My niece Jessica, in her late 20s, recently married Blake. They live in Southern California. I asked them beforehand to choose their wedding present from me — either a check or a Vegas weekend. They chose the latter and then asked if it could include some video poker lessons. Sure, no problem.
In mid-August they came to town. I got them a nice hotel room, Penn and Teller tickets, and Bonnie and I took them out to a nice dinner. And, of course, a video poker lesson.
Jessica is NOT a gambler at all, but her new husband has been to Vegas a lot. Jessica wanted a game where she could have fun gambling and not lose more than $5 or $10 an hour. I got them a room at the Palms, where they have three machines that include penny Fifty Play 9/6 Jacks or Better. So long as she played five hands or fewer at a time, it would basically be impossible for her to out-lose her budget.
I used my normal class notes. I was unsure whether they’d be appropriate. Jessica has an engineering degree from an Ivy League school and my beginner Jacks or Better class is geared for people with average IQs. I don’t’ know Blake’s academic background, but I’ve known him for a couple of years and he’s pretty bright.
My classes are typically interactive with me asking questions to all of the students. So I went to their hotel suite, sat between them, and used the PowerPoint presentation on my laptop. I quickly concluded that asking Jessica most of the questions made more sense than switching back and forth, simply because the concepts were foreign to her and Blake was way ahead of her as a player.
One of the problem hands was A♠ K♠ 3♦ 4♦ 5♦ and I asked Jessica whether she should hold the black cards or the red cards? The way the class is set up, the diamonds are included in Rule 8 (3-card straight flush that is either consecutive or contains two high cards) and the spades are included in Rule 9 (two suited high cards). The ground rules of the class say you pick the rule that comes first, so in this case you hold the diamonds. (Note: this was a beginner’s class. Intermediate and Advanced classes have different rules.)
Jessica understood that I wanted her to pick the earlier rule, but then she asked, “What are you trying to get when you hold the diamonds?”
I thought I’d heard every beginner’s question fifty times, but this was a new one — and I’m not sure I gave her an answer that made her happy.
I clicked over to the Video Poker for Winners software and called up this hand by going to ANALYZE àSELECT SPECIFIC CARDS. I entered these five cards and then clicked on ANALYZE THIS HAND. I then clicked on SHOW DETAILS.
On the spreadsheet that showed up, the software said there were 1,081 different combinations of cards you could draw to 3♦ 4♦ 5♦. Of those 1,081 combinations, 941 of them give you no winning score at all, 18 of them give you Jacks or Better (paying 5 coins), 27 of them give you two pair (paying 10), 9 times you get 3-of-a-kind (paying 15), 41 times you get a straight (paying 20), 42 times you get a flush (paying 30), and 3 times you get a straight flush (paying 250). From that starting position, it’s impossible to get a full house, 4-of-a-kind, or royal flush.
To get the Expected Value of holding that combination, you take a weighted average of all those. That is, (5*18 + 10*27 + 15*9 + 20*41 + 42*30 + 3*250)/1081. If it’s been awhile since you studied math, you do all of the multiplication first — and then do the addition — and then the division. If the parentheses weren’t there, it would be a different order. The answer comes out to be 3.0759 (listed in the leftmost column on the spreadsheet), which means on average this hand is worth that many coins. Most players don’t want to do this math at all, which is okay so long as you have the appropriate software available. But you should probably at least know how the numbers are calculated.
I’d LIKE to get a straight flush when I hold 3♦ 4♦ 5♦, simply because that’s the highest-paying end result of what’s possible, but I can’t really say I’m TRYING for it. I’m looking for the combination of cards to hold with the highest EV — which is NOT necessarily the one with the biggest possible prize.
When holding A♠ K♠, there are now 16,215 combinations and the software gives the number of combinations hitting each category — the highest of which is a royal flush for 4,000 coins. But the average is “only” 2.9402 coins. Whether that’s high or low is only relevant in comparison to the EV of other possibilities in the hand. Since 3.0759 is higher than 2.9402, we hold the diamonds. Had the diamonds been 3♦ 4♦ 6♦ instead, with an EV of 2.6688, we would have held the spades.
My answer of “I’m not really trying for anything” didn’t particularly satisfy her the first time she heard it, but if she reads the Winner’s Guide and practices on the software (wedding presents, of course), I’m sure she’ll catch on if she wants to. (I suspect she won’t want to — I couldn’t even talk them into getting and using a player’s card!)
Still, I’m glad she asked the question. I don’t think I’ve heard it before — and now I have a good answer if I hear it again.
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Excellent article with regards to helping your relatives who do not have as strong of a gambling background like you do. Before diving into video poker, I would have personally made sure your niece understood the concept of draw poker and the poker hand rankings. The objective becomes more clear that the player makes the best one opportune swap of cards. I am certain your niece has great potential and that if she has continued interest, she will benefit greatly from the Winner’s Guide and Video Poker for Winners, both products do well in captivating players of various skill levels. I have not read your novel Video Poker for the Intelligent Beginner to know if that would help your niece or not.
I wonder what the Palms casino will be like under the new Stations management if the acquisition gets approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board this month. I like the Play for Prizes they have on the weekdays, I’ll be very sad if that goes away.
Don’t know for sure, but my assumption is that the property will be run as a Station casino, not remain an independent with its own idiosyncrasies.
In my opinion, it would be better to stay as a Palms casino without bringing it into the Boarding Pass system, but who knows? Rumors are that the GM will be the former GM of Boulder Station. Other rumors say that former owner George Maloof will have some role. My wish is that the latter rumor is true but who knows?
I never knew about the rumors circulating out there, thank you Mr. Dancer for bring it up and I too hope that it becomes true. I cannot be greedy, as long as something half as good as Play for Prizes is offered, I’ll be happy.
Hopefully this change in ownership does not have an impact the sponsorship towards your radio show.
Bob, I truly believe your Niece will do OK if she is resilient enough to pursue VP as her game of choice. Knowing you partially control your outcome should be enough of an incentive but who knows. Many kids nowadays enjoy the lights/sounds of the slots along with the bonus rounds not caring that their payback % would be alot worse.
I agree — sort of — but I don’t assume she’s particularly representative of “most kids” her age.
Remember, she has an Ivy League engineering degree and can pretty much succeed at any form of applied math she applies herself to.
Yes she has things in common with every other American woman born in 1987, but I think other things define her far more than when she was born.
I am certainly guilty of a “my favorite niece is special” bias here . In this case, that bias is probably harmless so please indulge me
I have a son with 3 degrees……..I think that makes him smart……BUT he has no common sense…
he just does not get poker…..same with a computer…..so I gave up trying to teach him…..
Teaching/learning is a two-way street. It’s possible to be too close to somebody to effectively teach them.
I know of cases where a husband could not teach his wife to drive a car — but an outside instructor could teach the wife and the husband could teach somebody unrelated. Whatever “stuff” the husband and wife had going on with each other prevented one or both from relaxing enough for good teaching and learning. With strangers, there’s often no “stuff” in the way of the teaching/learning process.