Yes, video poker abbreviations can be bewildering.
For those of you who don't even know what 9/6 JoB means, it stands for a variation of Jacks or Better that pays nine coins for a full house and six coins for a flush. FPDW refers to full-pay Deuces Wild, and NSUD means Not So Ugly Ducks (Ducks is a nickname for Deuces). Other common abbreviations in the video poker firmament include:
A&F -- Aces & Faces DB -- Double Bonus DDB -- Double Double Bonus JW -- Joker Wild PE -- Pick 'Em TB -- Triple Bonus TITO -- Ticket-in Ticket-out
What these terms (other than TITO) and others like them do is identify the pay schedules on video poker machines. Other abbreviations, such as RF3 (three cards to the royal flush), SF (straight flush), and ST4 (four cards to the straight), need to be deciphered to understand video poker strategy cards.
Even a crash course in the basics of video poker is way beyond the scope of Question of the Day. If you're not familiar with some or all of the above, you need to study video poker game selection and strategies.
The best place to start is with the video poker chapter of Jean Scott's The Frugal Gambler. Here, she explains all about paytables, optimal strategy, positive and negative expectation, full- and short-pay video poker, and more.
After you're familiar with the terminology, you can proceed to The Winners Guides by Bob Dancer and Liam Daily, which explain in detail how to play the most popular video poker variations.
And once you've digested that information, it'll be time to purchase a computer tutorial, which not only allows you to play nearly any variation of video poker on your computer, but also corrects you when you make a strategy error. The two good ones are WinPoker and Frugal Video Poker.
All the above products are available from Huntington Press. Call 800/244-2224 or click on the links above to order.
