Page 12 - Jackpot Magazine Tunica ~ April, 2022

PLAY TO WIN
Making mistakes means losing more money
“I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Taking time to focus while playing and preparing a strategy can pay off when it comes to video poker and other casino games. At an area casino on a busy Friday night, I happened to hear a husband talking to his wife. She was seated at a video poker machine just two machines down from me. The husband came over lamenting about the sticky buttons on the machine he was playing.
“I know I had four to the flush,” he said. “I held all four and then hit draw.
When I got the fifth card for my
flush and nothing happened, I
realized only three of the cards held. One of the buttons kept sticking. Why can’t the casino keep the buttons clean?”
While I felt for the guy — I
think we’ve all been there — the
fault ultimately lies with him. Sure,
the casino has a responsibility
to keep the machines in top
working order, but it is up to each player to know what was held and what wasn’t before hitting the draw button. A lack of attention to such details is among the notable mistakes that video poker players make, wrote gaming expert Henry Tamburin in a past column for Jackpot!
The author of many best-selling books on gambling, including Blackjack: Take the Money and Run, Tamburin said the more mistakes you make, the more money you will lose. Good advice. Tamburin listed several mistakes, including a biggie: not examining the pay table before playing. He wrote:
Not Examining the Pay Table
Not doing this results in playing the wrong game. Each video poker game
usually has different pay
tables. It’s important to
know which pay table
has the highest return
(for perfect play). The
information you need to determine the theoretical return for a game is staring at you on the face of the machine. (i.e., the pay table).
If you want to play Jacks or Better, you should know that a pay table that pays 9 coins for a full house (per coin played) and 6 coins for a flush has a higher theoretical return than a Jacks or Better game that pays
only 8 and 5 coins, respectively, for the full house and flush.
In fact, you’ll often find different pay tables for the same game in a casino and the casino bosses aren’t going to take you by the hand and
show you the machines with the better pay tables (that’s your responsibility
to figure out).
Using Incorrect Playing Strategies
For many hands dealt to players, which cards to hold is a no brainer. But there are other hands where the correct hold is not so obvious, and guessing and ending up making the wrong hold can be a costly mistake. Where many players err is they use the same playing strategy regardless of the game they are playing. That’s a big mistake. With few exceptions, every video poker game has an optimum playing strategy associated with it (depending on the pay table). So think twice about switching games to “change your luck” because unless you know the correct playing strategy for the new game, you will do more harm than good.
Not Practicing the Strategy
The easiest way to master a playing
strategy is to practice at home on your computer using a video poker strategy trainer. You can play any number of video
poker games with them, and as you play, the software will alert you when you make a playing mistake and then show you the correct play. The software will also keep track of your playing accuracy.
You shouldn’t even think of playing video poker in a casino until you can confidently play with over 95 percent accuracy (ideally 99 percent, which is not difficult to achieve using the software).
Playing High Variance Games
Variance is a fancy mathematical term that describes the swings in your bankroll that occur when you play. Most players unknowingly play video poker games with a high variance, which results in a high risk of going broke because they don’t have enough bankroll to play these games. Until you build up your bankroll, I strongly suggest you play low variance games (like Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker) rather than the higher variance games (like many of the bonus games that pay more for certain four- of-a-kind hands).
Not Concentrating When You Play
Most video poker players play quickly (usually 500 to 700 hands per hour), and they don’t always concentrate on every hand — sometimes talking to another player or eyeing the attractive cocktail servers. By not staying focused on every hand to determine the best hold options, players often misplay their hands. Also, drinking too many of the free alcoholic beverages when you play can also impair your concentration so watch the drinks.
Do you have a question on the best way to play to win? Email jackpotmagazine@gmail.com.
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JACKPOT! MAGAZINE April 2022
THE SOUTH’S LARGEST GUIDE TO GAMING & FUN • www.jackpotmagazine.com