Moving Multipliers Poker Game Perspective

[alpax]

Game Description

Earlier this week, Moving Multipliers Poker was one of the games released on this website out of the blue. As the title states, this game is suited for the ones who enjoy games revolving multipliers for the big payout possibilities.



This game did not appear in the 2016 G2E, but it is quite easy to understand that the player will randomly receive a multiplier at the start of a deal provided the player wagers the extra credits beyond the usual 5 to enable the bonus.

The HELP Page provides a nutshell of what this game is about



From the sound of things, it plays similarly to the popular Super Times Pay Poker except with a few differences, here are some that I see.

Game Differences with Super Times Pay

Pros compared to Super Times Pay

- The Bonus feature is triggered more often at 11.49% rate compared to the “1 in 15” rate in STP which rounds out to be 6.67%
- The Multipliers can reach 12x and each multiplier [2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12] seem to appear on equal distribution. The 3x and 5x multiplier appear more frequently than the other multipliers on STP.

Cons compared to Super Times Pay

- The Bonus feature costs 3 credits each round to play compared to just 1 credit for STP and 2 credits for DSTP
- Must have extra bankroll to fully play out the Bonus feature due to the nature of the game. If a player is playing 5 hands and gets a multiplier, they must be able to have the budget to play 5 more 5 hand games as the multiplier moves to each hand.
- Must play with the bonus feature at all times to play with the multiplier, this is part of the anti-vulture movement going on as seen with the latest Ultimate X games.
- The overall boost in return, more described later

Strategy

Just like Super Times Pay, the player just needs to apply the standard video poker strategy at all times regardless of the multiplier appearing or not. However it might be tempting for some recreational players to attempt an off play to get a big jackpot hand.

Evaluating Impact of Moving Multipliers Towards Overall Payout

Although the multiplier appears on one hand at a time, in the long run of play, it will be no different than considering all the hands in a single multi hand round. Hopefully the players will not leave multipliers, but even if vultures take the multiplier, the long term return will not change. It is POSSIBLE to have more than one multiplier at a time, so the calculations will be simpler than if no new multipliers can be spawned.

Screenshot 1 - Got 12x multipliers awarded back to back during the play session, very rare to see that with 10x in STP (or the 20x for Double STP)



Screenshot 2 - After a long drought of no bonus, I get 3 of them in a short span



Part 1 - Calculating the Average Multiplier

Finding the Sum of the Possible Multipliers

2x + 3x + 4x + 5x + 6x + 8x + 10x + 12x = 50x Total Sum of Multipliers

50x / 8 Possible Multiplier = 6.25x Average Multiplier

Part 2 - The average multiplier over the long run

If 11.49% of the time a multiplier will appear, then 88.51% of the time the player will play at 1x

6.25 x .1149 + 1 x .8851 = 1.603225 or 160.3225% long run payout on a 5 credit payout

Part 3 - Take the cost to play the Bonus into account

It costs the base game of 5 credits with additional 3 credits for the bonus for a total of 8 credits to play. However the paytable is based on 5 credit wager thus multiply by a factor of 5 / 8 or .625

1.603225 * .625 = 1.002915625 or 100.2915625% value playing the bonus over the standard game on a 5 credit paytable while paying 8 credits to play

Part 4 - Apply the value on the common payouts of the games available

9/5 Jacks or Better - 98.450% * 1.002915625 = 98.648%
9/7 Double Bonus - 99.106% * 1.002915625 = 99.306%
17/7 Joker Poker - 98.443% * 1.002915625 = 98.641%
8/5 Bonus Poker - 99.166% * 1.002915625 = 99.366%
9/6 Double Double Bonus - 98.981% * 1.002915625 = 99.181%
Airport Deuces Wild - 98.913% * 1.002915625 = 99.112%
8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe - 98.493% * 1.002915625 = 98.692%
9/6 Triple Double Bonus - 98.154% * 1.002915625 = 98.352%
13/4/3 Bonus Deuces Wild - 98.803% * 1.002915625 = 99.002%

In the ultimate contrast to Super Times Pay, this game boosts payouts by about 0.20% whereas STP boosts the payout by about 0.28%. Both games would require larger bankrolls to play through long sessions, but STP will be slightly looser in the long run. Just on playing experience, I think Moving Multipliers will also get the player to HOPE good cards are drawn at the exact position of the multiplier, thus it may feel like a bigger feast or famine.

My prediction, Vman will consider STP to still be the undisputed champion of multiplier games.

[alpax]

Thought of another con between Moving Multipliers and STP.

In a 100 hand contest setting where 10 hands are played, if you get a multiplier on or after hand #91, you will not be able to gain the full benefit.

[Vman96]

You typoed a 9 in your calculations.

Personally I think Double STP is the best.   

Will be doing a bit of "unicorn hunting" on Double STP at the Cosmo sportsbook bar I'm sure. haha

I think this was a decent effort, but I feel like it might be better if they upped the multiplier frequency and made the player pay 10 credits. People are probably more used to the Ultimate X style of variance now.

And if the dice roll odds in "Hot Roll" were 1 in 5.95 instead of 1 in 6, I would be a bigger fan too.