Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Ocean
Ok complete newb on video poker and some of this stuff is making my head spin. I've downloaded the iPhone app on and been playing(sometimes the correct plays aren't fun). Ok what to look for in machines when playing JoB. Not one that brings a huge roll, maybe $400 a session or so. Can you expect to get some decent play with that on quarter machines playing optimal strategy? Just looking for something different to play to get some rewards points in between poker and craps. Winning is nice but on my trips to Vegas just looking to get some decent playing time in and suck some free drinks and not be all serious at poker table.
First off, congrats on taking up VP without the goal of getting rich quick. That ship has sailed and now the best you can hope for is exactly what you are looking for. Entrainment, free drinks, a decent house edge, etc...
$400 is more than enough for JoB at this level. Unless you are planning on playing more than a few hours you should never go bust. I personally would start with a $20 or $100 bill, and reload if needed. After a few sessions, you will figure out how long your money will last on average, and adjust accordingly.
There are really only 2 important things you need to know at this point.
First is perfect strategy which it sounds like you are learning. If you haven't already, memorize this
simple strategy from Wizard of Odds. The name doesn't lie, it is very simple and even The Wizard admits you don't really need to learn "perfect" strategy. If you have never visited this site, go ahead and read up on everything you can. It has a nice VP section and is a great source for info on all gambling games.
Also keep playing with that program (I assume it is telling you the correct plays if you mess up) until you can play a few hundred hands without mistakes.
The 2nd thing you need to know is how to read the pay tables. When you walk up to a VP machine it will list the payout for every possible hand. Like this:
The thing about VP is that these payouts can be changed by the casino, most of the time for the worst. So you have to be able to spot when a paytable is good, and when it is horrible. Lucky for us it is always right there in front of us to figure out. Also, JoB makes this incredibly easy for us. The only thing the casino will usually change on JoB are the payouts for a Full house and flush, and obviously the lower they make them the less money we get payed when we hit it.
As you can see in the picture above, a full house pays 9 and a flush pays 6 with one credit bet on this machine. So we would call this game 9/6 JoB. We still always play 5 credits, this just makes it easier on us rather than saying (or looking for) 45/30 JoB. 9/6 the best pay table you will find and exactly what you are looking for.
However, when you go sit at a casino bar on the strip that is owned by a greedy corporation, you will most likely see that it pays differently. Now a full house only pays 6 and a flush only pays 5 (so we call it 6/5 JoB).
Below I listed the most common games you will find and what they pay back. Its easy to see how much of a difference the best vs the worst game is, and how its vital to be able to tell the difference.
Full house/Flush - Payback %
9/6 - 99.5%
9/5 - 98.4%
8/6 - 98.3%
8/5 - 97.2%
7/5 - 96.1%
6/5 - 94.9%
Obviously casinos would rather put machines that pay back 94% in rather than machines that pay back 99%, so they can be quite hard to find if the casino hasn't already removed them completely. However once you understand the difference you can use sites like
VpFree2 to save you some time.
Sorry this got a bit long, I tried to break it down the best I could but hopefully I didn't just confused you more.