Basic vs gimmikcs

[specials]

Hi all. My wife and I enjoy video poker quite a bit and play a lot of it. She prefers double double and I like deuces bonus for the longer play options. We also both enjoy the gimmicks like Magic Card, Dream Card etc. We play mostly for the entertainment value, with winning being extra.
Anyway here is my question. Does Jacks or better have a better percentage of hitting a Royal than the double double and others, it seems to be based on what I have read on here.
Thanks and good luck always when playing,

[billryan]

In general, Jacks or Better usually pays better than most of its cousins.
If you are playing in a real casino and not on video lottery terminals, you can tell the games payouts by studying the pay table. Learning how to read a games payouts is essential to your success.

[onemoretry]

I'm not sure what you mean by "better percentage of hitting a Royal". For any given draw, the likelihood of hitting a royal is the same, no matter what game you're playing. Different games, however, have different playing strategies. And, the playing strategy sometimes affects the likelihood of hitting royals.

If you are playing double bonus poker, for example, where the flush payoff is 7 for I, you keep the fourth flush card much more often, rather than discard it in favour of a three to the royal draw. The average royal frequency for that version of double bonus is about once per 48000 hands.

Deuces wild games usually have less natural royals because you always keep deuces.

All that said, The royal frequency for JOB, at one in 40390 hands, is probably one of the more frequent ones. Bonus poker is marginally more frequent, while double double bonus poker is marginally less.

[billryan]

In Jacks, you'd throw away a deuce. In Deuces Wild, you hold the solitary Deuce, eliminating the possibility of a a Royal on a five card draw. If you play each game properly, your RF possibilities will be less as you customize your play by the payouts. Breaking a possible 7-1 payout is different than breaking up four cards to a 5-1 payout.

[BobDancer]

In general, Jacks or Better usually pays better than most of its cousins.
.

Sort of.

9/6 JoB does return more than 9/6 DB, 9/6 DDB, and 9/6 TDB. But most JoB games are not 9/6 and each of these games can be found in a variety of pay schedules. JoB is best in some casinos. But many casinos offer better games than the best JoB game there.

And even if JoB is the best game in a place, that will only be true of the best pay schedule offered. In the same place will usually be offered JoB in lesser pay schedules as well --- and these lesser games are NOT better than the others.

[FAA]

In Jacks, you'd throw away a deuce. In DW, you hold the solitary Deuce, eliminating the possibility of a a Royal.
Sure. Does this basically account for the RF frequency differential?

[Eduardo]

In Jacks, you'd throw away a deuce. In DW, you hold the solitary Deuce, eliminating the possibility of a a Royal.
Sure. Does this basically account for the RF frequency differential?

I'd say the fact that you hold a lot more face cards in Jacks is a factor as well.

[BobDancer]

In Jacks, you'd throw away a deuce. In DW, you hold the solitary Deuce, eliminating the possibility of a a Royal.
Sure. Does this basically account for the RF frequency differential?

it's certainly a big part of it, but the one-deuce part of chart is not the entire story.

In the two-deuce section, on a hand like AKQ suited 2 2, you hold all five cards in DW and just AKQ in JoB.

in the no-deuce section, a 3-card royal in DW is preferred to all pairs and even two pair. This is not true in JoB.

one 1-in-650,000 hand that cuts the other way is a suited KQJT9 straight flush. In JoB you keep all five cards (so no royal is possible), and in DW you toss the 9, keeping the 1/47 shot at the royal.

Also, on hands like a jack-ten suited with an off-suit queen, in JoB you should hold QJ and in DW you should hold JT. There are numerous examples with tens that fit this category.

One example that cuts the other way is a suited AK, AQ, and AJ are generally not held in DW while they are in JoB. (AT is usually held in neither game)

Another example that cuts the other way is single (A, K, Q, and J) are NEVER held in DW and are eligible to be held in JoB.

Where 3-card straight flushes rank with 2-card royals is completely different between the games --- and even different between the various DW games. The ranking of the straight flush draws themselves is different between DW and JoB. For example, in JoB 567 and 456 have identical values. not so at all in DW. The same would be true with J97 and A35. Same in JoB and very different in DW.

[Waiting4RF]

Do successful professional VP players play any of the gimmick VP games? There is a higher variance because you need another random event to happen when you have a winning hand to make up for the additional cost to play the game. To me, the professional would want to get the EV percentage of the game sooner instead of having to play more hands waiting for the great hand and random event to occur simultaneously. An example is DSTP needing a dealt royal and multiplier on the deal which is over 1 in 9 million chance of happening to get the EV.

[billryan]

I'm not sure what you consider a gimmick game, but a well known pro was dealt four deuces
on a hundred play machine for a very nice payout.