VIDEO POKER

Using Strategy Cards

Think of the three video poker games you play most often. For each of them, ask yourself the following:

a. What is your accuracy level when you do not use a strategy card?

b. What is your accuracy level when you DO use a strategy card?

c. How frequently do you use a strategy card?

The only way you can answer the first two questions is to test yourself on 'Video Poker for Winners' or other computer software. If making money is your goal, you should at least have an idea of how accurately you play.

My personal standards are that I don't play a game unless I can play at at least the 99.95% accuracy level using a strategy card. For games I play regularly, I practice until I play at that level without using a card. For games I only play occasionally, if I play at less than 99.5% accuracy without a card, I make sure I practice before I go play --- and I make sure I take the card with me. (The 99.95% standard is likely unobtainable for progressives --- especially those where more than one progressive is simultaneously in effect.)

At a minimum, you have to practice enough with a strategy card to be comfortable with it. Can you properly locate where each of the 3-card straight flushes is on the card? In games where you get your money back for a pair of jacks, queens, kings, and aces, there are eight separate categories for 3-card straight flushes. (There are nine categories on the cards that consider 'A23', 'A24', 'A25', 'A34', 'A35', and 'A45' to be a separate category from 'KT9', 'QT8', 'Q98', 'JT7', 'J97', and 'J87').

Depending on the game and depending on the whether it's a simplified strategy or not, usually these straight flushes categories are combined into fewer than eight or nine rules. But the way they are grouped in Double Bonus is different from the way they are grouped in Double Double Bonus, which is different than the way they are grouped in Triple Double Bonus. If you're trying to figure this out "on the fly," it's easy to get confused.

How much you need to practice with a strategy card before you actually it in a casino depends on how much you plan to play the game, how much time you have to study, and how much you like to study.

I'm going to be playing NSU Deuces Wild about 300 hours in 2009, and have played the game perhaps 3,000 hours lifetime to date. It makes sense for me to have the game mastered, simply because I play it so much. On the other hand, I've played 8/5 Bonus Poker Multi Strike perhaps 60 hours lifetime, spread out over six monthly sessions. I'm still learning that game and I forget some of the nuances from month to month. So even though I've probably studied that game more hours than I've actually played it, before I play next month I'll review/practice at least another hour beforehand.

Having a lifestyle that allows me to spend so much time on this is a luxury that many others don't share. Many people work 40 or more hours a week and time to practice is not that plentiful. If your "regular job" pays you well, spending one or two hours practicing in order to make a few extra dollars gambling (or lose a few dollars less) may not be a good investment at all.

The player who only gets to play two weekends a year is in quite a different situation. They likely have forgotten a number of plays in the six months since they last played. Few players have the type of intelligence that allows them to keep video poker strategies memorized at a high level when they haven't played for a long time.

There is also the matter of whether or not you enjoy studying the game. For me learning a new game is as enjoyable as reading a good book --- and I love to read. For others, studying is a tedious chore. There is no doubt that those who enjoy the studying process will do it more and have better results on average than those who don't.

For some people pulling out a strategy card is a burdensome chore. They might have it in their pocket but rarely pull it out. If I were standing over their shoulder and insisted they pull it out and consult it, they'd sigh mightily before complying. And the ones who feel this way will often misread the hand or the card and still come up with the wrong answer.