Actual Percentage for Average Video Poker Players

I believe they are legal however If you're an AP I suggest not being blatant about it.

"Assuming perfect play", is a pretty tough standard. If you think your play is perfect, try 1000 hands at VPW (great training tool). I'm a recreational kind of guy, get to play maybe 20000 hands a year, so the AP thing is not in the cards for me. My casino time and play is almost exclusivly VP. Even though I have limited casino time, I very much believe in near perfect play. Therefore, I limit my play to games I can play close to perfect (JOB and 8/5 Bonus). I play both of these games at greater than 98.5% accuracy. Now, before you say, "Hey, that's not so great." Give it a shot. 98.5% accuracy at JOB beats 97% correct decisions at DW.

Its tough to play perfectly. I play with a cheat sheet and pretty much stick to 3 games, FPDW, 9/6 job AND DBL DBL Bonus 100.17. Based on practice rounds and being realistic, I probably make a small mistake every 150 hands or so. Sometimes I will notice it too late due to fast play. When that happens, I get up to take a break and walk around.

Quote: djatc

By the way, aren't strategy cards legal in casinos? I thought when you start using electronic devices you can get barred.

A strategy card is one thing - a VP app is another. The app can cover all 134,460 possible 5-card deals (when you don't take specific suits into account - e.g. 2s 3h 4d 7s 9c is the same as 2h 3c 4s 7h 9d, but different from 2s 3c 4s 7d 9h as the 2 and 7 aren't the same suit and the 2 and 4 are); either your strategy card would need very small print, or you would need a strategy booklet to do the same thing.

Quote: Sabretom2

"Assuming perfect play", is a pretty tough standard. If you think your play is perfect, try 1000 hands at VPW (great training tool). I'm a recreational kind of guy, get to play maybe 20000 hands a year, so the AP thing is not in the cards for me. My casino time and play is almost exclusivly VP. Even though I have limited casino time, I very much believe in near perfect play. Therefore, I limit my play to games I can play close to perfect (JOB and 8/5 Bonus). I play both of these games at greater than 98.5% accuracy. Now, before you say, "Hey, that's not so great." Give it a shot. 98.5% accuracy at JOB beats 97% correct decisions at DW.

It depends on what your misses are. If you're getting a 98.5% rate, but the 1.5% you are missing are less then a cent in difference, then it's not that bad compared to making bigger mistakes. I rarely pull major errors in VPW unless I am careless.

Bob Dancers book talks about a game he did not know very well, but since the edge on the game was huge, he could afford to play them sub-optimally. Of course this was back in the 90's so you're talking about 2-3% edges at $1 machines. Giving up a few dollars per hour when your EV is $50+/hr might make sense.

One of my more common costly mistakes is to hold a large pair and not see the small pair with it. Seeing the small pair the milisecond before your stupid finger hits the Draw button is a great way to raise the pissivity level. I prefer to blame the finger.

Quote: Sabretom2

One of my more common costly mistakes is to hold a large pair and not see the small pair with it. Seeing the small pair the milisecond before your stupid finger hits the Draw button is a great way to raise the pissivity level. I prefer to blame the finger.

2 pairs gets me for several reasons:

1. Never play them in FPDW
2. High card bias in JoB
3. It's one of the funkiest holdings to scan for quickly. Flushes = same suit, Straight = sequential numbers, high pairs = pictures

Quote: djatc

2 pairs gets me for several reasons:

1. Never play them in FPDW
2. High card bias in JoB
3. It's one of the funkiest holdings to scan for quickly. Flushes = same suit, Straight = sequential numbers, high pairs = pictures

If you can get on machines with double points days, etc. You can try playing NSUD to work out that problem. :) In the Midwest I am also more used to playing 4/4 games where two pair > pair so it's not as much of a problem for me. For non-wild games though, I try to note the dealt hand designation before holding them as a check. If the machine tells you have two pair, you need to hold the two pair (except Aces up in DB, DDB, etc.). Most of these errors are not from people playing too fast, 99% of them are intentionally breaking two pair in DDB...wrong, wrong, wrong!

Quote: tringlomane

If you can get on machines with double points days, etc. You can try playing NSUD to work out that problem. :) In the Midwest I am also more used to playing 4/4 games where two pair > pair so it's not as much of a problem for me. For non-wild games though, I try to note the dealt hand designation before holding them as a check. If the machine tells you have two pair, you need to hold the two pair (except Aces up in DB, DDB, etc.). Most of these errors are not from people playing too fast, 99% of them are intentionally breaking two pair in DDB...wrong, wrong, wrong!

Some machines suck at telling you that you have a hand. The color doesn't change on the line much so it's really hard to see just by looking at the paytable (such as 3 of a kind for FPDW). One fear I have is while playing at my normal rate I would toss a royal, but I figure all VP machines lock up when you get dealt one.

NSUD is a fun modification to FPDW. As the bankroll gets bigger I have to move up from quarters so it will have to be my staple. You know what Vegas and other casinos are missing; multi-line machines with great paytables. Less bankroll required, and I like the sound when you get dealt a good hand. Too bad there's no upside for casinos to put them back in :(