Question of the Day - 23 August 2020

I guess the question is whether there's ever been a verified instance when a machine did malfunction and deal a fifth card of the quad's rank.

There's no point in drawing another card, you can't improve the hand when you're dealt a 4 of a kind. But I see people do it all the time. It's probably just a reflex thing, on nearly every hand you hold some cards and discard the others. So you get used to making that hand movement to keep the desired cards and get rid of the others.

I got so used to the cards of a "paying hand" being "pre-held" when playing online versions (for example, on Pogo) that when I was dealt a full house, I couldn't figure out how to collect on it, until I pushed "Draw" and all five cards were replaced. At least it wasn't a straight flush.

Note that most, if not all, machines will automatically hold a Royal Flush.

Clarification required for the last sentence:
"You'll usually (though not always) get paid if the machine drops a card and you bring it to the casino's attention, but it's a hassle."

Wouldn't that constitute a malfunction and void the play for that hand?

When you're dealt any "pat" hand, especially a big one, there's another reason to slow down. Yes, it's possible you might initially hold a card and then it gets "un-held" for whatever reason. But it's also possible you could slap/ press the "Hold" button on all the cards but fail to get the hold for one of them. If you try to play as fast as you can (which both commoners and VP experts do), once you slap all the Hold buttons and then slap Draw, you will have no chance to notice the fact that one card didn't hold. There's no point in setting yourself up for either failing to get your payoff or else having to fight to get it. As to whether to hold the 5th card, if you're playing Jacks or Bonus Poker, you should, because you can't improve your hand. But with "kicker" games, you should discard the 5th card if you don't have a kicker. And with "wild" games, you should discard it because you might draw the Joker or deuce. Finally, yes, there was one case in which a machine dealt a 5th queen.

I usually play DDB.  On DDB if you're dealt 5s - Ks holding the fifth card doesn't matter, But As-4s it makes a big difference if the fifth card isn't a kicker. 

AT THE WESTGATE...AT LEAST ONE INJURY...TREMENDOUS FIRETRUCK EXPENSE...caused by a cigareeetee....when will the insanity end?

One fellow answered ? ON DDB. For those who do not play accurately they might  remember to just hold quads unless there is A23 or4 for the 5th card in DDB   This would help on TBP but is more complicated. On TDB with three kicker cards And A123 you hold all 4. But this is too complicated to novice anyway. I have had card flip many times and all worked out in my favor but it is a hazzle plus they shut down machine you are playing 

I was playing in a video poker tournament at Green Valley Ranch, playing a game I never play, Ultimate X Double Double Bonus 10 play as I remember.  Anyway I was dealt quad deuces.  Hold - Hold - Hold - Hold - Hold - Draw, all 5 cards without thinking, playing as fast as I could in the tournament, not even considering about what the fifth card was, Ooops.  Seconds later, OMG what did I do?  I was so used to doing this in the games I normally play pretty exclusively, Double Bonus and Bonus Poker Deluxe, where kickers matter not, that it was my reflexive idiotic instinctive act.  Moral of this, train yourself especially when dealt a pat hand to check your holds before acting, maybe in this slight delay, I might have caught myself that this was not my normal game.  I had a fairly high score in the tournament and probably this blunder cost me.  Lesson Learned!

I forgot about vp games with wild cards when I was typing in my earlier comment and said there wasn't any way to improve the hand when you're dealt 4 of a kind. I guess I had JoB in my mind.

Years ago on a deuces wild game , 4 wild 2's dealt turned into 5 on the drawn 5th card. No pay was made due to the dreaded malfunction feature. Yes , I saw it for myself. Very upset customer at the bar for sure. It can happen. Also, when playing double super times poker, a back side multiplier can be drawn so always hold just the dealt quad. You could be throwing away a chance to hit a bigger hand.

At least 25 years ago I was playing VP downtown, maybe at Binion's, and I was dealt 4 of a kind, where a 5th card wouldn't help, but I only held the 4. The woman sitting next to me was a dealer there who was playing VP and she told me always hold the 5th card in case of a malfunction and pointed to the message about malfunctions that's on all machines. I've been doing that since then as long as the 5th card can't help me.

I was playing JOB about 25 or 30 years ago at Bally's.  I had just gotten quad A's and the coins were coming out.  I moved to the next machine and got dealt quad 9's.  For some stupid reason, and I knew better back then, only held the 9's, and I got a 5th 9, a heart.  What I did not realize when I hit deal, was that the dealt 9's, 2 of them were hearts, no diamond, so I ended up with 5 9's, 3 of them being hearts.  The real kicker was that the machine paid off anyway, 125 $1 coins (I was always hitting the payout button after a big win).  Strange indeed.  That was a strange trip anyway, cause I actually left with more money than I brought.

I see a lot of people make this big mistake,and also question me why.Well like mentioned in double double bonus if you have 4 aces and a 5 and above,you should get rid of the card and draw to see if you can land a 2,3,4,for the maximum payout.The worst that can happen is you get another higher card which you had before and it would be the same if you didn't draw.