Split Card Poker

I first saw Split Card Poker at G2E this year and a second time yesterday at the Suncoast. The most creative video poker variant I've seen for a while. The gist is that some cards represent two separate cards. For example, one position might have both the jack and queen of diamonds. Here are the rule screens from VideoPoker.com (click on the images for a larger version):









Here is my interpretation:

1. One of the cards from a standard 52-card deck is removed and replaced with a Split Card.
2. One of the two cards on the Split Card shall be the original card it replaced.
3. The other card on the Split Card shall be the same suit as the original card and in rank will be either equal, one less, or one more. If the original card was an ace, then the second card can be a king, ace, or deuce in rank.

One thing that bothers me is that if my interpretation were true, then you would expect to get a Split Card on the deal 9.62% of the time. I seem to get it a lot more than that -- about 15%. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Here are some screenshots of the game.







You can play Split Card Poker at VideoPoker.com, but you may have to be a Gold member.

The question for the poll is would you play Split Card Poker given the same return as conventional video poker?

Quote: Wizard

I first saw Split Card Poker at G2E this year and a second time yesterday at the Suncoast. The most creative video poker variant I've seen for a while. The gist is that some cards represent two separate cards. For example, one position might have both the jack and queen of diamonds. Here are the rule screens from VideoPoker.com (click on the images for a larger version):









Here is my interpretation:

1. One of the cards from a standard 52-card deck is removed and replaced with a Split Card.
2. One of the two cards on the Split Card shall be the original card it replaced.
3. The other card on the Split Card shall be the same suit as the original card and in rank will be either equal, one less, or one more. If the original card was an ace, then the second card can be a king, ace, or deuce in rank.

One thing that bothers me is that if my interpretation were true, then you would expect to get a Split Card on the deal 9.62% of the time. I seem to get it a lot more than that -- about 15%. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Here are some screenshots of the game.







You can play Split Card Poker at VideoPoker.com, but you may have to be a Gold member.

The question for the poll is would you play Split Card Poker given the same return as conventional video poker?

The link on the first "rules" page image needs to be fixed. I get a 404 error when I click on it.

Does the fact that you will get a second copy of the same card one third of the time, influence your choice of games? Maybe playing Double Double Bonus, instead of Jacks or Better? Should the fact that you need to pay double in order to activate the feature mean that the pay table should be more generous too? Do straights and straight flushes actually pay less, since they are easier to make?

I started a thread about this game a couple months ago here that shows the DDB paytable and has a bunch more screen shots. I still like this game very much, and I think it will do very well.

Quote: Ayecarumba

The link on the first "rules" page image needs to be fixed. I get a 404 error when I click on it.

Thanks; I fixed it.

Quote:

Does the fact that you will get a second copy of the same card one third of the time, influence your choice of games? Maybe playing Double Double Bonus, instead of Jacks or Better? Should the fact that you need to pay double in order to activate the feature mean that the pay table should be more generous too? Do straights and straight flushes actually pay less, since they are easier to make?

The fact that there are lots of suited connectors will help straights, flushes, straight flushes, and royal flushes. I'm not sure which type of hands this game will help overall. Strangely, or not, the pay tables are the same as conventional video poker, with a win for a five of a kind thrown in. At Video Poker.com, which tend to put up the most liberal pay tables, they have:

1000-9-6 Jacks
1500-8-5 Bonus Poker
1500-9-6 Bonus Poker Deluxe
2000-9-7-5 Double Bonus
2000-25-16-10 Deuces

The big number is for a five of a kind, or five deuces in the case of deuces wild.

I'm hoping to get IGT's list of games, pay tables, and returns early next week. This game would be a bear to analyze (who is up for the challenge?).

Quote: beachbumbabs

I started a thread about this game a couple months ago here that shows the DDB paytable and has a bunch more screen shots. I still like this game very much, and I think it will do very well.

Sorry, I didn't know there was already a thread on the game. I tend to not get excited about a game until I see it with my own eyes on a casino floor.

I encourage everybody to go over to the old thread on the game. I expect to have a lot more to say about it later this week.

Quote: Wizard

Quote: beachbumbabs

I started a thread about this game a couple months ago here that shows the DDB paytable and has a bunch more screen shots. I still like this game very much, and I think it will do very well.

Sorry, I didn't know there was already a thread on the game. I tend to not get excited about a game until I see it with my own eyes on a casino floor.

I encourage everybody to go over to the old thread on the game. I expect to have a lot more to say about it later this week.

I think your threads are definitive and should be started when you work a new game, especially since you do a standard poll. I put in the link for additional information, not to claim "first" or something. I'm glad you're looking at it, because if your eval is favorable, I will be putting it into heavy rotation.

IGT just sent out a notice that in Split Card poker a "Wild 2" will occasionally show up in non wild card games. If anyone gets this please take a picture for all of us to see.

Quote: Wizard

1. One of the cards from a standard 52-card deck is removed and replaced with a Split Card.

I don't think that's what the help screens mean; I think they just mean that there is some probability that the feature will activate, and if so, one of the deal or draw cards will be that split card. That gives them the flexibility to dial up or down the feature frequency independent of anything else.

The part about "Game deck" and "Split Card deck" basically just explains that you can have a duplicate of one of the other cards in the hand (or itself) because one of the two cards on the split card isn't drawn from the same 52 cards as the rest of the game.

Quote: DRich

IGT just sent out a notice that in Split Card poker a "Wild 2" will occasionally show up in non wild card games. If anyone gets this please take a picture for all of us to see.

Just played a bunch of TDB. No wild 2's yet.

Quote: MathExtremist

I don't think that's what the help screens mean; I think they just mean that there is some probability that the feature will activate, and if so, one of the deal or draw cards will be that split card. That gives them the flexibility to dial up or down the feature frequency independent of anything else.

The part about "Game deck" and "Split Card deck" basically just explains that you can have a duplicate of one of the other cards in the hand (or itself) because one of the two cards on the split card isn't drawn from the same 52 cards as the rest of the game.

I'm still having a hard time understanding this. Are you suggesting that if the feature is activated randomly then the player will get four cards from a normal deck and one from the Split Deck? Sometimes the player gets a Split Card on the draw. How does that happen?

Here's an example. Don't know the probabilities of getting a split card though.

What is it an example of?

Arrgh...I got the wrong screen shot. Let me try to get another...

Quote: Wizard

I'm still having a hard time understanding this. Are you suggesting that if the feature is activated randomly then the player will get four cards from a normal deck and one from the Split Deck? Sometimes the player gets a Split Card on the draw. How does that happen?

I'm speculating as to how they've done it -- but how I'd do it is decide on the feature frequency and then, when it triggers, turn one of the first ten cards in the shuffled deck into the split card. The first half of the split card is whatever the original card was, the second half of the split card is one of the three available options (equally weighted). That way you do two game evaluations, one with split card and one without, so the RTP is a weighted average based on the feature frequency and you can dial it up or down with that frequency.

Ran into an interesting scenario playing this at the casino. Playing TDB and got dealt 77774. Is it possible to get 5OAK when dealt this hand?