Review of Player Power Poker
The game involves a bet each on the outcome of your 3, 4, and 5 card hands. To start the game the dealer deals four cards to each player and exposes the top card whcih is called a "power card". The players then check their three "hole" cards with the goal of making the best 3 card poker hand. The player then has a decision to make: He can either chose to ignore the power card and play his 3 card hand against the dealers 4 cards to win 3:2 on the 3 card bet, or he can opt to use the power card and settle for a 1:2 payout if he beats the dealer. For example if my 3 card hand is Ks Kh 4h and the power card is Ah it might be a difficult decision. A pair of kings is a pretty good hand, do I gamble that its good enough for a larger payout or do I take the safer route of playing the flush and settling for a smaller win? (answer: play the kings). The dealer then turns over his own 4 card hand and settles 3 card poker wagers before discarding his hand. He then exposes a community card and players may use all 5 players cards to form the best 4 card poker hand that is paid against a paytable. The dealer exposes a final community card and repeats the process to settle 5 card bets.
The 4 and 5 card bets carry a higher house edge and are played against a paytable so there is no decision making there, just hope that the next card helps your hand. These were fine bets but there is not much to write about, either the player gets good cards or he doesn't. The game is most interesting when you have to make a strategic decision is on the 3 card hand. When I arrived there were several other older ladies who were regulars and appeared to be enjoying the game and played using a surprisingly good strategy though when they errored they tended to play it too safe. I played $10-$20 on the 3 card bet and $2 each on the 4 and 5 card bets. My first hand was a straight flush in the 3 card hand without using the power card for a nice 3:2 payoff. Unfortunately the hand failed to improve so I lost the 4 and 5 card bets. The dealer then went on a bit of a run with a lot of straights and flushes so I took a bit of a beating, but it was nice that I could lose the 3 card bet and still recoup some loses by making 2 pairs on the later bets.
After losing my $100 buy in I decided to make 1 big bet. I bought in for another $80 and bet $70 on the 3 card hand and $5 each on the 4 and 5 card bets. My hand was A Q 4 with a power card of 9 (rainbow), a pretty weak hand in this game. The strategy was obviously to only use the 3 cards which I did, and the dealer luckily only had a King high so I won the 3:2 on my bet and left about even for the day.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:
Most games also are played either against the dealer or against a paytable, in this game it is a bit of both and the transition between the two could be a bit more elegant. I am not sure how to totally describe my thoughts here but it is just a little wierd when the dealer discards his hand and the game is only 1/3 of the way over. This is a new game and I suspect that this will go more smoothly once the dealers have some experience with the game. Inherent to the game is that the player must transition from "beat the dealer" mindset to "get a great hand" mindset, and I think that most gamblers prefer one mindset or the other. Very few gamblers play both baccarat and slot machines, but this game kind of forces you to do both.
It would be nice if there was some kind of bonus for getting a premium 3 card hand, similar to the ante bonus on 3CP. On my first hand I had a 3 card straight flush that never improved, so I won 3:2 on my first hand and then lost the next 2 bets. If I had been playing 3 equal bets, I would have lost money on the hand. If the rules of the game are changed so that the player must make equal bets on all three streets, then I think an ante bonus would be a good way to bring the house edge down a bit and make the player feel better about getting premium 3 card hands that don't improve.
Though I am not a big player of carnival games, I actually really enjoyed the game. I played as though the 4 and 5 card bets were just bonus bets and concentrated my action on the 3 card bet, and I am sure that I would have enjoyed the game far less if I had been forced to make equal bets on each. The game is very low variance for a poker game, maybe too low variance. Kudos to Zcore13 for tweaking the paytable in order to substantially reduce the house edge on the 5 card bet, but the top payout on the 5 card hand is 50:1 for a royal and this just doesn't seem like a very good payout for a royal. I think that it might be more exciting if the payout table was tweaked so that there was a more substantial payout on the top line(s). That said, I was playing 5x-10x as much on the 3 card bet as the 5 card bet, and perhaps if I had been betting the same on all bets I would feel differently.
Overall I give the game an 9.2 out of 10 in its current form. I like the game as much as I like Pai Gow Poker and would prefer to play this game vs Blackjack. I can't see the game getting widespread adoption, but I can see it possibly getting regional adoption or niche adpotion with a couple hundred tables.
One note: your point about playing against the dealer then against a paytable isn't accurate. Many games are like that. The difference is, on this game, you play against the dealer FIRST, then resolve the side bets against a pay table.
Quote: DJTeddyBearGreat review.
One note: your point about playing against the dealer then against a paytable isn't accurate. Many games are like that. The difference is, on this game, you play against the dealer FIRST, then resolve the side bets against a pay table.
Thank you for the kind words. You are right that many carnival games do in fact combine a main "beat the dealer" bet with a bonus bet that is paid against a paytae, but it still felt different here. If I am playing $5 ultimate Texas holdem, I will have up to $30 against the dealer and a $5 trips bet, although I guess you could argue that the blind bet is a bonus bet so the split is $25/$10. Betting $5 on the "beat the dealer" part of the game and $10 on the pay table part is just a little wierd. I'm not sure how else to explain it. Again, I enjoyed the game, but I played $15 on the beat the dealer and $4 on the paytable bets.
As a player I think Player Power Poker is a great game. If it was sitting next to a Three Card Poker game at a casino I visited there is no doubt I'd sit at Player Power Poker. The only issue as a Table Games guy is that a lot of table games players either don't want to or can't compute odds, outs, probabilities, changes, etc in their head. Simple games are the ones that stay.
Blackjack is very simple for the average player. Stay on anything between 12-20 when the dealer has a bust card. Hit until you have 17 - 21 when the dealer does not.
Three Card Poker - play if you have Q 5 4 or better, fold if not. Heck, even playing just about anything doesn't hurt that bad.
Let it ride - take your bet back if you don't hit a pair of 10's or better.
High Card Flush - play if you have a 3 card flush face high or better, fold otherwise.
Roulette - pick a number and see if the ball lands on it.
Player Power Poker has some variables and up to 6 cards other than the ones in your hand that you can see on the table that make close to optimal strategy difficult to remember. It's a great game, but might be to intellectual for players to play well.
ZCore13
Personally I'd just prefer if you had to make a mandatory bet based on either your best 3-card hand or the 4-card hand rather than faffing around with more cards.
Quote: bigfoot66Overall I give the game an 9.2 out of 10 in its current form. I like the game as much as I like Pai Gow Poker and would prefer to play this game vs Blackjack. I can't see the game getting widespread adoption, but I can see it possibly getting regional adoption or niche adpotion with a couple hundred tables.
Any premium proprietary game that gets to 200 placements is a huge success. Even at a super low lease rate (for a premium game) of say $500-$600/month, you are talking about a game that generates $1.2M - $1.44M annually. There are very few games that ever reach this level.
Quote: ParadigmAny premium proprietary game that gets to 200 placements is a huge success. Even at a super low lease rate (for a premium game) of say $500-$600/month, you are talking about a game that generates $1.2M - $1.44M annually. There are very few games that ever reach this level.
Maybe I was off by an order of magnitude. Point was simply that this is not the next 3 card poker (even though it's a better game).
B66, were there a lot of players on your table? What did they say about the game?
BTW, great review.
Quote: charliepatrickI saw this game on trial in Coventry and found the "whether to use the Power Card or not" an interesting idea (for instance with AK5 5 you might play AK5). They had the rule that your Beat The Dealer bet couldn't be more than 4x the other bets. My initial reaction was it would be slow to resolve so it's interesting to hear it's in a casino.
Personally I'd just prefer if you had to make a mandatory bet based on either your best 3-card hand or the 4-card hand rather than faffing around with more cards.
I thought about this too. I might prefer the game if we skipped 4th street as a separate bet and just flipped over 1 more card and that's your 5 card hand. I suppose you could still flip 2 more cards as well with a less generous and lower variance pay table. This might speed up the game a bit. There were several times when most players were drawing dead or close to it on the last card.
Quote: UCivanLet's make a comparison. High Card Flush has been around for 4-5 years. Last I heard, not long ago, it had about 100 tables. I am sure PaigowDan has a better number, but then it could be confidential. Its not easy to have 200 placements.
B66, were there a lot of players on your table? What did they say about the game?
BTW, great review.
When I got there there were 3 older ladies playing. Zcore appeared to be familiar with them and I got the impression that they were friends who made the casino a weekly date together, but I may be wrong. 1 player did quite well with flushes and straights, she was there when I left. I had printed Miplet's strategy and took it with me, when I left to tried to offer it to her but she declined, insisting that she already knew the strategy....
One lady had a pretty bad run and left saying "I hate this game!" But I think it was just a reaction to her bad luck.
Quote: Zcore13Thanks for the review and kind words. It was a pleasure meeting you. If I even need a couple body guards I'm calling you and DJTeddyBear. :)
As a player I think Player Power Poker is a great game. If it was sitting next to a Three Card Poker game at a casino I visited there is no doubt I'd sit at Player Power Poker. The only issue as a Table Games guy is that a lot of table games players either don't want to or can't compute odds, outs, probabilities, changes, etc in their head. Simple games are the ones that stay.
Blackjack is very simple for the average player. Stay on anything between 12-20 when the dealer has a bust card. Hit until you have 17 - 21 when the dealer does not.
Three Card Poker - play if you have Q 5 4 or better, fold if not. Heck, even playing just about anything doesn't hurt that bad.
Let it ride - take your bet back if you don't hit a pair of 10's or better.
High Card Flush - play if you have a 3 card flush face high or better, fold otherwise.
Roulette - pick a number and see if the ball lands on it.
Player Power Poker has some variables and up to 6 cards other than the ones in your hand that you can see on the table that make close to optimal strategy difficult to remember. It's a great game, but might be to intellectual for players to play well.
ZCore13
I agree that the game is much better than 3 card poker. I think that a relatively simple strategy could be formed. The real tough calls are pairs vs flushes or better, and the bottom line is that with very low pairs you will take the reduced payout for high pairs, with mid pairs you will take a flush, and with high pairs you need at least a straight.
Quote: bigfoot66When I got there there were 3 older ladies playing. Zcore appeared to be familiar with them and I got the impression that they were friends who made the casino a weekly date together, but I may be wrong. 1 player did quite well with flushes and straights, she was there when I left. I had printed Miplet's strategy and took it with me, when I left to tried to offer it to her but she declined, insisting that she already knew the strategy....
One lady had a pretty bad run and left saying "I hate this game!" But I think it was just a reaction to her bad luck.
Although I did know all 3 ladies, they had no common-ness(not really a word) between them other than being players there.
I'll be giving the game 90 days to build up a little following and see how it's doing. It doesn't have to have the Three Card Poker numbers at that point since there is a huge savings in annual lease payments between the two games, but it does need to be building after that point and not stagnant or declining.
ZCore13
Quote: Zcore13Although I did know all 3 ladies, they had no common-ness(not really a word) between them other than being players there.
Actually, it is, without the hyphen. Commonality would probably look a bit prettier, though, if I may.
Quote: Mission146Actually, it is, without the hyphen. Commonality would probably look a bit prettier, though, if I may.
Hmmm. My spell checker didn't think it was a word. Comonality would have been an excellent choice. I will try harder next time. :)
ZCore13
If this game expanded to my area, I wouldn't mind trying it...at a 5:1:1 ratio or better of course.
Quote: tringlomaneNice report!
If this game expanded to my area, I wouldn't mind trying it...at a 5:1:1 ratio or better of course.
Yeah its worth a shot. I usually play $15-$25 pai gow or baccarat, and I was happy playing $10-$20, $2, $2 on this game.
Quote: UCivanLet's make a comparison. High Card Flush has been around for 4-5 years. Last I heard, not long ago, it had about 100 tables. I am sure PaigowDan has a better number, but then it could be confidential. Its not easy to have 200 placements.
B66, were there a lot of players on your table? What did they say about the game?
BTW, great review.
Dan is no longer with Galaxy. But 100 placements is pretty damn good. Not many get there. 200 would be one of the top games in the industry.
ZCore13
