DDB Ultimate X strategy

[ravenbynight111]

 One thing i have learned in any vp game if your dealt good hands your going to make a profit,I have played this game at lac in la,and i notice playing i have never hit a big super hit, but i have had a couple good 20 to 30  hands runs and then it goes cold. Fun game but its rich mans game. Being able to play threw the droughts its takes big time cash.I do not think the return on this game would be a wise investment.

[Videopokerjesus]

You would think that there would be some form of a "continuous strategy" or a dual modal strategy based on the value of the multipliers.  This is the new wave of VP:  Not to easily figure out payback just by looking at the game. I used to play "Flush Attack" machines in Atlantic city about 15 years ago.  They were $0.25 and not linked.  The flush paid 5-for-1 for three consecutive flushes, and then it paid 20 or 25-for-1 for the ATTACK flush.  When you hit the last flush the cycle started over. In any event, 5+5+5+25 divided by four = 10, so you played the whole game as if the flush were 10-for-1. Of course, if you someone leave a flush or two, or even better, the attack ON, you could change your strategy.    

[Lumpenprol]

It seems that the strategy suggestions for DDB UX were for the 9/6 games, but I have not seen 9/6 at Borgata or anywhere else.  Does anyone know where there are 9/6 DDB UX? I enjoy the game, but I have not seen any full pay machines off the internet.  

[joechgo]

Thanks shadowman,  Good luck on the program.  I think it will be a relatively tough one.  I can estimate what should happen based on an extrapolation of single line play...and I think that would be fine for practical play.But to get things computer-perfect exact, you need to have 3 different strategies (3-play and 10-play are different as damule pointed out...and I simply ignored 5-play in my answer since no one brought it up) taking into account the probabilities of each multiplier sum that could come up with each hold.  Theoretically, you need a different strategy for each possible multiplier sum.  To make this usable for actual play, you would probably need to collapse some of these...or come up with many rules of thumb for common decisions.I noticed that the Wizard of Odds was content just to use IGT's numbers and didn't try to determine even the EVs on his own, let alone the strategies. 


Fascinating analysis. New2VP - I realize this post is old, but do you have an estimate of the variance of 3-Play 9/6 DDB Ultimate X? I'd like to determine how wide the results can be in a given session. Thanks

[New2vp]

Sorry, I have not written software to calculate this.  If one were to play single line with the same multipliers as 3-play, I have the variance of Ultimate X 9-6 DDB at 75.46+ per squared coin.  Since the variance for regular 9-6 DDB is 41.98+ and Ultimate X is a 10-coin play instead of a 5-coin play, that means the comparison is 2^2 x 75.46+ = 301.85 vs. the 41.98 unless you play 1/2 the denomination when playing Ultimate X.I have no idea about the covariance for Ultimate X (which is necessary to determine multiplay variance); the covariance for regular DDB 9-6 is 4.809, which translates to 3-play having 3.687 times the variance of single line play when comparing like denominations between single line and 3-play.I imagine that the covariance for Ultimate X is considerably larger than regular DDB, but have no way at this time of verifying that.

[joechgo]

Thanks for the info.I've been playing a bunch of 1000-line session online (just to see how results came out).This game is almost unplayable.  You either lose $5k, or you hit a monster and win $5-10k.  But it's really fun.  Not sure if I am going to play this in the casino.

[Tedlark]

  You're absolutely right joe. You either hit a monster hand early on and then have the discipline to walk before you get crushed or you get crushed before hitting that monster hand. Either way, start at a limit in a casino that you are obviously comfortable with and don't deviate from a session loss limit strategy if you are using one.
 
  I've seen people playing this at the .25 denom level at Harrahs in Joliet, IL and there have been a couple who have hit hands of 2,400 coins or better but not too often.

[joechgo]

Harrah's Joliet has DDB Ultimate X at for quarters? I don't see it listed on VPFree2? Can you verify that it's still there? I'd love to try it for quarters (instead of dollars).

Thanks

[Vman96]

You would think that there would be some form of a "continuous strategy" or a dual modal strategy based on the value of the multipliers. This is the new wave of VP: Not to easily figure out payback just by looking at the game.

I missed this last year apparently. There is a multiplier independent strategy a at the "Wizard of Odds".

http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-pok ... ble-bonus/


Harrah's Joliet has DDB Ultimate X at for quarters? I don't see it listed on VPFree2? Can you verify that it's still there? I'd love to try it for quarters (instead of dollars).

Thanks

Likely because it's not 9/6 DDB at the quarter level.

I thought it was a minor miracle that Hammond put in 9/6 DDB at the dollar level. I was the one to report it at Hammond; I didn't make it to Joliet, so I dunno exactly what they have after the massive machine replacement.

The best Ultimate X game at Hammond at the quarter level was 9/6 TDB followed by 6/5 Bonus I think. You can play 6/5 Bonus as cheap as nickels though.

And as for your variance question, Ultimate X is a big jump in variance. The variance of standard DDB is 42 betting units for a single hand, but for Ultimate X it's 72 per hand. And since the betting unit is twice as big to begin with that makes it 144 standard betting units. So the variance is almost three times higher. You basically live and die by "back-to-back" winning hands.

I'm so poor that I prefer to play a game this at the 2c level. That's very hard to find btw. Nickels are everywhere, but the best game I have ever seen at that level is 6/5 Bonus (98.12% 3-play) and 8/5 JoB (97.87% 3-play). I have never seen 9/5 DDB (98.36% 3-play) for nickels only 8/5 (97.23% 3-play) or worse.

[Tedlark]

  I'm heading to Harrahs Joliet this Saturday Joe so I'll verify the paytables. If, that is, they survived the carnage. They used to be just outside the "video poker cave".