Video Poker Cheat Sheet

1. Video Poker Cheat Sheet

A poker cheat sheet is a guide to help you learn the absolute basic fundamentals to play solid poker in order to beat micro and low stake games. Like any endeavour, it takes time, experience and regular evaluation to become a master. The idea behind a cheat sheet is that you can refer to it easily to help you make better decisions than you. A video poker strategy card will show you the correct way to play every hand dealt to you. Think of it as a 'cheat sheet,' an aid that you can (legally) use when you play video poker to help you make the correct play (meaning you will be keeping the cards in your hand that have the highest expected value).

HOW TO USE VIDEO POKER STRATEGY CARDS

By Henry Tamburin

The following is a true story. Recently, I was playing video poker in a Mississippi casino and a man sat down and began playing a machine adjacent to me. He initiated some small talk while we played, and I gathered he was visiting the coast, this was his last day in town, he was in the red so far playing video poker, and he was hoping to hit a royal flush and at least break even.

We were both playing 9/6 Jacks-or-Better and periodically chatting, and to be frank, I wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing, or whether he was winning or losing. Then he surprised me when he asked me this question: 'How should I play this hand?'

Normally, I don't offer playing advice to other players unless they ask. This fellow seemed nice so I stopped playing and glanced at his screen to see what he was dealt. He had the following hand:

His dilemma was whether to hold the four-card flush and draw one card (and hope it was another spade for a winning five-card flush), or hold the three-card royal flush and draw two cards (and hope he was dealt the queen and jack of spades for a paying royal flush … a 1 in 1081 shot).

I told him that the better play was to hold the three-card royal flush and draw two cards (even with the long odds). He seemed reluctant to do so but he followed my advice, held the three-card royal, and hit the draw button. I guess you probably know what happened next. That's right; up popped the queen and king of spades for a $2000 royal flush (he was playing a 50-cent denomination machine). I was happy for him, and he was thankful for the advice I had given him to hold the three-card royal.

Let's pause for a moment and play a 'what if' game. What if I wasn't playing next to him when he got that hand, do you think he would have decided to hold the three-card royal and gotten that $2000 royal flush? What if someone else was playing next to him, do you think that player would have given him the same playing advice? We'll never know for sure what could have happened under these scenarios but think about this. If he would have had a strategy card with him, it wouldn't have made any difference who was playing next to him (or even if nobody was next him), because he could have been able to quickly glance at the strategy card and knew that the right play was to hold the three-card royal. Get my point?

It's unfortunate that so few video poker players carry video poker strategy cards with them when they play. In fact, the next time you go to a casino, glance down an aisle of video poker machines, and see how many players have strategy cards. I'll bet you won't find one. And why is that? Several years ago, I decided to find out for myself by randomly asking a dozen or so video poker players that question. This is what they told me.

1. They didn't know video poker strategy cards existed.
2. They thought that strategy cards were illegal.
3. They didn't know how to use a strategy card.

Let me address these three points. First, pocketsize strategy cards for video poker players are commercially available for players (just check the ads in Strictly Slots). Secondly, I can unequivocally state that strategy cards are legal to use in all gambling jurisdictions. Therefore, that leaves the third excuse, namely, how to use a strategy card, which is what I am now going to address.

A video poker strategy card will show you the correct way to play every hand dealt to you. Think of it as a 'cheat sheet,' an aid that you can (legally) use when you play video poker to help you make the correct play (meaning you will be keeping the cards that have the highest expected value).

Here's how you use video poker strategy cards. The strategy cards contain a table of hand rankings with the hands at the top of the table having a higher rank than the hands below. By way of example, the table below shows the top five lines of strategy from a commercially available 9/6 Jacks-or-Better strategy card (by Bob Dancer and Liam Daily). All you do is look at your hand and determine whether you have any of the hands listed on the strategy card, and if you do, hold the hand that is closest to the top of the table.

Top Five Lines

9/6 Jacks-or-Better
Recreational Strategy Cards

Remember the hand that the player had sitting next to me? If you start at the top of the table and go down, you'll find the 3-card royal flush on line 4, and the four-card flush on line 5. The 3-card royal flush is higher to the top of the table then the 4-card flush; therefore, the correct way to play the hand is to hold the 3-card royal flush. Pretty simple, huh?

Look at the following hand. How would you play it on a 9/6 Jacks-or-Better machine?

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The hand is a paying five-card straight, which many players would automatically hold for an instant payoff of four-times what you bet. However, there is a better play, namely, to give up the paying straight, and instead, hold the four-card royal flush (see it .. 10, Jack, Queen, and King of hearts). If you were not sure whether to hold the paying straight or the four-card royal and you had a handy strategy card with you, you would have instantly seen that the correct play is to hold the four-card royal (see line 1 in the strategy table, which reads: 'break a flush or straight for a four-card royal flush'). (By the way, my late father-in-law was dealt this exact hand, and because he referred to his strategy card, he held the four-card royal and was dealt the ace of hearts for a royal flush.)

I hope I've convinced you to invest a few bucks, get a strategy card, and refer to it when you are not sure how to play to hand. It's money well spent.

I never thought that there was a way to cheat at video poker and I certainly never imagined that it would take a court of law to prove it. But recent developments have proven me wrong and I can now appreciate what happened to me and my wife several years ago in Laughlin Nevada.

That's when, after getting ‘black balled' from the River Palms Casino, we played our way into The Edgewater Casino. It was before they removed all of the full pay video poker machines so we generally did very well. Of course we are advantage players so once in a while the stars would align and we would have exceptionally good sessions. On one occasion we just couldn't do any wrong while playing NSUD (Not So Ugly Deuces) at the 50 cent level.

By Henry Tamburin

The following is a true story. Recently, I was playing video poker in a Mississippi casino and a man sat down and began playing a machine adjacent to me. He initiated some small talk while we played, and I gathered he was visiting the coast, this was his last day in town, he was in the red so far playing video poker, and he was hoping to hit a royal flush and at least break even.

We were both playing 9/6 Jacks-or-Better and periodically chatting, and to be frank, I wasn't paying much attention to what he was doing, or whether he was winning or losing. Then he surprised me when he asked me this question: 'How should I play this hand?'

Normally, I don't offer playing advice to other players unless they ask. This fellow seemed nice so I stopped playing and glanced at his screen to see what he was dealt. He had the following hand:

His dilemma was whether to hold the four-card flush and draw one card (and hope it was another spade for a winning five-card flush), or hold the three-card royal flush and draw two cards (and hope he was dealt the queen and jack of spades for a paying royal flush … a 1 in 1081 shot).

I told him that the better play was to hold the three-card royal flush and draw two cards (even with the long odds). He seemed reluctant to do so but he followed my advice, held the three-card royal, and hit the draw button. I guess you probably know what happened next. That's right; up popped the queen and king of spades for a $2000 royal flush (he was playing a 50-cent denomination machine). I was happy for him, and he was thankful for the advice I had given him to hold the three-card royal.

Let's pause for a moment and play a 'what if' game. What if I wasn't playing next to him when he got that hand, do you think he would have decided to hold the three-card royal and gotten that $2000 royal flush? What if someone else was playing next to him, do you think that player would have given him the same playing advice? We'll never know for sure what could have happened under these scenarios but think about this. If he would have had a strategy card with him, it wouldn't have made any difference who was playing next to him (or even if nobody was next him), because he could have been able to quickly glance at the strategy card and knew that the right play was to hold the three-card royal. Get my point?

It's unfortunate that so few video poker players carry video poker strategy cards with them when they play. In fact, the next time you go to a casino, glance down an aisle of video poker machines, and see how many players have strategy cards. I'll bet you won't find one. And why is that? Several years ago, I decided to find out for myself by randomly asking a dozen or so video poker players that question. This is what they told me.

1. They didn't know video poker strategy cards existed.
2. They thought that strategy cards were illegal.
3. They didn't know how to use a strategy card.

Let me address these three points. First, pocketsize strategy cards for video poker players are commercially available for players (just check the ads in Strictly Slots). Secondly, I can unequivocally state that strategy cards are legal to use in all gambling jurisdictions. Therefore, that leaves the third excuse, namely, how to use a strategy card, which is what I am now going to address.

A video poker strategy card will show you the correct way to play every hand dealt to you. Think of it as a 'cheat sheet,' an aid that you can (legally) use when you play video poker to help you make the correct play (meaning you will be keeping the cards that have the highest expected value).

Here's how you use video poker strategy cards. The strategy cards contain a table of hand rankings with the hands at the top of the table having a higher rank than the hands below. By way of example, the table below shows the top five lines of strategy from a commercially available 9/6 Jacks-or-Better strategy card (by Bob Dancer and Liam Daily). All you do is look at your hand and determine whether you have any of the hands listed on the strategy card, and if you do, hold the hand that is closest to the top of the table.

Top Five Lines

9/6 Jacks-or-Better
Recreational Strategy Cards

Remember the hand that the player had sitting next to me? If you start at the top of the table and go down, you'll find the 3-card royal flush on line 4, and the four-card flush on line 5. The 3-card royal flush is higher to the top of the table then the 4-card flush; therefore, the correct way to play the hand is to hold the 3-card royal flush. Pretty simple, huh?

Look at the following hand. How would you play it on a 9/6 Jacks-or-Better machine?

Best comps in vegas.
Promo codes for caesars palace.

The hand is a paying five-card straight, which many players would automatically hold for an instant payoff of four-times what you bet. However, there is a better play, namely, to give up the paying straight, and instead, hold the four-card royal flush (see it .. 10, Jack, Queen, and King of hearts). If you were not sure whether to hold the paying straight or the four-card royal and you had a handy strategy card with you, you would have instantly seen that the correct play is to hold the four-card royal (see line 1 in the strategy table, which reads: 'break a flush or straight for a four-card royal flush'). (By the way, my late father-in-law was dealt this exact hand, and because he referred to his strategy card, he held the four-card royal and was dealt the ace of hearts for a royal flush.)

I hope I've convinced you to invest a few bucks, get a strategy card, and refer to it when you are not sure how to play to hand. It's money well spent.

I never thought that there was a way to cheat at video poker and I certainly never imagined that it would take a court of law to prove it. But recent developments have proven me wrong and I can now appreciate what happened to me and my wife several years ago in Laughlin Nevada.

That's when, after getting ‘black balled' from the River Palms Casino, we played our way into The Edgewater Casino. It was before they removed all of the full pay video poker machines so we generally did very well. Of course we are advantage players so once in a while the stars would align and we would have exceptionally good sessions. On one occasion we just couldn't do any wrong while playing NSUD (Not So Ugly Deuces) at the 50 cent level.

We were hitting four deuces about every 30 minutes or so and I also hit two royal flushes within the same three hour period. We could do no wrong. I was collecting TITOS (ticket in/ticket out slips) for the Deuces like crazy and sticking them into my shirt pocket – that's $500 on each ticket! By the time we were ready to cash out I had collected nine $500 TITOS and another for $1,000 from a Wheel Of Fortune win.

So at the cashier's cage I ‘dealt' the TITOS out one by one so there was no mistake. As an advantage player I knew not to act braggardly about it because I don't like to call needless attention to myself. But still, the sheer volume of tickets must have raised a flag with the cashier. His eyes were squinting, his lips would purse a little and he would glance quickly, back and forth, between the tickets and me. I could tell that he was suspicious.

Then came the questions. 'What machine were you playing ?', he asked. He wasn't smiling. I could tell by the way that he looked at me and his tone that this wasn't a casual question.

'Deuces. Right over there', I pointed to the bank of machines. My face might have turned a little red but I didn't want him to think that I was defensive. After all, I am an advantage video poker player.

Then came the bomb. 'Are you cheating?' Shit. I was so tired. I was already in a fog from playing so long and it was late. What the hell was going on here?

All I said was, 'No. How do you cheat?'

He looked me in the eye for a second then he motioned for his boss. I was feeling a little nervous but at the same time I knew that I had done nothing wrong. They exchanged a few words, his boss initialed the payout, and we were on our way with our $5,500. But what the hell happened back there? We kept shaking our heads and asking ourselves, it's video poker -how can you you cheat at video poker?

Years later – today as a matter of fact – while reading a story in Wired Magazine, I would find how to cheat at video poker – and have the charges brought by the casino dropped!

John Kane was on a hell of a winning streak. On July 3, 2009, he walked alone into the high-limit room at the Silverton Casino in Las Vegas and sat down at a video poker machine called the Game King. Six minutes later the purple light on the top of the machine flashed, signaling a $4,300 jackpot. Kane waited while the slot attendant verified the win and presented the IRS paperwork—a procedure required for any win of $1,200 or greater—then, 11 minutes later, ding ding ding!, a $2,800 win. A $4,150 jackpot rolled in a few minutes after that.

Video Poker Cheat Sheet

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