How good is good enough?

[Mr.Dawes]

I have only played video poker seriously for about a year, only playing DDB. I am learning a new game, Airport Deuces, and have developed a decent understanding of the game. I have played 3,000 hands in training mode with an accuracy rate of 98.1%. I would like to know the game cold before I play for money, but it has been almost 2 weeks since I have been to a casino! Just curious to hear from more experienced players when they feel comfortable playing a new game for real.

[alpax]

I am in a similar circumstance as you are except I played Jacks or Better most of the time (at least 90% of my sessions). Seems like you are able to play 10/6 DDB which is a good option long term.

Deuces Wild games have lots of penalty situations which causes most of those errors. But knowing the basic strategy cold and the optimal strategy is about less than 50 cents for every $10k coin in you put on the machine.

Most of the errors you encounter are likely penalty situations.

It takes a good amount of effort to learn the penalty situations. I would recommend Bob Dancer and the late Liam Daily's Winner Guide Volume 4, it will save you so much time improving your accuracy.

You could find it from bobdancer.com or occasionally an used copy on eBay. I bought it from the website, costed $16.50 + $7 shipping.

[FloridaPhil]

In my opinion, there are two ways to approach any video poker game, you can strive to be as accurate as possible or your can adjust your game strategy to maximize your personal enjoyment.   I own a copy of the Bob Dancer and Liam Daily book entitled "A Winner's Guide to Full Pay Deuces Wild".  This book does a good job of explaining Deuces Wild and the numerous penalty and exception situations.  You will find that most of them are only worth a very small percentage and to me their value is questionable to a recreational player. Some players get enjoyment out of studying and learning to play at 100% and for them mastering small penalty hands is a feast of fun.   I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.  I think it's important and helpful to understand the reasons behind 100% strategy, but I make my own decisions on how I play.  I play at the quarter level most of the time ($1.25) and I usually ignore any play that costs less than 5 cents a hand if ignoring the hand increases my chance of being dealt a quad deuce or royal.  I'm not recommending my choice.  I'm just reporting how I approach the game.  Others may have different opinions.

[Mr.Dawes]

Alpax and FloridaPhil thanks for the feedback and the book recommendation. There are two reasons why I want to know the game completely. First, is the difference between playing at home and in the casino. When I first started learning DDB I found situations in the casino where I was questioning certain hands and playing with some doubt. Therefore I want to know the game thoroughly. Second, is that like FloridaPhil I also believe there are situations where a non professional can benefit from small strategy changes. But I don't feel comfortable breaking the rules until I know them.

[alpax]

In my opinion, there are two ways to approach any video poker game, you can strive to be as accurate as possible or your can adjust your game strategy to maximize your personal enjoyment.   I own a copy of the Bob Dancer and Liam Daily book entitled "A Winner's Guide to Full Pay Deuces Wild".  This book does a good job of explaining Deuces Wild and the numerous penalty and exception situations.  You will find that most of them are only worth a very small percentage and to me their value is questionable to a recreational player. Some players get enjoyment out of studying and learning to play at 100% and for them mastering small penalty hands is a feast of fun.   I tend to fall somewhere in the middle.  I think it's important and helpful to understand the reasons behind 100% strategy, but I make my own decisions on how I play.  I play at the quarter level most of the time ($1.25) and I usually ignore any play that costs less than 5 cents a hand if ignoring the hand increases my chance of being dealt a quad deuce or royal.  I'm not recommending my choice.  I'm just reporting how I approach the game.  Others may have different opinions.







Not sure how long ago these guides are written, but the Winner's Guide to NSU Deuces Wild would have fit most player's circumstances better, Full Pay Deuces Wild is available primarily in the Nevada state jurisdiction. The one for NSU Deuces comes with in depth analysis to Airport Deuces which is the 98.9% return and that is available in more areas. It is referred to as pseudo-NSU (pNSU) on the guides. There are strategies ranging from recreational to basic and to the nitty gritty computer perfect strategy. These situations are a difference by 1 or 2 cents and is explained in detail to those that want to know the reason behind it.

[Mr.Dawes]

Not sure if it is okay to mention other websites, but I have found the Wizard of Odds hand analyzer to be a wonderful tool for understanding those penalty card situations that alpax referred to. It allows you see the difference in EV caused by changing the rank and or suit of a penalty card.

[Vman96]

Using accuracy numbers by percentage of total hands is a poor judge of "how prepared" you are to play a given variant.

I think looking at the effect your errors have on your return is much more important. Making one major error (like forgetting to hold a deuce) is worse than making several errors that are due to penalty exceptions. From the return standpoint, you probably want errors to cost less than 0.5% of your return at the minimum. With practice, getting error cost to less than 0.2% of total return shouldn't be too hard. Getting 98.1% of hands right overall, you might be there already. I barely practice and I'm around that range in terms of errors by return.

And as alpax pointed out, you can play 10/6 DDB, so I would consider finding a better paytable than Airport Deuces (Not So Ugly Ducks or Full Pay) for a deuces game, unless the Airport Deuces game gives out good mailers and other useful things.

[Mr.Dawes]

Using accuracy numbers by percentage of total hands is a poor judge of "how prepared" you are to play a given variant.

I think looking at the effect your errors have on your return is much more important. Making one major error (like forgetting to hold a deuce) is worse than making several errors that are due to penalty exceptions. From the return standpoint, you probably want errors to cost less than 0.5% of your return at the minimum. With practice, getting error cost to less than 0.2% of total return shouldn't be too hard. Getting 98.1% of hands right overall, you might be there already. I barely practice and I'm around that range in terms of errors by return.

And as alpax pointed out, you can play 10/6 DDB, so I would consider finding a better paytable than Airport Deuces (Not So Ugly Ducks or Full Pay) for a deuces game, unless the Airport Deuces game gives out good mailers and other useful things.Excellent point Vman96. Your are exactly right. The degree of the error is the more important factor. Almost always my mistakes have been penalty card situations with very small EV differences between the hand I played and the correct hand. Alpax probably saw a pic I posted from my last trip to Vegas where I played 10/6 DDB at the Palms. Unfortunately I live in Florida and rarely make it to Vegas. In Biloxi (my nearest option) Airport Deuces with a progressive Royal is actually the best available paytable. I have been stuck playing 9/5 DDB. Thanks for your input.

[FloridaPhil]

If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend purchasing a copy of Dancer's Video Poker for winners software.   With it you can set up your own local casino tables and duplicate casino play right down to the denomination. I have it on the PC in my office and my laptop which I take on road trips.  This software will tell you exactly how much money you are losing on any particular hand.  This software is well worth the $50 he charges for it.  I don't agree with Bob Dancer on most things, but his software is exceptional.  By the way, I live in Florida too.  We should get together some day.

[Mr.Dawes]

Cool Timing FloridaPhil, I actually downloaded the trial version yesterday. I like the program so far and I will probably go ahead and purchase it. Looks like I can't make it to Biloxi until next weekend so I will have the week to improve.