Video Poker Forum

Is there any advantage statistically, to play
multi play over single play?

Sitting on your bum for X hours results in Y bumsittedness.
 
By playing 3 hands at a time, X can be reduced by a factor of three, also reducing Y.
 
By playing 50 play, it is a factor of 50.
 
You can reduce your bumsittedness by a factor of 100 by playing 100 play.
 
QED

I think your ER (Expected Return) remains the same whether you are playing 1 line or 100 lines assuming that the pay tables are the same.  However, you should allow more time to get in the same number of hands on single line than on multi-line (which WB so elaborately explained <LOL>) or, if you are going to play the same number of "spins" you need to allow for more coin-in on each spin (if you allow $100 for single line then you'd need to allow $1000 for 10-line play).So basically, your expected return should remain the same though of course, you would be risking much more on mulitline with the expection of winning or losing much more in terms of Dollars.

the er remains the but the short run varience increases alot

Oh, those kinds of statistics?
 
As MikeA noted, expected return on a machine does not change.  But the timeframe and bets are escalated. There are also variations that arise such as a Super Times Pay multiplier on some machines (which would indeed influence your return based on the paytables) and certainly the "fun" factor cannot be ignored.  Some people enjoy more hands at a time, some "purists" might prefer to take it one step at a time. But your return per bet does not change as long as the paytable also remains unchanged.
 
We all know that royals (as an example) are few and far between. By playing multiple lines, the average time between royals can be reduced significantly and the payout on those hits (if they are dealt hands) can be multiplied enormously. Some consider this much more fun, but it is also clearly higher stakes as each hand on the table will still cost you just as much as single play. So in the end, it's a wash statistically.
 
On a personal level, I most enjoy Triple, 5 or 10 play for three reasons:
 
1) I get the kick of playing more hands more quickly, with more rapid payouts.
2) I can clearly see all the hands in a short time, as opposed to 50 or 100 play where I don't even bother to look at anything other than my winnings, and Spin Poker which poses a similar issue.
3) It speeds up my experience (more bets in a shorter time) without expiring my bankroll too quickly as 100 play can do at times.
 
I find it to be a good balance of risk/reward and pace. I think everyone should try the different variations to see what suits them best, understanding that their expected return will not change, only the experience.

the er remains the but the short run varience increases alotI wasn't sure about the variance but I suspected that it might soar! 

Thank you for your replies! I see a lot of multi plays and could not see a  statistical
advantage myself so, thank you for clearing this up for me. At this
point I have not played enough vp to complain about my rear end, but my
wife has!! I guess just too much excitement for a newbe----

In my experience, the "BUM" becomes less of a factor as your VP playing time increases.   Through inactivity and  the buffets the "BUM" develops padding to ease the pain.