Match Card video poker

While at the Peppermill in Reno last week I noticed a new video poker game called Triple Play Draw Poker with Match Card. It plays like regular video poker, except the game deals three random cards from a separate deck, and if they match the cards on the draw the player will win multipliers.

Please click on my link above to see a full description and a first draft of my analysis. I welcome all comments, questions, corrections, and especially a confirmation of my math.




Click image for larger version.

Prose generally looks good, but strike the "s" in "replacements" on rule 4.

Average multiplier values are correct.

I wonder how many video poker players will forget it will always be correct to throw away the kicker for any dealt four of a kind in any version of this game. :)

Also for 9/6 JoB, it looks like 3 to a Royal is always better than 4 to a flush now as the penalty exception disappeared thanks to the increased multiplier by drawing 2.

When creating the table of combinations for each of the hand classes by discards, I assume all the EV calculations you made to get that table had the average multiplier built in already? The way you have the math organized on the page, it somewhat leads the reader to believe to take standard 9/6 JoB strategy, break results down by discard, then multiply by the average multiplier, base win, probability and divide by 2. I don't believe you actually did it this way since you did force all dealt four of a kinds to discard in your combination table. But if you did create the breakdown of combinations by discard using standard 9/6 JoB strategy, it would be incorrect. :( I don't think you necessarily need to clarify that on the page though since the only people that will care are the major math dorks like ourselves...lol

Quote: tringlomane

When creating the table of combinations for each of the hand classes by discards, I assume all the EV calculations you made to get that table had the average multiplier built in already?

Yes. In going through the EV of all 32 ways to play a hand I multiplied by the average multiplier, as seen in that table on my page. So, plays with more discards had a greater EV. That is why the program discarded the singleton with a dealt four of a kind.

Quote:

The way you have the math organized on the page, it somewhat leads the reader to believe to take standard 9/6 JoB strategy, break results down by discard, then multiply by the average multiplier, base win, probability and divide by 2. I don't believe you actually did it this way since you did force all dealt four of a kinds to discard in your combination table. But if you did create the breakdown of combinations by discard using standard 9/6 JoB strategy, it would be incorrect. :( I don't think you necessarily need to clarify that on the page though since the only people that will care are the major math dorks like ourselves...lol

As I stated above, the strategy does take into consideration the number of discards. I just added a table to my page showing the player discards 0.008205 more cards in Match Card. If you play conventional JoB Strategy in Match Card, including discarding the singleton with a dealt four of a kind, the cost of errors is 0.000032.

The second "Probabilities in 9-6 Jacks or Better" table should say "Return in 9-6 Jacks or Better"

I'm kind of surprised it took so long for a game like this. Some VLT's in Washington state use the match card bonus to compensate when players throw "wrong" cards away.

Quote: miplet

I'm kind of surprised it took so long for a game like this. Some VLT's in Washington state use the match card bonus to compensate when players throw "wrong" cards away.

Yeah, at least this isn't a BS use of a "Match Card", imo.

Also good to see that using standard strategy doesn't change the return very much at all; I didn't think it would, but good to see the numbers. I wouldn't mind trying this eventually, but looking at videopoker.com, it hasn't gained much traction yet. :(