The RNG in Video Poker Doesn't Respond to Superstitions

It is a little tough to completely accept the VP RNG concept when, frequently, my wife and/or I will hold four cards to a royal, or straight flush, or flush, and draw a new fifth card that is nowhere close to filling the four cards we held for a nice payoff. Then on the very next new-hand draw, the first card that appears is the card we needed on the immediately previous hand. This also happens on hands when we hold three aces and draw two new cards needing, as an example, the ace of spades to make the 4-of-a-kind. Neither of the two cards drawn help our three aces, but on the very next new-hand draw, the first card that appears is the ace of spades. RNG or teasing?

Both. The RNG is doing what it does and you're teasing yourself.

In the second or two between finishing your last hand and hitting the Deal button for your next hand, the RNG shuffles the deck around, oh, a billion times. Maybe a trillion. Maybe a thousand. Maybe two. However many it is, it's more than none. And it’s easy to play guessing games with yourself and fun to watch for patterns. But from what we can say about the RNG, it’s no accident the first word is “random.” The RNG is about as random as it’s possible to be -- without delving into physics, philosophy, or religious persuasion.

Some players with a more spiritual than scientific orientation, this writer included, like to amuse themselves with the idea of the "video poker gods." Others prefer the image (often a sexy pinup) of Lady Luck. Still others believe in talismans, mind control, karma, leprechauns, unicorns, the color red, an unlit cigarette, beginner's luck, spilled salt, the number 7, the number 8, the number 12, the number 23, crystals, rabbit's feet, feng shui, black cats, bad dogs, crossed legs, uncrossed legs, whistling, and, of course, Kenny Rogers.

Nothing is too crazy, silly, or irrational when it comes to the superstitions of gamblers. After all, any activity with an x factor of randomness naturally leads people to create beliefs that might control the outcome in their favor -- or at least explain an outcome that didn't go their way.

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Martyn Aug-31-2017

Slots too . . .

Slot machine tease like that too.  For example, if you need three bonus symbols to activate the bonus, but you only get two, and the third appears on the next spin.

Doug Bergman Aug-31-2017

A technical caveat

I agree completely with the spirit of the answer.  But to be completely precise, a computer can only follow instructions in a deterministic way, so the RNG is actually a set of instructions that results in a series of numbers that APPEARS to be random, so we call it "pseudo-random".  It takes an input number (called a "seed") and outputs a result.  If the same seed is used each time, the result is always the same. However the output could be used as the next input to get a new series, or there may be some scheme like using the second and fifth digits of a number as the next seed, or using the values of those seeds as digits to choose in the next number, etc, which would provide no obvious pattern.  Meanwhile there is also a scheme to reseed the first number in the series regularly, such as taking the seed from  the last few digits on the computer's internal clock (which may be accurate down to nanoseconds) at the exact moment you press the button. These are only examples.

Carol Zoubek Aug-31-2017

Happens a lot!

My husband and I have noticed the same thing - the card you need will show up on the next hand waaaay too often!

jeepbeer Aug-31-2017

Human Nature

You remember the hands that matched a pattern, you forget the vast majority that didn't.  Every VP hand has one answer - make your best play and move on.  (assuming you're playing somewhere, like Nevada, where they have to prove the RNG is really a RNG)

Question of the Day - 31 August 2017

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