Not long ago I was teaching a Quick Quads class at the South Point. As often occurs, after the class several students came up to chat. Sometimes they just come up to thank me; sometimes they want to ask about a particular hand; and sometimes people hang out just to hear my answers to questions that others are asking.
On this particular day, one student, I’ll call him Sanchez, patiently waited until all the others had asked their questions and gone away. He then came up and asked me if the Double Double Bonus Quick Quads strategy that I just taught was the strategy that I personally used. I made it clear in the class that I play the game a lot–especially since this was in September and I was playing $20,000 coin-in every day at the South Point due to a lucrative promotion. Additionally, I had played $200,000 coin-in on Labor Day when 2x points were awarded.
I told him that I used a more advanced strategy — including penalty cards — that was quite a bit more complicated than anything I could teach to a class of all-comers. Sanchez asked me where he could get a copy of the strategy that I use.
I’ve had dozens of very similar conversations, although what happens next varies. If the strategy is published in a Winner’s Guide or elsewhere, I explain the source. I’ve sold my advanced strategies for $200 on occasion. Sometimes I’ve made the judgment that the student wasn’t capable of understanding an advanced strategy at that time, so I suggest a 2-hour private class for $250 per hour — which will include the strategy. I’ve given the strategies away to a few close friends (not many) who I believed could understand them. At other times, when for whatever reason I wasn’t particularly fond of the person who was doing the requesting, I simply said it wasn’t available. On at least one occasion, when I told a player it wasn’t available, that player had somebody else take a 2-hour class and then the second person gave a copy of the strategy to the first person.
I had seen Sanchez a few times in my classes. I recognized him as a smart young man who was serious about improving his video poker skills. He wasn’t a friend, at least not yet, but I certainly didn’t dislike him for any reason. Possibly he and I will become friends in the future.
So I told him it was better if he created his own strategy. I pointed him to the wizardofodds.com website (WOO), and in particular the Video Poker Strategy Calculator that is found there. (We’ll talk more about both WOO and the Video Poker Strategy Calculator in next week’s column.) This calculator gives a “basic strategy” that is very similar to what I teach in class, and also lists the exceptions to the basic strategy.
The number of different hands in a 52-card deck is about 2.6 million, assuming you count the four royal flushes as four separate hands. If you count AKQJT of the same suit as 1 hand (noting it can occur four different ways), there are about 130,000 unique hands.
On the Wizard of Odds Video Poker Strategy Calculator, there are several thousand hands listed for Double Double Bonus Quick Quads. A combination such a 555A is listed, where it is presumed that the fifth card isn’t a 5, A, or 4. For each of the ten ranks of cards (2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K) that could make up the fifth card, there are four distinct hands. Let’s say the fifth card is a 6. The 6 could be suited with both a 5 and the A. It could be suited with the A and not any 5. It could be suited with a 5 and not the A. And it could be suited with neither any 5 nor the A. For purposes of Double Double Bonus Quick Quads (and most other video poker games), this level of detail isn’t necessary. But in some games, exactly which seemingly unrelated cards are suited with each other is important, and this tool has the capability of analyzing these situations.
As an example of the kind of exceptions found there, if you wanted to know all of the times you held a suited QJT over a pair of jacks, the following hands are displayed (quoted with permission):
J♣J♦2♣10♦Q♦
J♦J♣2♥10♣Q♣
J♣J♦3♣10♦Q♦
J♦J♣3♥10♣Q♣
J♣J♦4♣10♦Q♦
J♦J♣4♥10♣Q♣
J♣J♦5♣10♦Q♦
J♦J♣5♥10♣Q♣
J♣J♦6♣10♦Q♦
J♦J♣6♥10♣Q♣
J♣J♦7♣10♦Q♦
J♦J♣7♥10♣Q♣
Intermediate-at-least players recognize that all of these hands have a QJT and an off-suit J. The fifth card is ALWAYS in the range of 2-7, is NEVER suited with the QJT, and may or may not be suited with the off-suit J. But the information in this paragraph isn’t captured in a second or two. It takes some time to figure out exactly which hands are included and which hands are not.
A similar list can be found for holding QQ. And KK is ALWAYS superior to QJT. How you display this on your strategy sheet is up to you. On my strategy sheet I simplify this to.
QJT with fp or sp < HH
To many people, what is listed on my strategy sheet might as well be a foreign language. They either don’t like my notation or don’t understand it. My notation is explained in the Winner’s Guides and in the insert of the strategy cards I sell, but many people choose not to study those things. In addition, my own notation keeps evolving as I find better ways to display the information.
Most players who are going to be able to use such a strategy are going to have to create it themselves. The rule, for example, for when you hold KQJ over KK, QQ, and JJ is similar to the rule for QJT, but not identical. The information is all there on the WOO Video Poker Strategy Calculator, but you have to “wallow” in it to figure out the exceptions. Sanchez is capable of such wallowing. But if he is going to learn this, he has to spend time on it.
Many players aren’t capable of taking the information off the WOO website and creating a useful shortened strategy for themselves. While it isn’t always true, these same people often aren’t capable of memorizing an advanced chart that is created by someone else. They needn’t worry about it because they won’t gain much by playing the game perfectly.
How much is all of this extra work worth? According to the WOO Video Poker Strategy Calculator, with perfect strategy for Double Double Bonus Quick Quads, we’re talking 99.6539% and 99.6481% for the basic strategy. Playing $1 Ten Play at the South Point, I can get $32,000 per hour through these machines. Using basic strategy, my average return is $31,887.39 and $31,889.25 using the advanced strategy, which is a difference of $1.86 per hour. (Both numbers would be supplemented by $96 or $192 from the slot club depending on whether it was a 1x or 2x point day — but on any given day the increment would be constant so it’s not a factor in how much the two numbers are different from each other.)
Even if I gave you my strategy free of charge, it will take you a couple of hours to master it, assuming perfection was your goal. (If perfection isn’t your goal, you’re wasting your time with an advanced strategy. You will likely make more errors and more expensive errors using such a strategy if you don’t understand it really, really well. You’ll be finding straight penalties and flush penalties all over the place, including where they don’t affect the play of the hands). And if you haven’t played the particular game for a few months, it will take you another half hour to bring yourself up to speed before you play again. For someone who plays a few hours a month or less on this game, it’s simply not worth it financially to invest in learning a perfect strategy.
Except: If you haven’t studied the strategy recently and are only playing at a 99% accuracy level, spending time with the advanced strategy may also bring you up to speed on the basic strategy. Now we’re talking about a good use of your time.
I get more value out of mastering this stuff than most of my readers. I am paid to teach classes. I am paid to write articles (including this one.) Sometimes I’m paid to teach advanced strategies to others. Studying an advanced strategy gives me more in-depth knowledge which allows me to answer whatever questions come my way during the classes. (Sometimes students come with questions they’ve been pondering for months and oftentimes I can answer them immediately. Not because I’m smarter than they are but because I’ve spent a lot more time studying the games than they have.) Often my study turns up something unusual which sometimes becomes additional fodder for articles. In addition, I play for larger stakes and longer hours than most of my readers.
Call it a personal obsession if you like, but I’m willing to spend many unpaid hours in order to prevent me from giving a casino any more money than I have to while I’m playing. We frequently go out with the guests after our radio show and I’ve gotten to know gamblers from disciplines other than video poker whom I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to meet. I’ve found that a large number of successful gamblers have a similar obsession.
An additional source of value comes from the fact that I simply enjoy figuring out this kind of stuff. It is similar to the enjoyment I get from completing a challenging Sudoku puzzle, or reading a David Baldacci novel, or teaching Bonnie an advanced square dance maneuver — and I don’t get paid to do those things either. I can’t really calculate something like “this enjoyment is worth $43 per hour to me” but there’s no doubt in my mind that doing this adds much pleasure to my life.
Getting back to Sanchez and my contention that he should transcribe from the WOO website to create his own personal strategy card if it’s going to have value to him: Learning to be an expert at something (anything, really) requires that you pay your dues along the way. You don’t study brain surgery the first year of college. It takes a foundation of knowledge. And, tautological as it sounds, the only way to acquire this foundation is to take the necessary steps to obtain it. Taking short cuts leaves you with holes in your knowledge.
You should learn from experts if you can, but your path in the future will always be different than the expert’s path in the past. Your own mix of intelligence, discipline, bankroll, willingness to accept risks, etc. will always be different from your chosen expert — and from everybody else as well. So some things you just have to figure out for yourself.
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