Haven't played video poker before

Hi all. I played at my first live poker table today and loved pai gow. I liked how I wanted to stick with my original $20 since I am new to gambling and a small wager and after an hour of playing I was up $5 or 10 and at the most down $5 but most of the time still had my original amount. I read that jacks or better and deuces wild are my best options. If I play the penny or nickel machines (if these exist) and only bet the one amount not max will I eventually be close to having my original amount I started with or is this something where I can lose quickly?

yes. you will lose very quickly.

Quote: rsactuary

yes. you will lose very quickly.

I'm not so sure - if you're only betting 5c per hand, and all you know are the 'obvious' plays on JoB (keeping pairs and higher, 4-flushes and outside straight draws), I would think that $20 would last quite a while.

Quote: malgorium

I'm not so sure - if you're only betting 5c per hand, and all you know are the 'obvious' plays on JoB (keeping pairs and higher, 4-flushes and outside straight draws), I would think that $20 would last quite a while.

ok good luck

Quote: Gamesetmatch4

Hi all. I played at my first live poker table today and loved pai gow. I liked how I wanted to stick with my original $20 since I am new to gambling and a small wager and after an hour of playing I was up $5 or 10 and at the most down $5 but most of the time still had my original amount. I read that jacks or better and deuces wild are my best options. If I play the penny or nickel machines (if these exist) and only bet the one amount not max will I eventually be close to having my original amount I started with or is this something where I can lose quickly?

Hey Gamesetmatch, and for the most part welcome to the forums. You've been busy in your 4 days with 3 threads I see =p.

There's a concept you should understand with gambling called Variance. Variance is the "volatility" of the game, so to say. In Pai Gow Poker the variance is very low, because you push a lot of the time. So you'll never see a dramatic spike in either direction (winning or losing). This dramatic spike potential in either direction is the result of variance.

Video poker is a game with a lower house edge (on average - if you're playing the correct strategy) than Pai Gow, but with much higher variance. Why is this? This is because video poker the long sought after hand is the illusive Royal Flush. This hand happens about 1 in every 40,000 hands... Along with the other "higher payouts" such as quads, or 4 deuces, these make up a decent little chunk of the payback percentage. Well, if on a given day you go and play video poker for 1 hour and aren't lucky enough to hit one of these higher hands, then you'll more than likely lose money. Thus, for video poker you're almost always on a downward trend until you hit one of the bigger hands, which will bring you back up to expectation, but I hope you can see the roller coaster ride this puts on the game.... The trend of mostly losing then hitting big paying hands is what makes the game higher variance.

Video poker is "technically" better for you to play, as you'll lose less in the long run, but on any 1 given trip if your goal is to just play for a while, then you're better off with lower variance games such as Pai Gow Poker.

Quote: malgorium

I'm not so sure - if you're only betting 5c per hand, and all you know are the 'obvious' plays on JoB (keeping pairs and higher, 4-flushes and outside straight draws), I would think that $20 would last quite a while.

Single line nickels $20 might last a bit, but I wouldn't call it a "while." One should always bet the 5 coins of the denomination they're playing so that's still $0.25/hand. While that's a small -EV for the hour, don't forget the variance of VP if you don't hit any of the bigger hands (even including full houses)... Which happens.

Quote: Romes

Single line nickels $20 might last a bit, but I wouldn't call it a "while." One should always bet the 5 coins of the denomination they're playing so that's still $0.25/hand. While that's a small -EV for the hour, don't forget the variance of VP if you don't hit any of the bigger hands (even including full houses)... Which happens.

Agree with all that. I would suggest to anyone that they always max bet video poker, but OP asked specifically "If I play the penny or nickel machines (if these exist) and only bet the one amount not max will I eventually be close to having my original amount I started with or is this something where I can lose quickly?"

I took that to mean he was fine giving up EV by not max betting in exchange for being able to just play longer - and at 5c/hand, $20 should last for a long time.

In the FWIW department, there are still VP games out there that do not pay a premium for a max bet. He can look at the pay table, and if the game pays the same x 5 for all wins, he could play 1x without a penalty.

There are not that many out there, but I have seen them here and there. Just wanted to mention the possibility.

Quote: malgorium

Agree with all that. I would suggest to anyone that they always max bet video poker, but OP asked specifically "If I play the penny or nickel machines (if these exist) and only bet the one amount not max will I eventually be close to having my original amount I started with or is this something where I can lose quickly?"

I took that to mean he was fine giving up EV by not max betting in exchange for being able to just play longer - and at 5c/hand, $20 should last for a long time.

If you are going to play .5 in Vegas there is a nickel play worth $5-7 bucks an hour with fairly low variance.

Quote: Gamesetmatch4

Hi all. I played at my first live poker table today and loved pai gow. I liked how I wanted to stick with my original $20 since I am new to gambling and a small wager and after an hour of playing I was up $5 or 10 and at the most down $5 but most of the time still had my original amount.

Just for the record, you can (quite often) lose plenty in a hour of Pai Gow.

It's a slower game and there are a lot of pushes, so it does have that going for it if you want to play a long time.... but it's still a negative expectation game and most casinos set the minimum bet higher than the average carnival table.

Quote: malgorium

Agree with all that. I would suggest to anyone that they always max bet video poker, but OP asked specifically "If I play the penny or nickel machines (if these exist) and only bet the one amount not max will I eventually be close to having my original amount I started with or is this something where I can lose quickly?"

I took that to mean he was fine giving up EV by not max betting in exchange for being able to just play longer - and at 5c/hand, $20 should last for a long time.

Totally agree. And depending on where he is playing, I would recommend playing a max bet on a penny unit. But even I never play just one line on those.

Many CET properties in Vegas offers a deuces game that is 96.73% and 97.00% w/Super Times Pay for pennies with no min bet requirement. Gives you a weird opportunity at a $56 Royal, which I received at the Linq in August.


And Cosmo in Vegas has a 100-play penny machine just outside of high limit that offers 98.91% deuces for as cheap as 5c a hand.