jaschalip
jaschalip
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January 16th, 2018 at 3:55:19 AM permalink
wondering if someone can help me.
im trying to create a strategy for ultimate x bonus streak.
i was trying to re-create the wizards 8/6 jacks or better strategy as seen here.
/games/video-poker/strategy/ultimate-x/bonus-streak/jacks-or-better/

as specified
The 2-3-4 multiplier chain is worth 6.137727.
The 2-3-4-7-12 multiplier chain is worth 23.113457.

i added those value to create the following paytable.
4023.11
273.11
148.11
63.11
36.14
26.14
21.14
10
5
0

i got close but not the same e here>
/games/video-poker/strategy/a-1-b-74-c-1-d-0-d-5-d-10-d-21.1378-d-26.1378-d-36.1378-d-63.113457-d-148.113457-d-273.113457-d-4023.113457/
any thoughts on what im doing wrong?
drrock
drrock
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January 16th, 2018 at 2:13:27 PM permalink
Maybe rounding?
drrock
drrock
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January 16th, 2018 at 8:19:25 PM permalink
Just compared the two. Implied strategy is identical. Of course the EV is slightly different ... and that is because the values entered are slightly different. And that is rounding.
jaschalip
jaschalip
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January 18th, 2018 at 11:46:06 AM permalink
you would think so however it definitly is more than rounding. the resulting hand frequencies are quite different. ie how often you get a full house in the strategy I made up vs the strategy the wiz posted.
BobDancer
BobDancer
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January 19th, 2018 at 7:12:05 PM permalink
Part of Bonus Streak is that if you get a bonus combination on an existing multiplier stream, the remaining multipliers on that line all turn to 12x. That is, if you just earned the 2-3-4-7-12 and received a full house on that line, that multiplier chain now becomes 2-12-12-12-12. Did you take that into consideration?

Also, if you earn a full house on a line where an existing multiplier exists, you do not receive extra multipliers but just all the remaining ones turn to 12x. So the return for full house depends on whether you already have an existing multiplier stream --- and whether that stream has already been converted to 12x on a previous hand.

I'm not a programmer, but I believe that assuming a fixed bonus for the full house --- independent of whether you're at in the game --- is going to give you misleading numbers.
Ayecarumba
Ayecarumba
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January 19th, 2018 at 11:17:41 PM permalink
Are all Bonus Streak machines 3-5-10 play, or do they come in other flavors?
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci
Ibeatyouraces
Ibeatyouraces
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January 20th, 2018 at 7:15:31 AM permalink
I've only seen 3,5,10 play.
DUHHIIIIIIIII HEARD THAT!
jaschalip
jaschalip
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January 21st, 2018 at 1:07:29 AM permalink
its definitely confusing and there are a frequent number of times you face many if not all hands at 12x. if you have all the streams locked in at 12x you just play standard strategy as i see it. the good news is that, as is the trend with igt's latest vp variants the top payback percentages are low, and therefore there won't be a plethora of positive ev opportunities to play this game. rarely do you see a new variant pay over 99%. why don't they offer full payback setups (near or above 100%) and let the house make the decision. what if i have a casino and want to offer bonus streak ultimate x with 99.8% payback, i can't because IGT doesnt offer a program for that.
drrock
drrock
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January 23rd, 2018 at 2:05:58 AM permalink
jas, I'd try to reenter the data again if I were you. I got identical hand frequencies for the numbers you provided and the wizard strategy that he posted.
drrock
drrock
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January 23rd, 2018 at 2:30:54 AM permalink
Bob, it is agreed that assuming a fixed bonus is indeed misleading. But the Wizard strategy that is being talked about here was discussed in another thread as being close IF you had to use a SINGLE strategy that did not vary with the current state of the multiplier streams. Since jas was using those numbers, I presumed that he knew that. There is a bigger error in using that single strategy for Bonus Streak than one finds in using a single strategy for regular Ultimate X. And, as Dr. Koehler pointed out, this one is quite a bit more complicated.

364 different multiplier-stream combinations for Jacks or Better in 3-play; 4368 for 5-play; and 352,716 for 10-play. The "good news" is that some of these different states share the same optimal strategy. If I counted right, I found "only" 215 unique strategies necessary for 3-play (59% of combinations) and "only" 1930 for 5-play (44% of combinations). I didn't try to count 10-play, but I'm guessing that the percentage of unique strategies will be lower based on what I saw with the other two.

It is interesting to investigate different "rule of thumb" approaches at improving on the single strategy approach. For example, in games like DDB or TDB with a pair of aces and another pair, it's challenging (and relatively important) to figure out when it is best to improve future multiplier streams by holding 4 cards and getting full houses vs. when it is best to harvest current multipliers by holding only the aces.
drrock
drrock
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January 23rd, 2018 at 2:41:36 AM permalink
Quote: jaschalip

its definitely confusing and there are a frequent number of times you face many if not all hands at 12x. if you have all the streams locked in at 12x you just play standard strategy as i see it. the good news is that, as is the trend with igt's latest vp variants the top payback percentages are low, and therefore there won't be a plethora of positive ev opportunities to play this game. rarely do you see a new variant pay over 99%. why don't they offer full payback setups (near or above 100%) and let the house make the decision. what if i have a casino and want to offer bonus streak ultimate x with 99.8% payback, i can't because IGT doesnt offer a program for that.



You should play standard strategy when all hands contain the streams 12x-12x-12x-12x, 12x-12x-12x, 12x-12x and also 8x-12x (or any combination of them) because whatever you hit will have no effect on any future multiplier streams. Of course, if any hands have either no multiplier or a different stream, perhaps a compromise hold is in order. Also, a simple single 12x implies a different strategy (even if it is on every hand) because hitting trips, straight or a flush will give some future multipliers and a full house or better will yield a 5-multiplier stream that has a good chance of being further enhanced down the road. Certainly a 12x pushes the balance closer to standard strategy than having no multiplier, but standard strategy is not optimal for the 12x state.
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