Suit Yourself Video Poker

U1 is a small gaming machine company that is always a good place to look if a I need a new game to analyze. They have these machines at every Dotty's I've been to and there are four at the Rampart casino in Vegas.

In my latest look at a U1 game, I chose Suit Yourself. In this game, the player has a chosen suit, which he may change anytime. If the player gets this suit on the draw, he will play a free game bonus, where aces are wild. The pay table in the bonus is the same as the base pay table. This bonus is paid for with a tight pay table that starts at a pair of jacks.

As with all U1 games, the return is stated in the help screens as well as the main game screen. They also have an optional auto-hold feature, the return is less if it's enabled.



Between the facts that it would be a tough analysis, the auto-hold feature, and the disclosed returns, I don't feel my own analysis would be a productive use of my time.

It occurs to me that with the auto-hold feature, this is about as good odds as you can get in the casino on a machine with no skill required.

Please click the link and let me know what you think. All questions, comments, and corrections are welcome.

The question for the poll is would you play Suit Yourself? Multiple votes allowed.

I like the graphics and it looks like a fun change of pace.

[I think rule #12 should read "bets less than $4".]

Quote: Gialmere

[I think rule #12 should read "bets less than $4".]

You're right, thanks.

1. I think rule #2 should say "If the player gets a flush on the draw," rather than "If the player gets a suit on the draw."


2. On the free games in the bonus round, does the "Your Suit" feature apply? Given that you start with 2 Aces (that is, 2 wild cards) in each free game that would give you a considerable head start on getting another flush in the free games (also a head start on getting 4 of a kind in the "Ranks of the Day.")

3. I was able to reproduce the numbers on the last table, where you calculate that one can expect 7.522727 free games. However, I am vaguely troubled by the entries in your "combinations" column.

As I understand it, Player is presented with 12 cards, face down, which are all three face cards of all four suits. Player keeps picking cards until he/she find all 3 face cards in their selected suit -and then they stop picking cards. So, there are only 6 possible ways for player to find the 3 cards he is looking for with 3 picks - because you have told us earlier that the player would stop after those 3 successful picks. I do understand how you calculated "2,177,280 combinations" for 3 picks (based on if player continued picking through all 12 cards) but I think it is very confusing to almost anyone looking at the table because 2,177,280 combinations for 3 picks doesn't have any meaning within the definition of the game that you have just described. (I was certainly mystified by the combinations column for a long time.) Readers looking at that table may see the combinations column and feel as if they surely haven't understood how this bonus round is supposed to be played.

I realize I am being long-winded on an unimportant issue. I just feel that this is one of those unusual cases in which the Table would be improved by omitting the Combinations column and simply listing the probability of each scenario -which is the information that has value to the reader. I concede that "Deleting the Combinations column" is a suggestion that reasonable people could disagree on, I guess.

Why does the game offer a less favorable pay table if "You Hold." If AutoHold uses optimum strategy, then playing this on "You Hold" will result in many player mistakes and provide a lower return anyway. Why penalize players who want the intellectual stimulation of making their own decisions?

I suspect the answer will be "more hands per hour" with AutoHold - but by degrading the fun-factor of the game they may get less play per day. Players are not going to be standing in a queue waiting for current player to lose their bankroll so that they can get a crack at playing this VP game with autohold.

Quote: Wizard

They also have an optional auto-hold feature, the return is less if it's enabled.

Your page seems to have the columns mislabeled, so it shows the auto-hold as having a higher payback.


I’m not sure I’d like this particular game. But I do like their general player friendly approach.

Quote: gordonm888

1. I think rule #2 should say "If the player gets a flush on the draw," rather than "If the player gets a suit on the draw."

Thanks, you're right.

Quote:

2. On the free games in the bonus round, does the "Your Suit" feature apply? Given that you start with 2 Aces (that is, 2 wild cards) in each free game that would give you a considerable head start on getting another flush in the free games (also a head start on getting 4 of a kind in the "Ranks of the Day.")

I think you're confusing the two aces with Stack 'Em High.

Quote:

3. I was able to reproduce the numbers on the last table, where you calculate that one can expect 7.522727 free games. However, I am vaguely troubled by the entries in your "combinations" column.

You know how I love putting in a combinations column in everything. In this case, it adds up to 12!.

Quote:

As I understand it, Player is presented with 12 cards, face down, which are all three face cards of all four suits. Player keeps picking cards until he/she find all 3 face cards in their selected suit -and then they stop picking cards. So, there are only 6 possible ways for player to find the 3 cards he is looking for with 3 picks - because you have told us earlier that the player would stop after those 3 successful picks. I do understand how you calculated "2,177,280 combinations" for 3 picks (based on if player continued picking through all 12 cards) but I think it is very confusing to almost anyone looking at the table because 2,177,280 combinations for 3 picks doesn't have any meaning within the definition of the game that you have just described. (I was certainly mystified by the combinations column for a long time.) Readers looking at that table may see the combinations column and feel as if they surely haven't understood how this bonus round is supposed to be played.

I realize I am being long-winded on an unimportant issue. I just feel that this is one of those unusual cases in which the Table would be improved by omitting the Combinations column and simply listing the probability of each scenario -which is the information that has value to the reader. I concede that "Deleting the Combinations column" is a suggestion that reasonable people could disagree on, I guess.

You make some good points there. However, I think the total of 12! combinations makes some logical sense. I just love combinatorial math and it would be almost against my religion to leave that column out.

Quote: Wizard

<snip>This bonus is paid for with a tight pay table that starts at a pair of jacks.<snip>

Wizard,

This should say "pair of aces" instead.

Dog Hand

Seems like you would also need to analyze the free games for perfect play with aces being wild and flushes re-triggering more games.

Quote: BTLWI

Seems like you would also need to analyze the free games for perfect play with aces being wild and flushes re-triggering more games.

Agreed.