THE EVOLUTION OF VIDEO POKER
As traditional full-pay video poker continues to become more of a rare find, IGT’s specialty games provide a new haven
By Frank Legato
At G2E, /GT unveiled its latest specialty video poker game, Wheel of Fortune Video Poker. This exciting new addition lets players solve word puzzles inspired by the iconic TV game show for an extra five credits per hand, adding an engaging twist to traditional video poker. »
Few casino games have generated a following as dedicated as video poker. Beginning in the early 1980s, the game, developed by IGT founder Si Redd in the 1970s, built a community of devoted players who realize that, with expert strategy, the house edge can be all but eliminated.
Games with zero or near-zero house edge, though, are available only with the best pay tables. The video poker community learned early on how to spot those games through the single-coin payouts on certain hands, beginning with the original video poker game, Jacks or Better. Advantage players knew to look for the “9/6” pay schedule on that game -9-for-1 on the full house and 6-for-1 on the flush.
That version of Jacks or Better returns 99.54 percent of wagers over time. Soon, all the Bonus Poker genres, starting with the basic 8/5 game, offered what became known as “full-pay” games. A few games, notably the full-pay version of Deuces Wild, were actually player-advantage games, with a return-to-player exceeding 100 percent with perfect strategy.
For decades, advantage players knew the casinos in Nevada and Atlantic City where they could find ample quantities of full-pay video poker. For those casinos, consistent wins by a few players were more than offset by scores of players who fancied themselves experts but actually were less than proficient at the correct strategy. Moreover, video poker enthusiasts were likely to bring spouses and friends with them to the casinos who flocked to the slot machines-the games with the highest house edge.
For the past 15-odd years, though, most casinos have tightened up the percentages on video poker. Atlantic City is a prime example. Two decades ago, casinos like the old Claridge, Trump World’s Fair and Borgata catered to video poker players with rows and rows of full-pay games. Today, good luck finding any.
In fact, the contraction of video poker in Atlantic City continues to this day. Only months ago, Sally’s removed the few full-pay machines it had left on the main floor. Next door at Caesars, a similar dumbing-down of video poker occurred. During a two-day stay in early November, I could find only two six-machine carousels with full-pay Jacks and Bonus Poker, and those only in dollar-and-above denominations. The rest offered 7/5 Jacks and 6/5 Bonus Poker-with returns that are paltry compared to the full-pay versions.
Nevada is not as bad. Locals casinos like the South Point and Green Valley Ranch still offer decent video poker pay schedules, as do a few in Reno.
Personally, I like to play the classic single-hand games, which have yielded much floor space to Triple Play, Five Play and other multi-hand games. However, within those multi-hand machines, you will find games that have pumped new life into the video poker genre.
Several years ago, IGT-still the dominant supplier, and sole innovator, in video poker-began launching specialty video poker games offering a variety of bonus features. The good news is that bonuses from multipliers to second-screen bonuses and more are offered without altering the main pay schedules.
This is because the bonuses are active only with what amounts to an ante wager-six or 10 credits per hand instead of the normal five-credit hand. Thus, advantage players can still hunt for those full-pay schedules, and experience a fresh play experience without giving up the basic low house edge.
Every year at the big Global Gaming Expo trade show, IGT launches new specialty video poker games, and this year was no exception. Prominent at the show was the new Wheel of Fortune Video Poker. For an extra five credits per hand, players randomly are awarded letters to solve the word puzzle, re-created from the famous TV game show.
With the bonus bet made, every dealt winning hand may add a letter to the puzzle board or solve the puzzle, which will activate a spin of the bonus wheel. The extra bet also jacks up the value of a dealt royal flush to more than double the usual pay, offering players 30,000, 50,000 or 100,000 credits for a royal flush on all hands in the Triple Play, Five Play or Ten Play versions, respectively.
Other new video poker games offer innovative ways to secure awards beyond the normal hand payoffs. In 5 Card Plus 2 Poker, there is a five card pay table and a seven-card pay table. With the extra five-credit bet made, every winning hand has a one-in-three chance of adding two extra cards to pay off on the seven-card table as well.
Major Multipliers Poker adds random multipliers of up to 1OOX on various pay categories when dealt Jacks-or-better, two-pair or three-of a-kind hands. It’s offered in Triple Play, Five Play and Ten Play versions.
On Pick-A-Multiplier Poker, for a 10-credit-per-hand bet, a multiplier of 2X to 1OX is added to winning hands. The innovative twist on this game is that the player gets to choose their multiplier, giving poker players an added level of interaction.
In the new Wild! Wild! Wild! Poker title, for the extra wager, one, two or three wild cards are added to every other hand, on average, making it easier to complete winning hands.
On the PeakBarTop is a new game set called Extra Hot Poker. One of the many multi-hand poker games in this set is called Lucky Suit, where the player picks a lucky suit, and whenever the first card dealt is in that suit, a multiplier is added to any win.
These specialty games, of course, are available to casinos in a variety of pay-table setups, so video poker enthusiasts will still have to scope out their favorite casinos and “treasure-hunt” for the best pay schedules.
But the new specialty games almost make up for the fact that fewer and fewer casinos are now offering the full-pay versions of traditional video poker.
Almost. I’ll still take a single-hand, full-pay Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker game any day of the week.
Here’s hoping those games don’t disappear altogether.
