String Multiplier Poker Demo - Final Version 99.1% RTP
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14 members have voted
Demo Link: http://realizegamingllc.com/demo/stringPoker/2/
2. It is very high volatility, obviously. There is just a lot of player equity tied up in low-frequency high-payout wins. Given the initial bet of 25 units, the frequency of hands (including the string bet feature) in which the payout is <25 seems to be discouragingly high. There is a tendency to play it for a long time and have your balance steadily decrease. This will be discouraging to new players, I think.
If you do succeed in getting placements, you may wish to consider giving Mike Shackleford your Return table and allowing him to publish it on WOO. That might help to educate the expectations of players. The string multiplier math on this game is difficult and specific to your algorithms, and so providing the return table might be the best way to go.
3. Occasionally, the game makes a replacement in the bonus hand that accomplishes nothing - such as replacing a 6 of hearts with a 6 of hearts from the primary hand. That is a holdover from the earlier version of the game in which the multiplier could be increased by +1 by that action. Its not a big deal, but it does slows down the game unnecessarily.
8h Ts Ks
Ad Qh 3h 2d 7d
Quote: GWAEJust got a string royal with a dealt flush.
had 2 or 3 dealt straights and 1 or 2 dealt flush
As a player Even at quarter level this would be a $5 a hand game or something like that. A little to rich for me.
As a casino I cant imagine that they would be too thrilled about a game that has a 50k payout at .25 level. Imagine getting a royal, then 2 or 3 wins then another royal. 100k pay out on 1 sequence.
Quote: gordonm8881. I do really like this game. I would play it a land casino or on-line.
2. It is very high volatility, obviously. There is just a lot of player equity tied up in low-frequency high-payout wins. Given the initial bet of 25 units, the frequency of hands (including the string bet feature) in which the payout is <25 seems to be discouragingly high. There is a tendency to play it for a long time and have your balance steadily decrease. This will be discouraging to new players, I think.
Thanks for your feedback gordonm888. String Multiplier Poker definitely has a different feel when compared to other video poker games.
Quote: gordonm888If you do succeed in getting placements, you may wish to consider giving Mike Shackleford your Return table and allowing him to publish it on WOO. That might help to educate the expectations of players. The string multiplier math on this game is difficult and specific to your algorithms, and so providing the return table might be the best way to go.
I would be more than happy to do this for this game and any of my other ones.
Quote: gordonm8883. Occasionally, the game makes a replacement in the bonus hand that accomplishes nothing - such as replacing a 6 of hearts with a 6 of hearts from the primary hand. That is a holdover from the earlier version of the game in which the multiplier could be increased by +1 by that action. Its not a big deal, but it does slows down the game unnecessarily.
Keep an eye on the replacement card the autopicker is choosing to replace. It should be trying to upgrade the hand or start building a better multiplier. If the game chooses to place the exact same card, it probably is a hold over of the previous version. We replaced the +1 for placing the exact copy because it became very confusing to the player.
Quote: DRichI must be missing something. Why did I win $5 on the following hand?
8h Ts Ks
Ad Qh 3h 2d 7d
I think Gordon answered this in the following post. More than likely if you saw the yellow payline and you were paid $5 it was due to the end of the string bonus hand. You probably won $5 on the previous hand and this hand was not a winner which ends the bonus and pays out the culmination of wins from the bonus game.
Quote: heatmaphad multiple royals and was up past the inital amount all of the time. quit when i got back to 10000 the other verisons have been fun too. i have many screen shots of my wins with i think up to 5 (EDIT it was only 3 but still) string multipliers in a row most of the time.
Love to see your royal wins if you can upload and post them, heatmap.
The initial wager allows and "balances out" the ability to win a number of bonus hands. If I remember correctly, in the 1 billion simulations of the game, the most consecutive wins was 23! I think I've personally had 11 wins in a row and typically when you get a good number of consecutive wins you get a good overall win for the round.
Quote: GWAEJust got a string royal with a dealt flush, then 6 consecutive wins. I don't think the demo is playing fair :-(
Did you get a dealt string royal with 6 consecutive wins? It sounds like that could be a pretty good win.
Quote: GWAEI played for about 30 minutes. I do like the game but not sure that I would ever play for real money.
As a player Even at quarter level this would be a $5 a hand game or something like that. A little to rich for me.
As a casino I cant imagine that they would be too thrilled about a game that has a 50k payout at .25 level. Imagine getting a royal, then 2 or 3 wins then another royal. 100k pay out on 1 sequence.
Thanks GWAE.
It definitely isn't cheap to play, but it does provide the high volatility that some players are attracted to. I would definitely be comfortable playing it at the dime level and depending how that goes move up to quarters at times. I'm more of the high risk high reward player so I understand that more than likely I will lose, but I want a chance to be excited and possibly win big.
We talked about requiring a bet for each hand (referring to the bonus hands) instead of allowing those to be free, but I like it better paying one wager for the entire length of the game. I think it would slow down the gameplay if the player had to wager every hand in the bonus. It could easily be done, but personally, I like the one wager covers all concept.
For example, consider the following hand after the draw but before moving a card to bonus hand.
Ah 4h 8h
Qs Qc 9h 7s 3s
Game chooses to elevate the 9h. Fine, still a flush. But it replaces the 8h, rather than the 4h, eliminating the chance for a straight flush on the next replacement!
Maddening.
Edit:
Even worse action a few hands later:
5s Js 3s
Kh Kd Qs 9c 6c
Replaces Js with Qs; turning what would be a 2 card outside straight flush hand into a 2 card inside straight flush hand. Not to mention that the Ks is more likely to he held than 4s.
I think there are some issues with the choice of cards to move into the upper hand. The best potential card is not always selected.
For example 1, I had a flush in the upper hand, A94h. The 5 card hand won, and within it, there were T7h to move up. The game substituted the 7h for the 4h. The more advantageous pick would have been the Th because of the twice as many opportunities to fill a straight or a straight flush, both of more value than the flush.
Example 2 is longer. I had a flush up top, 45Jd. I had the QKd to select from in the lower hand. It replaced the J with the K. Why wouldn't it replace a low card with the Q? Same value to that hand (2 to a SF no gap, F), higher potential to the next hand since Q is part of a MiniRF.
Same game, next hand wins, 2d moves up to replace K. Correct but equal. Flush is 245d.
Same game, next hand wins, Kd moves up to replace 2d again. Equal at best, since any 3 will fill with or without the 2d.
But in general, I'm seeing a lot of cards move up to fill or possibly next hand fill a flush without regard to ranks of the other 2 cards, and replacement of flush cards that could straight, with unrelated flush cards. Those hands should have the bonus ride, rather than devaluing the flush by removing cards that could straight.
I think there should be an additional evaluation step in the "if flush, move up" without consideration of development of straights or SF, to look at the relative ranks, and choose the more correlated card.
Hope that's helpful. I did have a nice streak with a MiniRF in place that was worth over $2k. If you want those screenshots, I'll post a few. Think it was 750+250+250+750+250 or so.
Edit: I agree with megapixel, above, that the winning dealt line should highlight at a minimum, but as a demo, I'm not expecting it. It is industry standard, in my observation, to at least do this, although many also add a sound effect and/or a dialog box to alert you as well.
Quote: LoquaciousMoFWSometimes the decisions made to populate the bonus hand are strange, bordering on player hostile.
For example, consider the following hand after the draw but before moving a card to bonus hand.
Ah 4h 8h
Qs Qc 9h 7s 3s
Game chooses to elevate the 9h. Fine, still a flush. But it replaces the 8h, rather than the 4h, eliminating the chance for a straight flush on the next replacement!
Maddening.
Edit:
Even worse action a few hands later:
5s Js 3s
Kh Kd Qs 9c 6c
Replaces Js with Qs; turning what would be a 2 card outside straight flush hand into a 2 card inside straight flush hand. Not to mention that the Ks is more likely to he held than 4s.
Great points LoquaciousMoFW. You are correct on both of the instances you noted above. While it is keeping the flush in place, it should also be looking at upgrading the flush along with providing the potential for a straight flush for both of those instances. We will look into it.
We also played around with letting the player choose the card to place in the string hand, but we thought it would slow down the game too much.
Quote: megapixelsThe game should notify you of a winning dealt hand.
Are you talking about a winning dealt hand in the main hand? If so, would it be better if we had an autohold on a dealt winning hand in the main?
Quote: RealizeGamingAre you talking about a winning dealt hand in the main hand? If so, would it be better if we had an autohold on a dealt winning hand in the main?
Yes, on the main hand. I'm not sure if autohold would be necessary, just a notification like the other poker games have.
Quote: RealizeGaming
We also played around with letting the player choose the card to place in the string hand, but we thought it would slow down the game too much.
That would change strategy for the base game though, and add some extra thought to it. (Similar to how the Multi-strike game changes strategy.)
Quote: beachbumbabsI like the game very much! I am a fan of high risk-high reward, and this does it nicely.
I think there are some issues with the choice of cards to move into the upper hand. The best potential card is not always selected.
I think there should be an additional evaluation step in the "if flush, move up" without consideration of development of straights or SF, to look at the relative ranks, and choose the more correlated card.
We may have to take a closer look at the flush in the three card hand as it seems to not always be picking the best option. It needs to consider upgrading the hand, but also putting itself in a better position for the straight flush. Thanks for your examples Babs!
Love to see your wins if you don't mind posting them. Also, if you are okay with it, I may also post it in other places such as LinkedIn.
Quote: megapixelsThat would change strategy for the base game though, and add some extra thought to it. (Similar to how the Multi-strike game changes strategy.)
It would also require the game to use the touch screen to upgrade the three card hands since I can't think of any other way. You would have to select the card from the hand you want to move and the card from the three card hand you want it to take the place of. I actually like it, but I will have to wait to see what others think about it.
Quote: RealizeGamingLove to see your royal wins if you can upload and post them, heatmap.
The initial wager allows and "balances out" the ability to win a number of bonus hands. If I remember correctly, in the 1 billion simulations of the game, the most consecutive wins was 23! I think I've personally had 11 wins in a row and typically when you get a good number of consecutive wins you get a good overall win for the round.
thanks for screenshots sharing. Great hands!
Click on the "I" button on the top left side
Click the second tab "Game statistics"
Scroll down
String Bonus Paytable results
Percent of total rounds columns
X100 comes 0,01796%
Congrats with your wins!
Lucky!
How many hours / rounds did you play?
Quote: VladAlex1WOW!
Lucky!
How many hours / rounds did you play?
10 WIN STREAK
OK this is my last one because I've played myself out. I have a total of maybe 4 or 5 hours just passively playing and maybe? a couple hundred rounds.
AA6(s)69 and the string is 5s 8h 7s
Do I hold the AA like I should or do I hold the AA 66 so my next multiplier is a straight flush, or do I hold AA 6s for the next multiplier but still have the 4oak A that I could get?
Quote: GWAEI would be curious to see a strategy for this game. Like right now I have
AA6(s)69 and the string is 5s 8h 7s
Do I hold the AA like I should or do I hold the AA 66 so my next multiplier is a straight flush, or do I hold AA 6s for the next multiplier but still have the 4oak A that I could get?
i dont know about anyone else but i played as if i didnt even know that bonus was there. i thought about playing strategically as in hold specific cards that might be beneficial to the next top hand, but i didnt. i would have kept both As and 6s, or if i only had aces i would have kept it because its a garenteed win and depending on what suit one of the As are you might be getting a flush with the next "string"
Quote: GWAEI would be curious to see a strategy for this game. Like right now I have
AA6(s)69 and the string is 5s 8h 7s
Do I hold the AA like I should or do I hold the AA 66 so my next multiplier is a straight flush, or do I hold AA 6s for the next multiplier but still have the 4oak A that I could get?
I'd be curious to hear what some of the math people on the board think about this question. I think I would be aware of the dealt win of aces and also hold the 6 of spades to give me a hand with a nice multiplier.
I normally wouldn't pay attention to the string hand at all unless I had a guaranteed win in the main hand.
Quote: heatmapi dont know about anyone else but i played as if i didnt even know that bonus was there. i thought about playing strategically as in hold specific cards that might be beneficial to the next top hand, but i didnt. i would have kept both As and 6s, or if i only had aces i would have kept it because its a garenteed win and depending on what suit one of the As are you might be getting a flush with the next "string"
Exactly my thinking too, heatmap.
Quote: heatmapi dont know about anyone else but i played as if i didnt even know that bonus was there. i thought about playing strategically as in hold specific cards that might be beneficial to the next top hand, but i didnt. i would have kept both As and 6s, or if i only had aces i would have kept it because its a garenteed win and depending on what suit one of the As are you might be getting a flush with the next "string"
Its ddb, you shouldn't hold the 6s in the normal game.
Quote: GWAEIts ddb, you shouldn't hold the 6s in the normal game.
GWAE, I think he was referring to hold the pair of aces in the main hand along with just the six of spades. He would be assured of a win in the primary hand and he also kept the one card to upgrade the string hand to a straight flush.
I probably would do the same thing with this hand even though it would probably be against conventional wisdom to do so.
Quote: GWAEI would be curious to see a strategy for this game. Like right now I have
AA6(s)69 and the string is 5s 8h 7s
Do I hold the AA like I should or do I hold the AA 66 so my next multiplier is a straight flush, or do I hold AA 6s for the next multiplier but still have the 4oak A that I could get?
First of all, the strategy for betting this game is NOT the same as for betting the normal DDB poker game. When faced with two options you should usually bet the option with the highest probability of not losing, rather than the highest EV because improving your probability of maintaining the string is more important than a small quanta of EV.
In general, this means that you should draw to high cards more often rather than chase quads, flushes and straights.
For example, if given the choice,
- Draw to 2 suited high cards rather than a low pair 55-KK.
- Never draw 4 to a straight with no high cards and one gap, like T986 -you are better to discard everything and draw 5 new cards.
- Never draw 3 cards to JT suited, QT suited or KT suited, better to draw 4 cards to J, or K
I have studied the return information and other statistical information provided by RealizeGaming. It is clear to me that they have used a mathematically correct basic strategy similar to what I am explaining (NOT the DDB basic strategy) to calculate the theoretical return of 99.1%.
To answer GWAE's question if you hold AA6(s)69 and the string is 5s 8h 7s, you should definitely draw 1 card to AA66s. Indeed, if the hand was: AA669(s) and the string is 5 8s 10s you should discard the two 6s and draw 2 cards to AA9s.
I have been working on determining the basic strategy for this game, String DDB Poker, but its pretty complicated and I'm not yet finished. (i'm pretty close though.)
There are some UX things you do for that game in order to protect next hand multipliers, that make you vary from OS for a particular variation. Why wouldn't this game have a similar OS?
This is a work in progress, but if you study it you should understand that some hands where you draw to a straight or flush have decent EVs but low probabilities of winning and should be avoided in String DDB VP because they reduce the probability of a free string hand (often with a higher bonus multiplier.)
| WOO ID | Hand | EV | Win Prob | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Flush | 800 | 1 | |
| 2 | Four As/2s/3s/4s + A-4 kicker | 1 | ||
| 3 | 4 of a kind | 1 | ||
| 4 | Straight Flush | 50 | 1 | |
| 5 | 4 to a Royal-4 HC | 18.468 | 0.532 | |
| 4 to a Royal-3 HC | 18.404 | 0.468 | ||
| 6 | 3 of a kind: Aces | 12.489 | 1 | |
| 7 | Full House | 9 | 1 | |
| 8 | Flush | 5 | 1 | |
| 9 | Straight | 4 | 1 | |
| 10 | 3 of a kind: 2s thru 4s | 7.531 | 1 | |
| 3 of a kind: 5s thru Ks | 5.366 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 4 to a SF-0HC, 1 gap | 2.255 | 0.277 | |
| 4 to a Straight Flush-2HC,0 gap | 3.681 | 0.489 | ||
| 12 | 1 pair: Aces | 1.803 | 1 | |
| 13 | 2 pair | 1.681 | 1 | |
| 14 | 3 to a Royal Flush: JQK | 1.475 | 0.426 | < 15, 17 |
| 15 | 1 pair: Kings | 1.342 | 1 | |
| 16 | 3 to a Royal Flush: TJQ | 1.462 | 0.338 | < 17 |
| 17 | 1 pair: Jacks or Queens | 1.342 | 1 | |
| 18 | 4 to a Flush | 1.021 | 0.255 | |
| 19 | 3 to a Royal: 1,2 Gaps | 1.376 | 0.327 | |
| 20 | 4 to a Straight: 89TJ, 9TJQ, TJQK | 0.809 | 0.298 | <2 suited HCs? |
| 21 | 1 pair: 2s thru 4s | 0.876 | 0.287 | <2 suited HCs? |
| 1 pair: 5s thru 10s | 0.733 | 0.287 | <2 suited HCs | |
| 22 | 4 to a Straight: No HCs, No Gaps (4567) | 0.681 | 0.170 | |
| 23 | 3 to a Str Fl: Hi Cards - Gaps = 0 | 0.581 | 0.312 | |
| 24 | 4 to a Straight: JQKA | 0.596 | 0.340 | < 25 sometimes |
| 25 | 2 High Cards to a Royal Flush | 0.555 | 0.390 | |
| 26 | 4 to a Straight: 3Hi Cards + 1 Gap | 0.532 | 0.277 | No, < 28, 33 |
| 27 | 3 to a Str Fl: Hi Cards - Gaps = -1 | 0.481 | 0.212 | < 42 |
| 28 | 3 Hi Cards to a Straight: JQK | 0.503 | 0.393 | |
| 29 | 4 to a Straight: 2 Hi cards, 1 Gap | 0.468 | 0.213 | No, < 36 or 39 |
| 30 | 2 to a Straight: JQ | 0.408 | 0.382 | |
| 31 | 1 high card: Ace | 0.454 | 0.331 | <33 |
| 32 | 2 to a Royal Flush: TJ | 0.461 | 0.269 | No, <36 |
| 33 | 2 to a Straight: JK/QK, JA/QA/KA | 0.453 | 0.380 | Yes |
| 34 | 3 to a Flush: 2TK to 8TK | 0.386 | 0.198 | No, <36 |
| 35 | 2 to a Royal Flush: TQ, TK | 0.449 | 0.265 | No, <36 |
| 36 | 1 high card: J/Q/K | 0.439 | 0.336 | Yes |
| 37 | 3 to a Str Fl: No Hi Cards, 2 Gaps | 0.386 | 0.109 | No, <39 |
| 38 | 4 to a Straight: No Hi Cards, 1 Gap | 0.340 | 0.085 | No, <39 |
| 39 | Discard everything | 0.306 | 0.232 |
There, that should explain everything, LOL. Remember, these are my working notes.
In addition there are modifications to these kind of rules to avoid discarding a card that will give you a high multiplier in the next hand. For example if the Bonus cards are AsKs4h, then, with one rare exception involving Quad Aces, you should NEVER discard a Qs from your primary hand, because a winning hand with the Qs will give you a String Royal and a multiplier of 50 in the next hand (and any succeeding hands.) There are lots of those kind of rules about cards that will give you a Straight Flush or 3 of a kind in the Bonus Hands, but I have not yet worked them all out.
Burn rate felt kind of high, but then I got a nice string of winners that pushed me well into positive, which is more or less how it's supposed to work. I'd like to see this for something other than DDB, which I already view negatively due to a top heavy paytable.
One auto-decision for the bonus hand felt kind of strange-- 8c Jc **... I had a Qc and a 6c that could have moved up. I'd've moved the Qc up, so there's 2 to an outside SF, and 1 to the royal, but instead it moved the 6c, giving me 2 to an inside SF. What caused that?
Quote: Venthus
One auto-decision for the bonus hand felt kind of strange-- 8c Jc **... I had a Qc and a 6c that could have moved up. I'd've moved the Qc up, so there's 2 to an outside SF, and 1 to the royal, but instead it moved the 6c, giving me 2 to an inside SF. What caused that?
I have seen this frequently, the game moves up the lowest suited card to make a flush in the bonus hand, rather than a higher suited card that would also make the flush and offer straight flush possibilities on future hands.
Quote: gordonm888I have seen this frequently, the game moves up the lowest suited card to make a flush in the bonus hand, rather than a higher suited card that would also make the flush and offer straight flush possibilities on future hands.
I would prefer to get to pick my top row cards. I had one last night that was like AcKcJs I had a Qs so it moved it up to make a straight but it removed the Ac instead of Js which cost me a chance at the royal.
beachbumbabs
This WIN is a Video Poker “Hall of Fame” The Gold framed picture!
Nicely Done!
Quote: beachbumbabsI do think you should be holding the 66, because you know it will fill the SF (as well as AA). The game pays best with good multipliers up top, and it costs very little to make that hold.
There are some UX things you do for that game in order to protect next hand multipliers, that make you vary from OS for a particular variation. Why wouldn't this game have a similar OS?
I agree that the two 6's should be held with the pair of aces. I misread the original post and thought he had only the six of spades with the two aces and didn't realize it was a pair of 6's.
Quote: gordonm888There, that should explain everything, LOL. Remember, these are my working notes.
In addition there are modifications to these kind of rules to avoid discarding a card that will give you a high multiplier in the next hand. For example if the Bonus cards are AsKs4h, then, with one rare exception involving Quad Aces, you should NEVER discard a Qs from your primary hand, because a winning hand with the Qs will give you a String Royal and a multiplier of 50 in the next hand (and any succeeding hands.) There are lots of those kind of rules about cards that will give you a Straight Flush or 3 of a kind in the Bonus Hands, but I have not yet worked them all out.
Really impressive work gordonm888! It's very interesting to hear what others would consider the best play in certain situations. I think the casino could probably offer the game at the 99% return because there are so many options to remember when playing. I created the game and I still have a number of hands where I have to second guess what I'm doing.
Anyway, I appreciate you providing your expertise on how to play the game.
Quote: VenthusI like the general feel. It took a bit to grasp how it actually worked (I like going into the Realize Gaming demos blind...) but it worked out pretty well.
Burn rate felt kind of high, but then I got a nice string of winners that pushed me well into positive, which is more or less how it's supposed to work. I'd like to see this for something other than DDB, which I already view negatively due to a top heavy paytable.
One auto-decision for the bonus hand felt kind of strange-- 8c Jc **... I had a Qc and a 6c that could have moved up. I'd've moved the Qc up, so there's 2 to an outside SF, and 1 to the royal, but instead it moved the 6c, giving me 2 to an inside SF. What caused that?
Thanks Venthus! Glad you approve of the game and you could figure it out. I've had a couple companies say they couldn't understand it. It may take a few hands to get the concept down, but overall most have understood it and most importantly enjoyed it.
I'd love for a company to pick up the game and also create the jacks or better version and deuces wild, etc. Time will tell, so stay tuned.
You are correct on the auto-decision you mentioned. It must not always be taking into consideration all the cards and which one helps out the most and puts the player in the best situation for subsequent hands.
Quote: GWAEI would prefer to get to pick my top row cards. I had one last night that was like AcKcJs I had a Qs so it moved it up to make a straight but it removed the Ac instead of Js which cost me a chance at the royal.
We have discussed creating another version where the player will control the choice of which card to send to the string hand and which one to replace. If people are interested, we can look into doing it.
Quote: beachbumbabsSo, I have several pictures of wrong-weighted string bonus selections, but the one I want to put up is this. You can use it elsewhere if you want.
Nice win, Babs! I will definitely use it.
