Question of the Day - 10 April 2022

[Editor's Note: Bob Dancer graciously answers this question.]

You're fortunate to still be able to use Video Poker for Winners. It's no longer being supported and those of you who can currently use it will likely find that out the next time you upgrade Windows. I don’t know what’s going to be on the next Windows upgrade, and I don’t know where the conflict will be with what part of Video Poker for Winners, but as Rosanne Rosannadanna’s character used to say on SNL, “It’s always something.”

Your question was specifically about Test Mode on the program. There are three levels: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Each of those levels selects hands that tests the player in a particular way.

Beginner Mode, for example, serves up mostly everyday hands that most players learn quickly, such as a low pair versus a 4-card flush or a low pair versus two suited high cards.

Advanced Mode, on the other hand, deals mostly penalty-card hands, such as when is a 4-card flush better than a 3-card royal? Or when do you hold KJ unsuited versus JT suited? Or when is this particular type of 3-card straight flush better than these two suited high cards? And we set the computer to periodically throw in a random hand where the EV between the first and second choice is less than 0.02 coins.

When we (mostly myself, but not entirely) designed the hands to put into Test Mode, we paid no attention to matching the frequency of dealt hands in a random deck. After all, including hands such a 55577 serves as a test for nobody. Common sense allows that everyone will play a hand like that one correctly.

What this means is that the royal flush frequency in each of the three Test Mode levels will be different from one another and different from what you get when you’re dealt random hands.

The the reader accompanied this question with photos. They show he was playing Advanced Mode at barely above the 97% level. Judging by his 97% might lead to the conclusion that this wasn’t a very strong player. But such a conclusion would not be warranted.

Advanced Mode includes only tough hands that don’t come up very frequently in actual play. And if you’re trying to get better at video poker, this is a good way to be confronted, over and over and over again, by the hands that can give you trouble. So 97% isn't too bad in Advanced Mode.

If you can’t figure out why you’re making a particular error, the appropriate Winner’s Guide, the six-volume set of how-to books for the most popular VP variations, will explain why (if one addresses the particular game you’re interested in).