Peek and Play poker

[Skinzy]

The bonus mechanic on peek and play poker is so bad that it makes me wish we could turn bonuses off during contests.

[Tedlark]

After just playing it, I can see why you have that opinion. But, why even play it then with the feature turned off? Paytable?

[New2vp]

Skinzy, I understand that it is frustrating when dealt a 4-card royal flush draw in this game, and you can see that the next card doesn't help at all. And in multi-play like 10-play, you quickly go from 10 chances at a royal to ZERO!! Plus, this game's optimal strategy is quite confusing since you must keep the next card on the top of the deck unless you decide to stand pat holding all 5 dealt cards.

However, that is exactly what happens in pretty much all video poker draw games. You just don't see that top card until after the draw.

In some ways, this would be a dream scenario. Can you imagine how much better you could do in a casino if you somehow knew what the hidden top card to be drawn was? Based on this game, you would be able to make a profit of perhaps 30 to 35 percent of coin in (if you only had to invest 5 coins per hand).

We just don't realize until after the draw what that top card is. I know most don't like this, but for me, it is a nice change of pace to play once in a while ... if you can divorce yourself from the immediate frequent frustration before the draw. And if you can tease out what the optimal strategy is with this feature. There is also Super Peek and Play Poker where you can pass on the top drawn card. I imagine most people prefer the "Super" option; however, it does cost an additional 14.3% investment prior to the dealt cards (8 coins per hand instead of 7 for regular Peek and Play.

Ted, I imagine the reason that Skinzy is choosing to play this game despite his misgivings, is because it is the Members Rule game this week. If he wants a chance at winning, that is what he has to do ... or forego this completely and play the other contest games. Your comments above caused me to check out the regular video poker play, and I saw that you were leading the field on that game. It took me a while, but if you are interested, I got lucky with TDB hitting small quads plus the kicker to eke a little ahead of you. Good luck if you try to retake the lead.

[Tedlark]

Thanks, New. Before today, I do not recall playing it here on the site. I am 100% certain that I have never played it in a B&M casino.

I might monkey around with it some more, just for Diversity.

Best of luck to you and, as always, I value your opinions and mathematical expertise very much.

[Tedlark]

Skinzy, I understand that it is frustrating when dealt a 4-card royal flush draw in this game, and you can see that the next card doesn't help at all. And in multi-play like 10-play, you quickly go from 10 chances at a royal to ZERO!! Plus, this game's optimal strategy is quite confusing since you must keep the next card on the top of the deck unless you decide to stand pat holding all 5 dealt cards.

You mean like this? Happened today and I only kept the 8S. Draw didn't amount to much, lol...

[Tedlark]

I played enough right now to say that this game isn't right for me. After getting dealt 3 to the royal and then seeing like a 4C as the "Peek" card come up, multiple times, was a bit frustrating. And, I was dealt 4 to the royal one other time as well, Peek card was a 7D.

Good luck to those who do play this game.

[Webman]

These are the reasons Super Peek and Play came along... which allows you to "Burn" the draw card when it doesn't contribute.

I don't think either game is available in casinos any more, so the concept likely didn't catch on with players.

[New2vp]

Hey Ted, the proper hold on the above hand would have been JT of hearts along with the 8 of spades, still a far cry from a 4-card royal draw. That would have been the normally familiar JT98 hold. It has almost triple the value of just 98 suited. But in the extra time that I took to figure that out, you would have probably recorded two more Top Scores.

I always thought the change allowing one to "burn" the top draw card shouldn't have been seen as a variant of Peek and Play. In reality, you are allowed to burn any of the 6 dealt cards, not just the first drawn card. So, unlike regular Peek and Play, the "Peek" card has no special status in determining what you are going to hold. The 6 dealt cards could be arranged in any order because you can select to hold any of them. In regular Peek and Play, the "Peek" card has special status in determining the optimal hold. In Ted's example hand above, if any of the hearts had been in the "Peek" position instead of the 9 of spades, the optimal hold is totally different.

So, the game called Super Peek and Play is more akin to a variant of Super Draw 6. In Super Draw 6, you are dealt 5 cards and then you can draw to a 6-card hand choosing the best 5 cards or in some rarer instances drawing to special 6-card hands. Super Peek and Play is actually better designated as Super "Dealt" 6, where you are dealt 6 cards and you can hold 0 thru 5 of those cards to end up with a drawn 5-card hand. You don't need to designate any of the 6 dealt cards differently than the other 5.

Also, I don't recall if it was discussed in this forum or if the following games were offered on videopoker.com, but I seem to recall that there were virtually identical games called Look Ahead Poker and Super Look Ahead Poker. I'm not certain that I ever understood why there were different names for the same game. If there were any real differences, I've forgotten what they were. I also think I had seen crude software or literature from the "olden days," aka before this website, of a game called Sneak Peek that was similar to Peek and Play. I think the coin in might not have been 7 coins per hand. Instead, I think it had a poorer than standard pay schedule to compensate for the extra information of knowing the top drawn card.

Maybe, like Webman suggested, these games have gone away as well. Does anyone know why there were the 2 different names? Peek and Play vs. Look Ahead?

[Tedlark]

I thought about keeping 4 to the straight as you mentioned but the straight flush looked a bit more inviting. If I'm plugging an extra 20 coins in on a 10 play game, it's going to be Double Super Times Pay.

New, looks like you're keeping today's high score. I tanked.

[New2vp]

I thought about keeping 4 to the straight as you mentioned but the straight flush looked a bit more inviting. If I'm plugging an extra 20 coins in on a 10 play game, it's going to be Double Super Times Pay.

New, looks like you're keeping today's high score. I tanked.

You were right to go for the straight flush. In your game of accumulating high scores, simply selecting the hold with the highest expected value is not always the "correct" play. Different game, different goals, different method.