If you are on the search for playing games at online
casinos that have the potential of delivering a low
Casinos
Edge, you have probably come across the game of
online video
poker. Offering the opportunity to use mathematically
correct strategy, video poker will deliver a 99.5% return
over the long run. Sure, this sounds great, but just how
long of a "long run" are we talking about here? Well, to
answer to this question, it must first be determined how
many hands are needed to be played in order to hit the
highest paying hand on the payout table - the Royal Flush.
Since all winning hands contribute to overall return, at
least one Royal Flush will be needed to obtain an overall
99.5% return on a machine that pays out 4,000 coins for a
Royal Flush. Statistics show that a Royal Flush will be
drawn about once in every 40,000 hands, and that the Royal
Flush payout contributes to 1.98% to the overall return.
The Full House, which contributes 10.36% to the overall
payout return, will occur about once every eighty-six
hands.
The average video poker player, who will likely
spend more time determining the proper course of strategic
action, will play about 300 to 400 hands per hour
(professionals can often play twice as much as hands in an
hour). At this rate, it will take 100 hours of gambling at
a casinos video poker machines to get back the theoretical
overall return.
So the question then arises, is it
possible for the recreational or occasional online casino
gambler to benefit from the great theoretical return that
video poker machines offer? Well, this is anybody's guess.
You could log on and hit two two back to back Royal
Flushes or could spend years playing a little bit each
week and not hitting the elusive Royal Flush.
Most casino
gamblers will agree that the key for recreational video
poker players is to pay attention to the 4-of-a-Kinds and
Full Houses. As mentioned the Full House should hit about
1 every eighty-six hands, and the 4-of-a-Kind should come
up one out of 423 hands. If these hands come up more
frequent than usual, you can expect to have a profitable
session. Remember, the probability of return will even
itself out eventually, so hold true to your losing limits.
In this case, you may even want to give yourself winning
limits.
