Lucky Suit Video Poker

I saw a few new video poker variants at the 2021 Global Gaming Expo. Lucky Suit was the easiest to analyze, so I'll start with that.

The game simply awards a multiplier if the first card dealt, from the left, equals a predesignated Lucky Suit.

For all the rules, example, and analysis, please see my new page on Lucky Suit. Note this should not be confused with Lucky Suit Poker.

The question for the poll is would you play Lucky Suit Poker.

That’s cool. It’s a neutral EV bet. So it increases variance without increasing or decreasing EV. Like the odds bet in craps.

Quote: unJon

That’s cool. It’s a neutral EV bet. So it increases variance without increasing or decreasing EV. Like the odds bet in craps.
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After looking at the WOO page, I am uncertain that the analysis done by the Wizard is the final word here for two reasons

1. When being dealt a 2-9 of the correct suit as the left-hand card the multiplier is stated to be in the range of 2-4. Wizard has assumed the average multiplier for a suited 2-9 is 3, but it would be a minor thing for the software to shift the probabilities such that 2X multiplier occurs more frequently than the 4X multiplier. Thus, it is not necessarily a neutral sidebet.

2. When the suited card is J-A the multipliers are at their highest. A=12x, K=10X, Q-8X and J = 6x.

However, given that your left-hand card is J-A, aren't you significantly more likely to wind up with "One Pair- Jacks or Better" or a "Royal Flush" than you would if the left hand card is 2-9? Thus, ignoring the multipliers for a moment, the RTP should naturally be higher when you have a J-A in the left hand card then when you have a 2-9 there . Now adding the effect of the high multipliers for J-A and low multipliers for 2-9, this should shift the entire game to a higher Return to Player than if you ignored this effect.

Comments? Have I misread something about the game?

Edit: The effect I am positing is even greater when this Lucky Suit feature is applied to a game for which Quad Aces has a higher payout than 4oak hands of a different rank. Because your Quad Aces hands are most likely to occur when your suited first card is an Ace.

Gordon, I agree with your points. Both make sense.

Quote: gordonm888

After looking at the WOO page, I am uncertain that the analysis done by the Wizard is the final word here for two reasons

1. When being dealt a 2-9 of the correct suit as the left-hand card the multiplier is stated to be in the range of 2-4. Wizard has assumed the average multiplier for a suited 2-9 is 3, but it would be a minor thing for the software to shift the probabilities such that 2X multiplier occurs more frequently than the 4X multiplier. Thus, it is not necessarily a neutral sidebet.

That's a very good point and I agree with you. I should have thought of that.

I guess I'll have to get my hands dirty with an analysis after all. Wish I knew the average multiplier for a 2 to 9.

Off topic, but could you check the free video poker game on the Wizard of Odds site? The Warn on Strategy Errors tells me that three to a flush is a hand that should be held. Is that correct? It doesn’t seem to be based on the strategy information that I’ve read from you in the past. Thanks.

Quote: technics

Off topic, but could you check the free video poker game on the Wizard of Odds site? The Warn on Strategy Errors tells me that three to a flush is a hand that should be held. Is that correct? It doesn’t seem to be based on the strategy information that I’ve read from you in the past. Thanks.
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Would you recall the precise hand and game? Did the hand have any straight flush potential?

King Show Games, the makers of Lucky Suit Poker, kindly told me the average multiplier when the rank is 2 to 9 is 2.58, for 9-6 double double bonus. Using this information, I was able to do a proper analysis. Please have a new look at my page on Lucky Suit Poker. Thank you.

Great analysis with lots of interesting intermediate results that I have never seen before.

The last table on the Lucky-Suit page was probably intended to have a different title.