Video Poker Forum

Mrs. Fatz and I just got back from a highly enjoyable week's cruise along Alaska's Inside Passage. Here's my VP report.
 
It was grim.
 
You could get 8/6 DB or 7/5 JB for $1-2. Or you could just throw a bucket of dollar tokens on the ground and watch your fellow passengers fall all over themselves grabbing for them, which would have been about as much fun and profit.
 
But there was this one machine . . .
 
Either they forgot to set it "properly" or something else was up. On a bank of eight Game King multigame machines offering a quarter progressive plus straight games for $1 and 50 cents there was one that had Joker Poker Ks or better full-pay with a 100.6 percent expected return even discounting the progressive jackpot! (I looked it up in my vademecum, Video Poker Edge -- thanks again there -- and did some quick back of the envelope strategy calculations.) A substantial bonus over the rest of the bank; every other machine I looked at (and I didn't look at all eight) paid only for Aces and only 6 for a FH, less than 93.7 EV according to VIPoker. So that's the one I played.
 
Plus there was a 2-4 Hold 'Em game going most nights and I found one friendly slot machine, so even though my "VP habit" cost me I wound up down only about 25 smackers for the week's action. And I had the satisfaction of playing "the only game in town" with a positive expectation.
 
Moral: don't leave town, or get on a cruise ship, without VP Edge, and if you haven't already add full-pay Joker Ks or better to your repertoire before you book that cruise.

Minn. Fatz  I used to play nothing but full pay Joker Kings or Better.  It is almost impossible to find now other than on this site. When I do find it in a Casino , the 4oak is cut to 75 instead of 100. It is a fairly easy game to master. For thse that haven't tried it , do as Minn. Fatz suggests, put in your bag of tricks.
 
Congratulations on holding the losses to a minium. Sometimes, that can be just like winning.

Good eyes to hunt that machine down though!

faygo, Jeff Lotspiech has a full-pay Joker Poker Ks or better expert strategy card at http://www.lotspiech.com/poker/joker940.pdf and lots of other helpful info at http://www.lotspiech.com/poker/strategy.html.
 
Thanks, Eduardo, but I really can't take credit. I just happened to sit down at the right machine; it wasn't until I sat down at a different one that I noticed it only paid 6/5 and Aces or better. Next time I'll know what to look for!

Three things momma taught me to never do: play vp on cruise ships. bet on an inside straight, and eat green apples.

Three things momma taught me to never do: play vp on cruise ships. bet on an inside straight, and eat green apples.
 
OMG, I've done all three ... I better avoid your mama.

Three things momma taught me to never do: play vp on cruise ships. bet on an inside straight, and eat green apples.
Rascal, I'm guilty of 2 out of 3 so I sincerely doubt your momma would like me either!

Rascal's Momma didn't raise no fools.

Which cruise ships have the best casinos?  I have never found any that pay particularly well.  Perhaps blackjack?

i think they offer free cruises,as the boat is going to go anyway,and they need to fill it up,in hopes of those people hitting the unregulated machines.