{"id":4326,"date":"2016-09-06T09:20:04","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T16:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamblingwithanedge.com\/?p=4326"},"modified":"2016-09-06T09:20:04","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T16:20:04","slug":"what-are-you-trying-to-get","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/what-are-you-trying-to-get\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are You Trying to Get?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I used my normal class notes. I was unsure whether they\u2019d 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\u2019t\u2019 know Blake\u2019s academic background, but I\u2019ve known him for a couple of years and he\u2019s pretty bright.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

One of the problem hands was A\u2660 K\u2660 3\u2666 4\u2666 5\u2666 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\u2019s class. Intermediate and Advanced classes have different rules.)<\/p>\n

Jessica understood that I wanted her to pick the earlier rule, but then she asked, \u201cWhat are you trying to get when you hold the diamonds?\u201d<\/p>\n

I thought I\u2019d heard every beginner\u2019s question fifty times, but this was a new one — and I\u2019m not sure I gave her an answer that made her happy.<\/p>\n

I clicked over to the Video Poker for Winners <\/em><\/a>software and called up this hand by going to ANALYZE \u00e0SELECT SPECIFIC CARDS. I entered these five cards and then clicked on ANALYZE THIS HAND. I then clicked on SHOW DETAILS.<\/p>\n

On the spreadsheet that showed up, the software said there were 1,081 different combinations of cards you could draw to 3\u2666 4\u2666 5\u2666. 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\u2019s impossible to get a full house, 4-of-a-kind, or royal flush.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d LIKE to get a straight flush when I hold 3\u2666 4\u2666 5\u2666, simply because that\u2019s the highest-paying end result of what\u2019s possible, but I can\u2019t really say I\u2019m TRYING for it. I\u2019m looking for the combination of cards to hold with the highest EV — which is NOT necessarily the one with the biggest possible prize.<\/p>\n

When holding A\u2660 K\u2660, 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 \u201conly\u201d 2.9402 coins. Whether that\u2019s 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\u2666 4\u2666 6\u2666 instead, with an EV of 2.6688, we would have held the spades.<\/p>\n

My answer of \u201cI\u2019m not really trying for anything\u201d didn\u2019t particularly satisfy her the first time she heard it, but if she reads the Winner\u2019s Guide<\/em> and practices on the software (wedding presents, of course), I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll catch on if she wants to. (I suspect she won\u2019t want to — I couldn\u2019t even talk them into getting and using a player\u2019s card!)<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019m glad she asked the question. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve heard it before — and now I have a good answer if I hear it again.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,3,6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Are You Trying to Get? - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/what-are-you-trying-to-get\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Are You Trying to Get? - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My niece Jessica, in her late 20s, recently married Blake. 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