Which "Carnival Variations" of Video Poker Provide the Best Return?

As table minimums continue to be ridiculously high in many places ($15 craps at the El Cortez? Really?), I have shifted a lot of my play to video poker. I'm mostly OK with VP, but it does tend to get tedious after a few hours and I find the "carnival variations" to be more exciting and entertaining. Which variations (if any) provide the best expected return? I know that I'm not going to get comparable paybacks to traditional video poker, but are there games that at least offer better payback odds than traditional slots?

[Editor's Note #1: Thanks to some encouragement by frequent contributor Llew, we've added a new feature to QoD navigating. You've always been able to see the previous QoD with the button below the answer and now you can also see the next page. Simply click on "See Previous" and that page will have the new "Next" button. This is a convenience that allows you to toggle back and forth between the adjacent pages of QoDs that have already been posted, in case you missed a few and want to go back to the first one you missed, then click forward to catch up.

Editor's Note #2: Only Bob Dancer could answer this question in 600 words. Initially, he suspected he couldn't do it in less than 5,000, but knowing Bob, we held out hope he'd figure out how to turn it into a suitable QoD, and he did.]

You ask a very good question and it’s much easier to ask than it is to answer!

There are several dozen varieties of what I think you mean by “carnival variations.” Possibly the most famous one is Ultimate X, of which there are at least eight different versions. Each is different, with its own idiosyncrasies and strategies.

Even if you were concentrating on a single version -- say, Ultimate X Gold -- perhaps 10 different games are offered (Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, etc.) and each has a number of different pay schedules. The strategy for each of these variations (there are many dozens of game-and-pay-schedule combinations) is different from the others and every one requires skill to play. Further, the skill required to play UXG well is very different from the skills required to play, say, the myriad versions of Ultimate X Bonus Streak.

No “standard” mix of carnival games is offered at all casinos. Each has its own mix with its own pay schedules. However much I write about the many variations of UXG, the game is found in relatively few casinos. And just knowing that a particular pay schedule of, say, Double Double Bonus UXG returns 98.4% doesn’t mean that the game is worth that much to you. This game returns perhaps 50% if all the multipliers are at their minimum and 220% if they're all at their maximum, with possibly 3,000 different unique combinations of multipliers. The correct strategy for each of these combinations is somewhat different. No human (not even Rainman!) can play all of these combinations accurately. And this is just one pay schedule for one game in one game type. Each error you make takes away from the expected return. Unless you’re playing perfectly, that 98.4% figure is an unobtainable goal.

We haven’t even spoken yet about Dream Card, Face Card Frenzy, Lucky 8 Wheel Poker, Quick Quads, or Super Times Pay Wheel Poker. Among others.

There is some hope of understanding these games. Most, though not all, video poker variations have been developed by videopoker.com. If you go to their website, you can play many of these variations to see if you like them. The website is free to visit, but comes with a lot of commercials. If you sign up for the Gold membership, $8.95 a month or $79.95 a year, you get to play these games without the ads. For many of the games, they tell you the return on a particular game, allow you to change pay schedules, and give you a rudimentary red-light/green-light correction on whether you've played a particular hand correctly.

Their Pro Membership gives you a much fuller computer correction for many, though not all, of these games.

So the information you seek is available, but they're all games of skill and you’ll have to work to get good. (I’ve been playing video poker for 30 years and am still learning!) I know of no way to spoon feed you this information so that you can absorb and apply it without a lot of work on your part. That’s just the nature of the game.

The regular video poker games, which you describe as tedious, tend to be much easier to learn. Most have one strategy per game that allows you to come much closer to mastery than the ones with hundreds or thousands of different strategies for playing one particular game.

Have fun!

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Comments

thebeachbum Feb-24-2023

Luck and Fun

Luck and fun will get one through the carnival VP variations.  I play them sometimes.  After "X" losses, I return to standard VP to win money to play the carnival versions again.

Vegas Fan Feb-24-2023

"next button"

I'm not seeing it

rokgpsman Feb-24-2023

@Vegas Fan

You have to be reading a prior (older) QoD before the Next button appears. You won't see the Next button when you are on the current (today's) QoD. Maybe that's why you didn't see it.

Vegas Fan Feb-24-2023

rokgpsman

i do see it on my laptop, but not on cell or tablet.i asked deke about it.thanks, though.

jpfromla Feb-24-2023

Answer

The average return with expert play on 7-5 Jacks or Better — much more common than higher pay tables on Ultimate X — with no multiplier feature is 96.15 percent. With the Ultimate X feature, the paybacks rise to 96.72 percent for three-hand play, 96.81 percent for five hands and 96.83 percent for 10 hands.
I hope this answers part of your question...

jpfromla Feb-24-2023

More Answers

8/5 Jacks or Better (which is more common) has a 97.29% payback percentage, but with Double Super Times Pay activated, the payback percentage increases to 97.78%. 8/5 Bonus Poker has a 99.17% payback percentage, but it increases to 99.67% with the Double Super Times Pay feature activated.

kennethross Feb-24-2023

Next, please!

I look forward to seeing the new “NEXT” button (thanks, Llew), the absence of which has always been somewhat vexing.
Perhaps I’ll succeed in locating it tomorrow.
I’m optimistic!

Deke Castleman Feb-24-2023

Next button

The Next button doesn't appear on TODAY's page. If it did, you'd see TOMORROW's page, which would be, uh, premature. Click Previous on today's page and if you don't see Next THEN, email me at [email protected].

Ray Feb-24-2023

Note 1 then note 2

#1...I love the "next" button. It is often nice to go back and see comments that were made after seeing the QoD the previous day and then coming back to the current day's question/answer without re-navigating the website. 
#2...Most of us are aware of the relative paybacks on the normal variations of VP. My understanding of the questioner's request was more like "How do the various carnival versions of VP affect the payback?" In other words, does playing the carnival version lower the payback? Example: playing the additional 1, 2 or 5 coins per hand to play the bonus type game. Is there a payback cost to the extra bet? "jpfromla" seems to say that playing it increases the payback. Is he/she (sorry jp. I don't know whether you are woman or man) right? If so, it would be good to play those games.

rokgpsman Feb-24-2023

@Vegas Fan

"Next" button
In that case where you can see it on your laptop but not on your phone or tablet maybe it's a software programming issue with the LVA site's desktop vs mobile device formatting. On your tablet if you can select "desktop site" in your browser setting that might fix it? I have to do that on my tablet on some websites when I use Chrome or Firefox browser. They'll get it figured out.

jpfromla Feb-24-2023

Ray

In general, the two examples I provided raise the % payback, with the extra credit bet valued in. However, the Achilles Heel in these games is variance, so your bankroll must be padded.  Bob never gives a general answer, because he focuses in on every little variation.  The Wizard of Odds site has analyzers which will breakdown the % of the various carnival VP, allowing for the extra credits cost.  And it's free.  And my first name is John.

O2bnVegas Feb-24-2023

Archives

"Search the Archives" is so easy when I've been away one or more days.  You get the list of QoDs starting with the present date, and the Question.  Easy to see and click on the ones of interest and get the whole smash for that QoD; bypass any not of interest.  Back arrow to return to the list.  Terrific function.

Candy

Kevin Lewis Feb-24-2023

Unanswerable as asked

Most of the carry variations provide a small increase in expected return, and the reality of that depends on how difficult the resultant strategy is. But that's dwarfed by variations in the base paytable. For instance, moving from 9/6 to 8/6 JOB costs 1.1%. So the answer is: the best carry game is the one with the best base paytable.

Mark Feb-24-2023

strategy errors

What Bob alluded to about making errors in different strategies is why I stay away from carnival games like Ultimate X or Quick Quads or Multi Strike poker and things like that.

I like to stick with the carnival games where (as far as I know) the strategy doesn't change - e.g. Hot Roll, Super Times Pay, Dream Card, etc.

Vegas Fan Feb-24-2023

Rokgpsman

You know, i should've thought of that. Works great. Now if they could put search on the mobile site... Thanks for reminding me of the ol' desktop site trick

96BPD Feb-24-2023

Categorization

I would categorize carnival games as dependent on the strength of the hand or independent, and requiring strategy change vs no strategy change. For example Ultimate X and Powerhouse are additive to the strength of the hand. It is cumulative if you can string together a chain of multipliers on UX, or get dealt a winner on Powerhouse. But the multipliers on Hot Roll, Super Hot Roll, Moving Multipliers, (Double) STP, etc. are independent of the strength of the hand. In this categorization, Dream Card is the latter, although it tends to be more useful when it can strengthen a hand by a lot, say turn a three of a kind to a four or four to a royal to a royal flush. Then strategy changes, like above. 

Bob didn’t answer but I would say most VP beats slots, with some exceptions. A ploppy sitting down at UX Gold in its base state might actually do better sitting at a reeled slot. Playing UX like normal can knock 3% or more on EV. They are fun at nickels but I stay away for real stakes.

Ray Feb-26-2023

jpfromla

Thanks, John. And that's another reason I like the   buttons. I came back to this and saw your response. And now I can easily go back to today's Q.

Question of the Day - 24 February 2023

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