Joker Kings hold question

[olds442jetaway]

I am always tempted with 17/7 Joker Kings to toss a straight if I have an inside draw to a Straight Flush. I think the math is with keeping the straight, but I haven't checked in awhile. Since this chance only happens once in awhile, I like to go for it, but I think in the long run it is not worth the risk. Curious as to what others do in this situation. It shouldn't matter too much if it is a 17/7 or 15/7 game in this situation. Another booby trap is some paytables only pay 40 for 1 for the straight flush and not 50. In that case, I wouldn't even play that game. As an aside, how common is 17/7 Joker Kings in other parts of the country. In Ct, we don't have too much trouble finding this game.

[Vman96]

Strategy says that if the SF pays 50 for 1 and the flush pays 5 for 1 you should go for the straight flush.

http://wizardofodds.com/games/video-pok ... 200-d-800/

Inside SF w/o the Joker is a close play though. It pays back 3.0416667 units on average:

2 outs for SF (50)
8 outs for Flush (5)
2 outs for Straight (3)

EV = (2/48)*50 + (8/48)*5 + (2/48)*3 = 146/48 = 3.0416667

One of the casinos closest to my house, Hollywood St. Louis, offers 940/18/7 Joker's Wild (99.29%) for 25c and 50c. St. Louis is still a decent market for quarter 1-line play. If I play quarters there, I'm usually playing 35/8/5 Bonus (99.66%). The best game in terms of return is 99.8% 9/5 Triple Bonus Plus, but there is only one unit available.

[olds442jetaway]

Thanks for the quick reply. I thought the inside straight flush draw w/o a joker was a close call. You have better odds than here on both Joker and Bonus. We have 940/17/7 but not the 18 and the closest on Bonus is 30/8/5. We do have 8/5 Bonus with the usual 80/40/25 for quads on no point machines on single line games. They are so shifty though on moving things around and changing paytables, (never mind rarely repairing faulty machines), that you really have to be on "top of your game" no pun intended to keep up with them. I have also noticed that if Royals are hitting in one area of the casino close to each other in time and location, that in no time a slot crew arrives to change things around. That leaves me to believe the casinos are just as superstitious  as we players if not more so!!!

[FloridaPhil]

I also suspect Casino managers have the same superstitions as we players do.  All of a sudden the casino gets 3-4 Royals hit on the same machine very close to one another.  The thought is "get that thing out of action until it cools down".  I read somewhere that a Vegas Casino bared a high roller player because he hit a couple of huge Royals in the same night.  I think the guy was a former Microsoft Exec.  Seems stupid to me, but what do I know? 
 

[Vman96]

I also suspect Casino managers have the same superstitions as we players do.  All of a sudden the casino gets 3-4 Royals hit on the same machine very close to one another.  The thought is "get that thing out of action until it cools down".  I read somewhere that a Vegas Casino bared a high roller player because he hit a couple of huge Royals in the same night.  I think the guy was a former Microsoft Exec.  Seems stupid to me, but what do I know?

Pretty much, I have heard multiple stories about casino managers adjusting the machines after big hits. Casinos are too scared to take short-term hits even if their machines payback less than 98% longterm.

Yeah, the high limit story was Richard Brodie. He definitely shouldn't have been barred (and was reinstated later). It wasn't his fault that they put FPDW there for him at $300/hand. (Hourly Expectation of $2280/hr at 1000 hands per hour.) He hit Royals ($240k each) in back to back days (drawing 3, then a dealt one), but he was down $150k the day before he hit the first Royal.

By the time he came back to play after the second Royal, they adjusted the paytable because they admitted it was looser than they wanted ($2240 player advantage/hr...duh...lol). So unlike other casino moves, I understand this paytable adjustment.

More details are here:
http://qlbrodie.blogspot.com/2007/04/lucky-me.html