Video Poker What are the most costly/common "hold" errors

Probably because 3-4 is the only SF2 that is ever better than a Redraw. Any higher SF2 will have a straight penalty, and if you try to move the 8-9-10 out of the way you have a pay card that is better.

 

When I had talked to him I don't even think his program was out on the market yet. I was using VPtutor and making my own color coded condensed strategies(No need to include obvious hands). Whatever VPT couldn't handle I could bum a strategy from John Fisher or someone. I could never find anything that would run double joker when I needed it or anyone that knew any information. I thought there was a chance it was fairly good.

I think you and I use the same free program nowadays. Perhaps you have the full version of Wolf?

 

I don't remember whether it was Texas Station or Texas casino before Stations bought it, but they had a bank of quarter FPDW with reversible royal. I played those machines a lot and was surprised that there were very few other players on them late at night. One night, dealt x-x-Qc-Kc-Ac, I drew the 10c-Jc for $12,500. But if you think that's amazing, about two weeks later on a different machine in the group, I was dealt x-x-Qc-Kc-Ac and got the 10c-Jc for another $12,500. Not only two reversible royals within a couple weeks, but they came in exactly the same way!

 

WOW that must have been exciting. I never hit one on a machine that paid extra. I know a casino assistant bar manager that hit two for 50k in a short period of time. He never did figure out how to AP. Last time I saw him he was playing bad pay nickels and wasn't doing too well financially.
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I'm 99.54% sure Texas Station has always been named Texas Station I'm almost certain it was designed and built for them just like Boulder and Sunset. I'm not sure the history of Palace Station. I know Station casinos were a gold mine. They have had some of the best VP paytables, promotions and mistakes over the years.

Since Texas Station opened in the mid 90's I am not surprised most Advantage Players wouldn't waste their time playing for $7 an hour. Even some crafty little old ladies were making more than that playing VP at that time. Texas station even ran a full fledge double 4 of a kind promotion that allowed $5 denomination (ok not a full fledge double, it was 125 coin max IIRC)

 

I'm not sure, but I believe "not recommended" means something like, "you almost never make this hold", because you need an 8,9,T offsuit with no 3,4 suited penalties.

 

They had trouble competing with the nearby Fiesta. I think it was in 1996 that they ran a promotion paying double on any four-of-a-kind. It was limited to 125 coins/credits, but there was no limit on the denomination. That adds about 6% to the payback of most games. Every pro and vulture showed up. Their regular players couldn't get on a machine, and many went to the nearby Fiesta. On the second day they ran out of cash and had to send to other casinos for cash. It was supposed to go for three days, but they cancelled it at the end of the second day, claiming the ads were misprinted. That must have been the worst promotion (from the casino's point of view) ever run by a casino.

 

Hey Dan, can I have some of that luck for Christmas?! That's insane, especially how they came in exactly the same way. I've heard stories of people winning 2 jackpots in one day at PlayOJO and 888 (I think) but this is next level!!

 

Another fun one -- in 9/7 triple double bonus, if you're dealt 3h,4h, 8d,9c,Td, the proper hold? The 3,4 suited! It's about the most messed up game I've ever seen. But using VPW next to that line on the strategy it says "not recommended". I always wondered why?

It's not recommended because it's an extremely rare situation. It requires exactly the 8-9-10 of all different suits for the suited 3-4 to be the best hold. That's probably the most extreme penalty situation there is in any game. Optimum Video Poker's strategy generator is aimed at creating the best strategy possible without considering penalties. In many cases, simply sorting the chart by mean EV is *NOT* the best possible no-penalties strategy. The no-penalties chart generated for 9/6 Jacks or Better is better than 0.001% off of perfect play. If that's not good enough for you, tell OpVP to apply all 5 possible penalty situations and you get a truly perfect strategy.

 

Another extremely rare play is As, 10s, 9h, 7c, 5d in NSUD. Same type of situation. Hold the A,10 suited ONLY if the other three cards are exactly 9, 7, 5 and three different suits and also different from the A,10 suited.

The 3,4 suited in the above example in that game makes sense due to the value of a flush and quad 3's or 4's with a kicker. And you can make more straight than you can with 2,3 suited.

 

It's nearly impossible to include such holds in a strategy chart. Specifying zero penalties is not enough. How would we abbreviate such conditions? That's why AK suited should never appear in a strategy for any attractive deuces wild game. Not perfect, but optimized strategies.

 

The two hands I can think of common hold error one is AK, the other one is middle pairs..