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Theoretical Return of Recreational Online Video PokerTheoretical Return of Recreational Online Video Poker
by Mike Harrison, Strategy and Games Writer
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.
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