a win. 

On average, if you play long enough, the outcomes will be 3 no wins out of ten spins.

No matter how much you may know about the inner workings of the slot machine, outcomes are randomly chosen in microseconds. You get what the RNG selects and that is made randomly, so it’s a non-winning spin or a jackpot or anything in between.

Spin the reels and hope for the best.  Jeff

Jeff: Thanks for your explanation. I would add that the RNG continues to make selections even when the machine is idle. Gayle.

Gayle: I like reading about slot observations, but …they are just observations and may or may not hold up as they come from their own personal perspectives.

Most people violate the reality of slots.  RNG (random number generator), placing a predetermined stop on your losses on a machine and betting cycle, carefully reading the payoff schedule before playing, getting third party objective advice as in your books regarding best slot strategies and machines, knowing when to quit when you’re ahead and seeking other diversions while at the casino.

I go to Las Vegas every other month and love it but I’m realistic regarding winning and losing.  There is much to see and do and having fun without mortgaging the house.

One evening my sister and I were playing at New York/New York. There was a gentleman who carefully eyed the payoffs on a multi-play video slot machine.  He put $100 into a 5-cent machine.  He played the max 90 coins and within minutes, he hit a good bonus that more than doubled his winnings. Next, he simply cashed out and left. My kind of guy and I hope to try that interesting strategy on my next trip. Good luck to all…we need it! Bill

Bill: Thanks for the simple basics of slots strategy; however, I would add choosing the ‘right’ types of slots to your list. Gayle

Gayle Mitchell’s website is: www.GamblingTeachers.com

This article describes the growing list of Video Poker -  VP versions available at land based casinos and best online casinos. There is no shortage of innovative schedules and options in VP land.

How to Play Video Poker

Ten VP versions available in online casinos with a short description follow: 

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1) Draw 6 Poker: The unusual twist here is that your get three extra cards, not two when you are dealt 3 of a kind.

2) Going for Fours: With a dealt 3 of a kind, you decide whether to pay additional coins to draw more cards. The amount of your bet is determined by the value of the possible 4 of a kind.

3) Back It Up Poker. When you have four of a kind or a straight flush in one hand, the next hand will payout fives times the normal credits if you repeat. (more…)

Elimination blackjack is a new and exciting format for blackjack tournaments.

Why a new format for blackjack tournaments? Even though traditional blackjack tournaments have been popular for quite some time, the few that were televised was simply too boring for viewers. The reason is that the best strategy in traditional blackjack tournaments is to bet conservatively for the majority of the hands in a round and then make your move over the course of the final five hands. This is a good playing strategy but boring for viewers.

There are a few ways to help you win at blackjack.

The New Face of Gambling?

Online Casinos & Televised Poker Tournaments

Russ Hamilton, the creator is one of the world’s best poker players. He won the World Series of Poker in 1994. and also played in many televised poker tournaments. Televised poker tournaments are a hot commodity with viewers because players can bluff, they can see the player’s hidden cards, players can go all-in and get eliminated if they lose, and many players have become celebrities and house-hold names with the general public. Hamilton wanted to inject these same elements into blackjack tournaments to make them more exciting for viewers. He succeeded with his trademarked elimination blackjack format, which was launched with the Ultimate Blackjack Tour.

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In elimination tournaments, players are staked with a $25,000 playing bankroll. Each table has 6-7 players and the minimum bet is $1,000 and the maximum bet is $25,000.

A maximum of 30 hands are played and the top one or two players with the most chips at the end of the round advance to the next round to play other table winners. The big change is the elimination hands, which are hands number 8, 16, and 25. The player with the lowest chip count on each of these designated elimination hands is eliminated from the game. It doesn’t matter how many chips you’ve won; if you are low man, you are out.

To add the element of bluffing, each player is given one secret-bet and action card that can be used at any time during the round. When a player wants to conceal how much he wants to bet on his hand, the player can write the amount of his bet on a card which is placed in the betting spot and not revealed to other players until after all the players and the dealer complete their hands.

Players are only given one opportunity to make a secret bet in a round so they have to pick the best time to use it (late in the round is best). If a player decides to make a secret bet, he can also conceal whether he intends to surrender, stand or the amount of his double down wager. These twists allow players to often bluff their opponents into thinking they are going to bet big when they bet small, or vice versa.

The third major change that was made to the televised UBT matches is to reveal the dealer’s hole card to viewers. Viewers know what the dealer has, but  players do not.

One other twist introduced to elimination blackjack tournaments is all the double down cards are dealt faced down and not revealed until after all the players have completed playing their hands. If a player who acts before you decides to double down on a 12, you don’t know whether or not he busted because the double down card is not revealed.

This makes for some very interesting play.

The rest of the playing rules are standard: 6-decks of cards are used, dealer must hit soft 17, players can double on any two cards, doubling-down is allowed after pair splitting, and you can split pairs up to three times (except aces – you can’t resplit them). Also the rules allow players to surrender their hands, which is another element which makes for some exciting play. And like traditional tournaments, the betting order rotates from one hand to the next.

Continued in Part 2.

Henry Tamburin is the publisher of Blackjack Insider at www.bjinsider.com

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Baccarat is an easy game to learn and the house edge is under 1.5%. If you like blackjack, you will probably like baccarat, because the two games are similar. Many games like this are being picked up by online casinos. Most of the best online casinos offer both baccarat and blackjack games. In fact, baccarat is picking up so fast that it may soon become one of the best online casino games.

How to Play Baccarat

Baccarat is a card game that is dealt from a shoe. The shoe holds eight decks of cards. In each game, the player and the banker are each dealt a hand of two cards. 

You bet on either of the two hands to win which means coming closest to a value of nine, and not over. (more…)

One of the newest casino online games offered by online casinos is video poker. Let’s take a look at one of the most popular Video Poker - VP versions–Deuces Wild. 

Video Poker Rules

Every 5000 hands of cycled play, on average, will produce four Deuces—a secondary jackpot to the Royal Flush.

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Texas Holdem is on of the most popular forms of Poker. There are several actions in a poker game. Knowing when to check, fold, call, or bet is the difference between wining at texas holdem poker or losing. A good player can win in a back room, or one of the best online casinos in the world.

This video offers a basic understanding of Texas Holdem whether you want to play in a live casino, an online casino, or when playing video poker.

Enjoy - and let us know what you think of this video.