Video Poker: Optimum Play

• #43 in Best Gambling Books

15 Reviews

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I purchased this book because I saw a TV show that said "Video poker can be beat". I found this hard to believe but it is apparently true on some machines with perfect play. Ah, there is the rub. Along with the book I bought a computer program that teaches you how to play and shows you each error you make. It isn't real hard to learn how to play perfectly but requires a person that can really keep focused for hours on end. Most folks with the intellect to learn this could make much more money doing something (anything ?) else but if you have to gamble this is your best shot. This book with Frugal Gambler and some real effort will make your Vegas trips more fun. I don't think Vegas casinos enjoy losing so I wonder how long this will last ?

Paymar's book outlines an excellent approach to learning VP for the beginner. The optimum play strategies he uses yield close to perfect results with relatively little effort. The book is straightforward, yet also includes enough tables to serve as a useful resource once you learn the rudiments. I agree with the reader who stated that lack of a double bonus strategy is a weakness, but one can learn that fairly easily after the Jacks or Better strategy is mastered. Overall, the finest VP book for the beginner ever written.

Video Poker - Optimum Play covers everything you need to know about the best game to play in a casino. Dan Paymar covers basic strategy for Jacks-or-Better, Deuces Wild and Joker Poker, and includes quizes for each of these games that will test your knowledge. If you think that you know Video Poker (VP), try taking these quizes before reading the book. You may be very surprised by your score!

The book also contains several tables which give the expected value (EV) for each pre-draw hand for the three games listed above, as well other tables that provide the probability of hitting a royal flush in the different games (or the four deuce mini-jackpot in Deuces Wild) before your bankroll runs out. If you want to count on luck alone, don't look at these tables. However, if you want to use all the knoweldge available to the pros in your recreational play then this book is for you.

The only shortcoming of this book is that it does not cover optimal play rules for Double Bonus Poker, even though this is one of the games the book recommends because of the over 100% possible payback. Given that full-pay Joker Poker machines are becoming scarce, it would be better to spend more of the book on this widely available alternative.

If you are going to use the strategy outlined in the book, it would be worthwhile to invest in the pocket sized strategy cards that Dan Paymar has developed.

Good luck, and draw a Royal for me!

Having the discipline to play video poker correctly depends to a large extent on understanding the "Expected Value" of hands. There is no magic to this, it is pure mathematics. Yet, until reading Paymar's book, I never REALLY understood it, probably because I'm pretty much a mathematical idiot.

However, Paymar explains the concept in a clear, non-technical way while still conceding that NOBODY can play perfectly according to expected value. I went from just having blind faith in expected value to accepting it as fact.

He goes on to provide sound strategies for virtually every form of video poker.

I've been playing almost nothing but video poker in casinos for over a year (I've pretty much given up on slots) and, while I often came out ahead, I had never gotten a royal flush. A couple of months after reading this book, I hit one. Sure, luck was involved, but I credit this book with helping me maintain the discipline to play correctly.

Great coverage of probability and numbers behind the game.
Easy to follow rules that are much shorter than anything out there with very very very little dropoff in expected return. I highly recommend this book.

Playing video poker is far different from standard card based poker. This book explains what are the proper cards to hold and why. Do you draw ro an inside straight or hold a low pair. Read this book and you will know -- instead of just guessing.

The book has really good information. The problem is that is painfully boring to slog through. I have noticed an improvement in my VP playing. I am playing longer and not losing as much still in search of that magical royal.

It took me over 2 weeks to get through this book and it is only 200 pages.

Paymar's book is pretty much the definitive handbook for video poker play today. He discusses every factor involved in beating theoretically beatable games, and at least stretching your dollars and getting the most out of your play in the rest.

Dan disects each of the most popular games in detail, as well as multiple variations of each, and some of the older machines you might still run across. Each is subjected to computer payback and play analysis, and this runs to quite some length (and strictly speaking is not necessary reading). He streamlines all of this information into shorter hand flowcharts on how to play each hand to maximum potential, something which comes as quite a relief after going through his exhaustive and detailed optimum play discussion.

Further, he delves into just what the stats mean. If a game is technically beatable over the long run, what does that tell the player? Well, it means frankly a full-time career of playing video poker, all day every day for months, at almost unbelieveable speed and rapidity and of course with perfect unerring accuracy. It is not easy or simple, and I can't even imagine that it would be fun. Moreover, one's potential edge in even the very best game, with the best payback, is so microscopic, that the fluctuations in the player's bankroll, even with only slight statistical blips, are huge. Don't even think of playing full time at a quarter machine with less than $50,000 to start. His advice in this area is depressing but honest and frankly about the most important stuff in the book.

If the only thing this book does is to show the reader how to shop for a 'good' game and refuse to play short-pay ripoff games, it will be well worth the money. If your play improves as well, that's a bonus. Regular video poker players will benefit by reading this book.

This is an excellent book. It details the steps necessary to become an expert player, a professional player of Video Poker.

Optimal play is NOT perfect play. Mastering a trade is not easy. Discipline and practice are the watch words of all good Video Poker players.

I strongly suggest any fledgling video poker player read this manual to learn the basics of the odds and strategies necessary to conquer the casino video poker machines. An excellent basic, introductory text, Paymar also sells video poker training software and strategy cards that are a must for the budding or even serious player. I contribute much of my success at the game to the precepts in this book.

I was very impressed with the amount of good info packed into this book.

The book is good, but casinos seem to have adjusted their machines so it may be impossible to find machines like there were a few years ago. This means the book may be too old. That seems true on the deuces wild strategy.

Interesting facts on video poker machines. reasonable price fast service. Would recommend to anyone into video poker.

If you are learning to play the game, or want to learn a new version of VP, this is a great place to start. Good explanations as to the "why's" of the correct plays, and sound strategies for many common games.

My dog-eared copy is the first book I ever bought on Video Poker and it remains the most comprehensive guide available.