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VIDEO POKER TUTOR Version 3.0 Panamint Software 316 California Ave. Suite 683 Reno, Nevada 89509-1669 U.S.A. THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER THE AUTHOR NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN IF THE AUTHOR HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR'S LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Nevada. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction located in Washoe County, Nevada. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts. (c) Copyright 1992-94 Panamint Software All Rights Reserved SHAREWARE AGREEMENT This software is distributed as shareware. You are entitled to use it for a limited period of time while you evaluate whether you wish to purchase it. If you decide to use it regularly, you must send a registra- tion payment to the author (please see Ordering Infor- mation in this manual). This is copyrighted software. You are not obtaining title to the software or any copyright rights. You may distribute free copies of the shareware version of this software to other interested users for them to evaluate. NOTICE This software is not intended to encourage or promote gambling. There can be no assurance that the results from this program can be effectively applied to casino gambling. Gambling should be considered as a form of entertainment only. Never gamble more than you can afford to lose! - 2 - TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction........................................4 Getting Started.....................................5 Making a Backup Copy of the Floppy Disk........5 Running From a Floppy Disk.....................5 Copying to a Hard Disk.........................5 Quick Operating Overview.......................6 Screen Appearance..............................6 The Game of Video Poker.............................8 Basics.........................................8 The Correct Play...............................9 Expected Return...............................10 Total Return..................................11 Types of Video Poker Games....................12 Other Game Variations.........................13 Progressive Jackpots..........................14 Basics Game Features...............................16 Using HELP....................................16 Using the Menus...............................16 Betting.......................................16 Dealing, Holding and Drawing Cards............17 Selecting Joker and Deuces Wild Options.......17 Error Warning.................................18 Coaching......................................18 Editing the Payoff Table......................18 Editing the High Pair Limit...................19 Editing the Credits...........................19 Restoring Default Settings....................19 Audio.........................................19 Mono..........................................19 Quitting......................................20 Advanced Game Features.............................21 Hand Analysis.................................21 Analyzing Any Hand............................22 Total Return Display..........................23 Running a Total Return Analysis...............25 Play Analysis.................................26 No Draw Mode..................................28 Autoplay......................................28 File Operations...............................28 The Shareware Concept..............................30 Ordering Information...............................30 - 3 - INTRODUCTION Chances are good that you are a part of the reason for the explosive growth in the popularity of video poker in the casinos of Nevada, Atlantic City and elsewhere. For those who tire of just watching the spinning wheels of a slot machine, here is a game that they can play. And for people used to the action of blackjack and other table games, here is a game that will challenge their skills to the limit, while offering lower wagers and a non-intimidating opponent. Video poker can be one of the best bets in the house. Many casinos offer machines with payouts that potentially exceed 100%. They would never make money doing this with slot machines, because slot machines require no skill to achieve the maximum payback. Everyone "plays" the same way. But even these high- payback video poker machines make plenty of money for the casinos, because most people don't know how to play properly. Every incorrect "hunch" that players bet on reduces the payback they can expect, until the average player would probably be better off back at their slot machine. Video Poker Tutor will allow you to practice and perfect the game of video poker using your computer, where the bets are imaginary, but the fun of becoming an expert player is real. It is more than just a simulation of video poker, because while you play, your computer is calculating the correct play of each hand using mathematically sound statistical principles. When you make a mistake, the tutor will show you the correct play. You will discover the errors you have been making, how serious they are, and how to correct them. The cumulative results for a practice session are used to check on your progress toward becoming an expert player. Advanced features allow the user to set up any desired hand for analysis, to alter the payoff tables to match any of those encountered in casinos, and to perform precise total return calculations to determine which machines offer the best long-term payback potential. You can even have the computer play thousands of perfect video poker hands to verify the strategies. Should you choose to test the skills you acquire in the casinos, you will find your fun is increased, your gambling stake goes further and your chances of coming home a winner are improved. - 4 - GETTING STARTED Probably the best way to learn about the features of Video Poker Tutor is to start the program and try it out. Remember to press the F1 key to get help at any time. You will eventually want to review the manual to learn background information and advanced topics. Making a Backup Copy of the Floppy Disk It is a good idea to make a backup copy of the Video Poker Tutor floppy disk to guard against unforeseen damage to the original disk. This is especially true if you will be running the program directly from the floppy disk rather than copying it onto your hard disk. An easy way to do this is to use the DOS DISKCOPY command. Have on hand the original and a spare floppy disk, and assuming you use the A drive, at the DOS prompt just type: DISKCOPY A: A: (followed by the <Enter> key) Running From a Floppy Disk Insert the Video Poker Tutor floppy into your computer's disk drive. Assuming this is the A drive, at the DOS prompt just type: A: (followed by the <Enter> key) VPTUTOR (followed by the <Enter> key) Leave the floppy in the drive so that your personal game configuration can be saved on it in the VPTUTOR.INI file. Copying to a Hard Disk If you wish to copy Video Poker Tutor to your hard disk, follow this procedure. These instructions will create a directory on your hard disk called \PANAMINT, and will copy the program into it. Insert the floppy into your computer's disk drive. Assuming this is the A drive, type: C: (followed by the <Enter> key) CD \ (followed by the <Enter> key) MD PANAMINT (followed by the <Enter> key) CD PANAMINT (followed by the <Enter> key) COPY A:VPTUTOR.* (followed by the <Enter> key) Then you can always type the following to run the program: - 5 - C: (followed by the <Enter> key) CD \PANAMINT (followed by the <Enter> key) VPTUTOR (followed by the <Enter> key) Quick Operating Overview Video Poker Tutor can be operated from the keyboard or with a mouse. The program will automatically detect the presence of a mouse (assuming you have loaded the mouse driver). Push the F1 key or click on the F1=HELP area at any time during operation to get an overview of the purpose of the current screen display, and how to operate the program. To use the menus, either type the first letter of the menu entry, or click on the desired entry with the mouse. This will cause a sub-menu to appear. Type the first letter of the desired sub- menu selection, or click on it. To close the sub-menu without making a selection, push the ESC key. Some of the program features operate by clicking on a command button or typing the first character of the command. Remember to use F1 at any time to get a summary of these operations. Video Poker Tutor will create (or modify if it already exists) a file called VPTUTOR.INI at the end of the program. This file is used to save the game configuration for the next time the program is used. Since this file is stored in the directory where VPTUTOR was invoked, it is important when running from a floppy to leave the diskette in the drive until the program is exited. If any commands from the FILE menu are used, the output will be stored in a file named VPTUTOR.OUT in the current directory. Screen Appearance The program operates in one of two modes, text mode or graphics mode. Among other things, this affects the appearance of the cards. In graphics mode, the cards are larger, with large symbols. In text mode, the cards are smaller, and the numbers on the cards are the same size as other numbers on the screen. If your computer has an EGA adapter (with at least 128K display memory) and an EGA-type monitor, or if you have a VGA adapter, Video Poker Tutor should automatically use the graphics mode. If you have a different adapter (MDA, CGA, MCGA) the game can only use text mode. If you believe that the automatic selection is making the wrong choice for your computer, the selection can be overridden with a command line option as follows: - 6 - VPTUTOR G (forces graphics mode) VPTUTOR T (forces text mode) Trying to force the graphics mode on a computer which can't support it will set the display timing parameters to values incompatible with your monitor. The text mode will work on any IBM-compatible computer, and should always be tried in the event of any display-related problems. - 7 - THE GAME OF VIDEO POKER Drive down the "Strip" in Las Vegas, look at the people, the lights, and the huge resort hotels and casinos. Think about how much money it has taken to build and run the place, and where the money comes from. One thing becomes crystal clear: people love to gamble. There is a thrill associated with the turn of a card or the roll of dice that appeals to some basic human desire to succeed. And the more that success depends on the skill and cunning of the player, the greater the excitement. For years, the main alternative to table games (ie. blackjack, roulette, craps, etc.) has been the slot machine. Customers not interested in facing the higher bets and intimidation for novices of the "live" games could try their luck at feeding coins into the "one-armed bandits." Unfortunately, luck was all that was involved, as tests of skill were reserved for the table games. But the electronics revolution has changed all of that, and now casinos can offer games of skill built around the same microcomputer wizardry that created your personal computer. Video poker is by far the most popular of these, and is rapidly threatening to overtake slots as the mainstay of casino gambling. Unfortunately for most players, the poker skills developed during Saturday night games around the kitchen table are not readily transferable to video poker. It's true that you'll recognize the ranks of hands, but the correct playing strategy may be dramatically different. At the kitchen table, you need to evaluate whether your hand is higher than your opponent's, and frequently the second highest hand is the biggest loser! With video poker, your playing decisions must be driven entirely by the payoff table. You must trade off the chances of achieving a certain hand by the amount of the corresponding payoff. Often the correct play will be "intuitive," but frequently it will not. Many times a player when twice faced with the same playing decision will choose different solutions. Although this "got a hunch, bet a bunch" approach can work for individual hands, in the long run the laws of statistics doom it to failure. The best way to make your gambling stake go the farthest is to learn the lessons that Video Poker Tutor can teach you! Basics A game of video poker begins with the player placing a bet. Usually this is from one to five coins (nickels, quarters, or sometimes dollars). The result of betting more than one coin is that the payoffs are scaled accordingly. If you bet three coins, you will win three times as much for a winning hand as if you bet one coin. The important exception to this rule is this: on most machines, if you bet the maximum number of coins (ie. usually - 8 - five), a special jackpot value will be awarded if you achieve a very high hand (eg. royal flush). Once the bet is placed, the player pushes a "deal" button, and five cards are dealt from a freshly shuffled deck. These five cards are called the initial hand. Most machines will indicate if these five cards already form a winning hand. The player then selects any number of the cards to be "held," and pushes the "draw" button. The cards not held are replaced with cards from the deck, forming the final hand. If the hand is a winner, the corresponding payoff is made. Rather than releasing coins, most newer machines maintain a running total of the player's "credits," which allows faster play and less handling of money. It sounds pretty simple, and it is, if all you want to do is make a guess at the correct cards to hold. But with five cards, and two alternatives for each card (hold or discard), there are 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 32 different possible combinations of cards to keep. The odds of consistently making the right choice aren't high without the help of Video Poker Tutor. The Correct Play First of all, to be successful at video poker, you have to believe that there is a "correct" way to play each hand. What do we mean by "correct?" If we could see the next five cards available to be drawn, we could certainly agree on which cards to keep to get the highest payoff. This definition of "correct" isn't of much use, since it depends on information unavailable to us. And unless you believe that you are psychic, a strategy dependent on guessing the upcoming cards (having a "hunch") is no better. Since during the course of playing video poker, the player will be faced with similar decisions time after time, our definition of "correct" will hinge on maximizing the long-term payback of the game. When playing a single hand, it is not often apparent that it was played correctly. If you hold four spades trying to draw a fifth one for a flush, and you draw a heart instead, you obviously would have been better off trying something else. But if you are dealt that same four spade hand hundreds or thousands of times, you can count with confidence on filling your flush a certain percentage of the time (9/47 of the time, in fact, since 9 of the remaining 47 cards are spades). Thus the "correct" play for each hand is the one that, if made consistently time and time again, will result in the greatest winnings (or smallest loss) in the long run. Becoming an expert video poker player requires learning how to select the correct play in every case. - 9 - Expected Return In order to quantify this concept of correctness, we need to assign a value to represent the long-term payback which corresponds to a particular way of playing a hand. The expected return (ER) is the average amount of coins that will be returned when a particular hand is played in a particular way over and over again. Let's use our previous example of an initial hand with four spades again. Suppose we have been dealt the following cards (S stands for spades, C for clubs, etc.): 3S 4S 5S 8S 6C Further, let's imagine that a final hand of a flush pays six coins for the one we bet. Then we can calculate the expected return of holding the four spades and discarding the club as 9/47 times 6 coins, or 1.149 coins. If we play that hand many times, 9/47 of the time we will win 6 coins, and 38/47 of the time we won't win anything. So on average, we will win 1.149 coins for each hand. Since we only bet one coin, this hand promises on average, to be a winner. Of course, there are other ways to play the hand. For example, we could discard the 8S. In this case, 8/47 of the time, we would draw a 2 or 7 and complete a straight. If a straight pays four coins, the ER is 0.681. Or we could hold all five cards, in which case we would never win anything, giving an ER of 0. Both of these cases are long term losing hands, since they pay back less than the bet. Of course, often the correct play will involve an ER which is less than the bet. It is still crucial in this situation to make the right play and minimize the damage. Remember that there are 32 ways an initial hand can be played. Determining the correct play requires calculating the expected return of each of these 32 cases, and picking the highest one. Our examples were simple cases; in each case no more than one card was drawn and only one possible winning hand could result. In practice, the calculation can be much more complex. For example, if all five initial cards are discarded, the remaining 47 cards can form 1,533,939 unique hands. To determine the ER requires finding what fraction of these hands fall into each payoff type, multiplying each by the payoff amount and summing the results. Video Poker Tutor performs this expected return calculation each time it deals the player a hand, and can therefore check for correct play. Notice that the ER and therefore the correct play depends entirely on the particular payoffs for winning hand types. Playing two video poker machines with different payoff tables requires different strategies, even if the machines are - 10 - otherwise similar. Fortunately, Video Poker Tutor allows the user to alter the payoff table, and therefore allows practicing for different types of machines. This is only possible because the ER calculations are performed "live," rather than being looked up in a pre-calculated chart. Total Return We now have a basis for deciding how to play each hand that faces us in video poker. We know from the expected return of the correct play whether that hand is a winner (ER greater than the bet) or loser in the long term. But we haven't got the same information about the overall game. When we sit down to a game, should we expect to win or lose? How can we compare two machines with different payoff tables? We need a measure analogous to expected return, but for the entire game rather than just a hand. Total return (TR) is the average number of coins returned in the long run from a video poker game, expressed as a percentage of coins bet, assuming each hand is played correctly. The total return of a machine is calculated from the expected return of each possible initial hand. The 52 cards in a shuffled deck can produce 2,598,960 unique initial hands. Each of these hands is equally likely to be dealt, and each has an ER for the correct play which is calculated as described earlier. By summing all these ERs, and dividing by the 2,598,960 coin "bet" needed on average to be dealt these hands, the TR is determined. Video Poker Tutor will allow the user to calculate the total return of a video poker game with an arbitrary set of payoffs. If a machine's total return is less than 100%, then even perfect play will eventually result in a loss. If the return is greater that 100%, playing long enough should eventually result in winning. However, as a practical matter, huge numbers of hands must be played to be reasonably certain of attaining a result near the total return figure. For example, a royal flush occurs just once every 40,390 hands on average when betting five coins on the default version of Jacks or Better. Of course, if you play only that many hands, you may not get a royal flush at all, or you may get two or even more. You need to play enough hands to expect to get an "average" number of royal flushes before being confident of achieving results consistent with the total return. This means playing on the order of 1,000,000 hands of video poker. Even at an expert pace of 500 hands per hour, this will take 2000 hours, or about a year's worth of 40 hour weeks! In any reasonable playing session, or even in a long Las Vegas vacation, a player will do better or worse than the total return, - 11 - depending mainly on luck. But it is still important to pick the best machine to play on, and to play it expertly to make your gambling stake last long enough for you to hope to hit the big payoff! Types of Video Poker Games The first video poker games to be introduced paid off on hands with two pair or greater. The addition of a payoff for a high pair created the immensely popular Jacks or Better type of machine. Various pay tables can be found of this type of machine, including some that also pay on a pair of tens (Tens or Better). Of course, as the number of winning hands increases, the payoff values are adjusted downward to keep the total return in line with the particular casino's objectives. Next, video poker game manufacturers added wild cards to the deck. Including a joker created a 53-card game of Joker Wild. The wild card adds excitement by making high hands more common, and adding the possibility of achieving five of a kind. Another popular version is Deuces Wild, where the four 2s are wild cards. A hand with four deuces is rewarded with a special payoff (usually 200 : 1). Finally, both schemes are combined in the Deuces Wild with Joker game, where five wild cards are available. And if you happen to get the four deuces and joker in one hand, you have achieved the highest hand possible in today's video poker (and a payoff of 10,000 coins for a bet of five). Two Pair Jacks or Joker Deuces Deuces or Better Better Wild Wild w/Joker --------- -------- ----- ------ ------- Five Wilds* 2000 Royal Flush* 1000 800 800 800 250 Four Deuces 200 25 Royal w/Wild 100 25 12 Five of a Kind 200 15 9 Straight Flush 100 50 50 9 6 Four of a Kind 50 25 20 5 3 Full House 11 9 7 3 3 Flush 7 6 5 2 3 Straight 5 4 3 2 2 Three of a Kind 3 3 2 1 1 Two Pair 2 2 1 Kings or Better 1 Jacks or Better 1 Total Return 93.9% 99.5% 100.6% 100.8% 98.0% * These are payoffs per coin for the maximum 5 coin bet. - 12 - The preceding chart summarizes versions of these games with the most generous payoffs (but still easily found, at least in Las Vegas). There are a few interesting points to note about the payoff tables. First, the total returns for video poker can be quite good. Some games even have returns which exceed 100% (remember, only for expert players). Second, otherwise identical machines can have different payoffs. Always look at the pay table when deciding which machine to play (or in which casino). Third, the payoff tables are always more generous on quarter machines than on nickel machines. People play at nickel machines to make their gambling budget go further, but they don't always accomplish their goal. Betting nickels on a 95% machine will on average lose the same amount of money as betting quarters on a 99% machine. The long-term loss rate is just 100% minus the total return (in this case, 5% for the nickels, but only 1% for the quarters). Of course, the potential swings are five times greater on the quarter machine, but then, that's what makes it gambling. Fourth, most machines reward the player who bets the maximum number of coins with an improved payoff (jackpot) for the highest hand. Almost no machines have a 100%+ payoff when less than the maximum bet is placed. You need to trade off the chance of hitting the jackpot during your playing session with the chance of losing your stake before the end of your trip in deciding how many coins to play. Consistent, long-term, expert video poker players should always play the maximum number of coins on favorable machines. Other Game Variations To continue to hold the interest of video poker players, casinos have introduced other variations to these games. Many Jacks or Better machines offer higher payoffs on certain values of four of a kind hands. For example, a hand of four aces or four eights may pay more than four of any other value. These "Bonus Four of a Kind" machines add fun to the game by adding a payoff between the four of a kind and the elusive straight flush. Another popular addition to the game is a super jackpot for a sequential royal flush. A royal flush is sequential when the cards appear on the screen in order 10 through A or A through 10. Some casinos will pay extra for either order, while some will just pay for one case. Since there are 120 different orderings in which the cards may appear, the hand is rare, and the payoff can be 20,000 : 1 or more. - 13 - To satisfy players of Deuces Wild games who feel frustrated when they achieve a natural (no wild cards) straight flush or four of a kind but don't get paid extra for it, machines have been introduced with bonus payoffs for these hands. The shareware version of Video Poker Tutor which you are evaluating supports the non-wild card versions of video poker (except for Bonus Four of a Kind and Sequential Royals). Its default configuration when played for the first time (with no VPTUTOR.INI file present) is the Jacks or Better game shown above, but it can be set up by the player to master other games as well. Modify the pay tables (including a 0 payoff for high pairs) to get the Two Pair or Better game, or change the high pair limit and payoffs to model various Tens or Better versions. Run total return calculations to compare video poker games you encounter. Remember that machines with different pay tables require playing the hands differently, so always set the program to match the machine you intend to play. Users who decide they wish to continue using Video Poker Tutor must send in a registration payment. They will receive the latest version of software, which also includes support of Bonus Four of a Kind, Joker Wild, Deuces Wild, Deuces Wild with Joker, Sequential Royal and other game variations. Progressive Jackpots In order to entice players with the possibility of hitting a payoff even bigger than the usual jackpot, many casinos offer video poker games with a progressive jackpot. A number of machines in the casino (or in a number of casinos) are linked together electronically. A tiny portion of each bet placed is added to the maximum coin royal flush (or other high hand) jackpot, which continues to grow until some lucky player hits it. Once hit, the jackpot is reset to the usual non-progressive value. If no one hits the jackpot for quite a while, it can grow very large, and add significantly to the machine's total return. You may discover situations offering paybacks of 102% or more. If you do, you will probably have to fight for a seat! You can use Video Poker Tutor both to calculate how large a progressive needs to be to entice you to play, and to teach you the correct playing strategy for those situations. A typical Jacks or Better progressive machine reduces the flush payoff to five coins and the full house payoff to eight (in the language of video poker this is called a five-eight game). With these changes, set the bet to five and modify the royal flush five coin jackpot to 8665 coins (which represents a progressive of $2166.25 on a quarter machine). A total return calculation will reveal an expected return of exactly 100%. Now increase the jackpot to 10000 coins or more. As you practice, you will find your playing - 14 - decisions must change as you reach to hit that jackpot. Just remember when setting up the program to match progressive values seen in casinos that the payoff must be entered in coins in the pay table, whereas it is usually shown in dollars in the casino display. - 15 - BASIC GAME FEATURES Review these basic game features to allow you to quickly start enjoying learning about the game of video poker. Using Help Getting help at any time is easy: just push the key labeled F1. Or, with a mouse, click on the F1=HELP message. The help screens will instruct you on how to operate the game, plus provide a quick overview on the purpose of the current display screen. Using the Menus Menus are used as a way to move among display screens, select game options and perform other actions. Complete descriptions of these operations can be found in this manual. From the keyboard, activate the menus by typing the first letter of any of the main headings. A sub-menu will appear. Select a sub-menu item by typing its first letter, or by moving the highlighted selection using the UP and DOWN arrow keys and pressing <Enter>. Close the sub-menu without making a selection by typing the key labeled ESC. If you have a mouse, you can display a sub-menu by positioning the cursor on the desired menu item and pressing the left button. If you keep holding the mouse button, you can move the cursor to highlight the desired sub-menu choice. Release the button to select that choice. Release the button with the cursor outside of the sub-menu area if you do not wish to make any choice. You can also just click the mouse button to open a sub-menu, and then click again on the desired choice. In this case, click outside the sub-menu to close it without any selection. Betting The current bet size is displayed on the main screen. To change the bet before playing a hand type the number key (1 through 5) corresponding to the desired bet. With a mouse, click on the BET 1 button to increment the bet, or the BET 5 button to set it to the maximum value. The bet size will remain the same from hand to hand, and it is not necessary to set it each time. The payoffs shown in the payoff table will scale when the bet is changed to reflect the amount to be credited for each hand type. If the bet is five, the jackpot value is shown for the royal flush. - 16 - Dealing, Holding and Drawing Cards To have the game deal the initial hand, type the <Space> or <Enter> key. Using a mouse, click on the DEAL button, or if your mouse has two or more buttons, just click the right button. If the initial hand is already a winner, the hand type will be highlighted in the payoff display. To select cards to hold, use the number keys 1 through 5. The 1 corresponds to the left-most card. Or, click with a mouse directly on the card to be held. The word HELD will appear above the selected card. To change a selection, just repeat the procedure on that card. Finally, when you are satisfied with the cards being held, type the <Space> or <Enter> key, click on the DRAW button, or click the right mouse button. If you have made the correct selection, new cards will be dealt to replace those not held. If you have not made the best choice and the WARN mode is on, an error indication will be displayed, and the correct play will be shown beneath the cards. Video Poker Tutor separates errors into three classes: minor, moderate and serious. The distinction is made by comparing the expected return of the hold selection you made with the ER of the correct selection. If your choice has an ER within 5% of the best one, the error is labeled minor. If your choice fell short by an amount between 5% and 20%, the error is moderate. Any choice whose ER is more than 20% less than the best one is serious. The error indication will show the class, and will also give the expected returns of the player's choice and the correct choice. If a playing error was displayed, the DRAW command must be given a second time to finish the hand. It is not possible to change card selections after the error is shown. If the final hand is a winner, the hand type will be highlighted and the payoff added to the credits. Selecting Joker and Deuces Wild Options Wild cards add excitement to the game of video poker, and machines with Joker and Deuces Wild features are widely available. In fact, versions of pay tables for these games commonly found in Las Vegas offer total returns slightly in excess of 100%! This shareware evaluation version of Video Poker Tutor does not support wild card games. However, users who send their registration payment will receive the most up-to-date version of - 17 - the software and documentation, which include options for Bonus Four of a Kind, Joker Wild, Deuces Wild, Deuces Wild with Joker, Sequential Royal and other game variations. Error Warning Each hand you play is checked by the program to see if you held the correct cards. The number and type of errors made can always be seen in the ANALYZE PLAY screen (see below). The MODE WARN command is used to have the program also display an error message below the cards as soon as the error is made. If you wish to learn which hands you played incorrectly, leave the game in WARN mode. If instead, you do not wish your play to be interrupted by error warnings, use the MODE WARN command to disable WARN mode. Coaching When in the early stages of learning a new variation of video poker, it can be helpful to have the game show you the correct cards to hold for each hand. This can be an easier way to learn than making repeated errors. Use the MODE COACH command to choose if you wish the correct hold/draw information to be displayed for each hand. Editing the Payoff Table Because Video Poker Tutor analyzes each hand as you play it, it is possible to alter the payoff schedule and practice playing on a machine with any real or imaginary payoffs. If you wish to practice for play on a particular video poker machine, you must set the payoffs to match that machine to get correct play advice. The game maintains a basic pay table for a bet of one that gets scaled according to the actual bet. Also a special royal flush jackpot is used when the bet is set to five. To edit the basic table, set the bet to one, and then either select the EDIT PAYOFFS command from the menu, or click on the number to be changed. To edit the jackpot, set the bet to five before selecting the command. The entry to be changed will be highlighted. If you wish to change that entry, type in a new number. To leave that number unchanged, but to edit another, use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to highlight the desired entry. Once a new value has been typed, use the arrow keys to highlight another to be changed, or type the <Enter> key to end the command. - 18 - Payoffs are limited to be no more than 100 times the size of the default payoff for that hand type. Also, no payoff can exceed 65,535 coins for a bet of five (13,107 for a bet of one). Editing the High Pair Limit To change the winning high pair limit from the default value of JACKS OR BETTER, select the EDIT HIGH PAIR command from the menu, or click on the words in the pay table. The limit indication will be highlighted. Use the UP and DOWN arrow keys to change the value, and type <Enter> when done. To eliminate a payoff for a high pair (for example, to play a Two Pair or Better game), set the high pair payoff to zero. Also setting the high pair limit to PAIR OF ACES will improve performance slightly, but isn't required. Editing the Credits The current credit balance can be altered by selecting the EDIT CREDITS command, or clicking with a mouse on the credit display. Type in a new number, and <Enter> to complete the command. It is not necessary to increase the credits if they approach zero. The game will indicate negative credits if required. Restoring Default Settings Video Poker Tutor contains default settings for payoffs, high pair limit and credits, and default data from a total return calculation made with these settings (with a bet of five). Since user modifications to these settings are saved between uses of the game, the only convenient way to restore these settings is to select the EDIT SET DEFAULTS command from the menu. If you have completed a total return analysis with non-default settings, you may wish to save it before restoring the defaults (see the FILE GAME command). Audio The sound effects can be toggled on and off by selecting the OPTIONS AUDIO command from the menu. Mono Users with monochrome and LCD screens may wish to play the game in mono mode. This mode is toggled on and off using the OPTIONS MONO command. - 19 - Quitting To quit the program, select QUIT from the main menu. Choose SAVE from the sub-menu if you wish to save the current number of credits and cumulative play information from the ANALYZE PLAY screen for your next session. Select NO SAVE to start the next time with 1000 credits and the play information cleared. At this point, the current user configuration is saved in a file called VPTUTOR.INI in the directory where VPTUTOR.EXE resides (for DOS versions before 3.0, VPTUTOR.INI may be placed in the current directory instead). The configuration includes any changes made to the payoffs, high pair limit, total return calculation results and other data associated with the program. This configuration will be restored the next time the game is played. Note that this configuration data is kept from session to session no matter whether SAVE or NO SAVE is chosen to quit the program. - 20 - ADVANCED GAME FEATURES Video Poker Tutor offers the interested player the ability to analyze the details involved in expert play. With these advanced features, the user's skills can be honed to a fine edge. Hand Analysis As has been discussed, Video Poker Tutor calculates the expected return of each of the 32 possible hold/draw combinations for every hand played. The data generated by these calculations can be viewed by selecting the ANALYZE HAND command. This command can be quickly invoked after a new hand is dealt by using the shortcut of typing H, or clicking on the HAND INFO button. The cards held for each combination are shown on the left edge of the screen. The hold/draw combinations are sorted by expected return from the top to the bottom, so the correct play is at the top. Sometimes there are two or more correct ways to play the hand, with the exact same ER. In that case, the game will accept any of them during play without giving an error message. The column next to the one showing the cards held is labeled TOTAL. The numbers in this column show how many unique hands can be formed when cards from the deck are used to replace the discards for that combination. This number only depends on how many cards are discarded, not on which ones. When five cards are originally dealt from a 52 card deck, 47 remain. So if one card is discarded, there are 47 unique hands possible when a new card is drawn. If two cards are discarded, it turns out that 1081 hands can be formed, etc. The headings of the following data columns indicate (with abbreviations) the various types of winning hands appearing on the pay table. In these columns is shown how many of the total possible resulting hands will fall into each payoff category. For example, imagine the initial hand in a non-wild card game was: 4S 4D 7C 8C 9C In the ANALYZE HAND display, the row associated with holding the two 4s and discarding the rest will be marked "4 4 - - -". The TOTAL column will show that 16,215 different outcomes are possible in this situation. Of these, 11,559 will be losers ("GARBAGE"). There will be no high pairs possible (this sounds strange at first, but if a high pair is drawn, that along with the pair of 4s gives a final hand of two pair). There are 2592 two pair hands, 1854 three of a kinds, 165 full houses and 45 four of a kinds possible. Add all these outcomes together, and you get the 16,215 total shown in the first column. - 21 - From these figures and the payoffs for each hand type, the expected return of each case is shown in the right hand column. Remember that this ER value must be compared with the current bet when deciding if this hand is a long-term winner or loser. The same initial hand will show different ER values based on both the payoffs and the bet. Only half of the 32 cases can be shown on the screen at once. The display initially shows the best 16 possibilities. To switch back and forth to the other 16, type P, or click on the PAGE UP / PAGE DOWN button. The ANALYZE HAND feature can be used to compare various possibilities when playing a hand. It will show when a hand is a long-term winner or loser. The player can see what the odds are of hitting a certain winning hand based on the cards drawn. When an error is made, it is informative to see how the chosen cards compare to the correct play. Did you make the second best choice, or were you further off base? Sometimes the correct play seems counter-intuitive, and in these cases it is reassuring to see the cold statistics which back up the advice. Since the most recently dealt initial hand is always displayed, the player can review the hand even after drawing new cards. This is fun when it seems a real "long shot" hand has been drawn. When you throw away five cards and then draw a royal flush, you can go back and marvel at the odds overcome! Type <Space> or <Enter>, or click on DONE to get back to the main display. Analyzing Any Hand Often, a user will have a question about the play of a specific hand in mind. Sometimes this is a result of a situation that arose during casino play. Or perhaps you wish to compile a list of how to play typical hands. From the ANALYZE HAND screen display, type N or click on NEW HAND to select any hand for analysis. The display will show all the cards in miniature on the screen. Select five cards by moving the selector around with the arrow keys and typing <Enter>, or click on the cards with a mouse. If you change your mind about your selections type C or click on the CLEAR button to start over. Once five cards are chosen, the ANALYZE HAND screen will automatically appear. The statistical breakdown of the selected hand will be shown using the currently defined payoffs and bet. - 22 - You may wish to use this feature to create a "cheat sheet" of hand rankings to use during casino play. Set the payoffs to match the game you intend to play. Make up a list of typical initial hand types such as low pair, high pair, four cards to a flush or three cards to straight flush (outside, inside or double inside). Then analyze a representative hand of that type, and note the correct play and its expected return. Order your list according to expected return. Don't forget to include a typical case with "nothing" in the initial hand to put at the bottom of the list. Drawing five cards is often better than, say, trying to fill an inside straight (depending on game and payoffs). Then, try out your list during a practice session. Compare the hands you are dealt with your list to determine the correct play when a hand could be played two or more ways. Pick the play with the higher ER (ie. closer to the top of your list). Total Return Display One of the key features of Video Poker Tutor is its ability to calculate for the user the long-term total return of a video poker game with arbitrary pay tables. Depending on where you like to play video poker, what wild card options you enjoy, what coin denomination you use, what progressive payoff values you encounter and other factors, you will be faced with a wide variety of games. Deciding which of these games make the best use of your gambling entertainment dollar is the function of total return analysis. Once you settle on a favorite, you may wish to practice this game exclusively to avoid confusion. Recall that total return is calculated from the expected returns of all possible correctly played initial hands. So anything that affects the ER of a particular hand will change a machine's TR. This includes the presence of wild cards, the pay table, high pair limit, etc. And since most machines have a jackpot for the highest hand when the maximum coins are bet, the total return is higher for the maximum bet than for a smaller bet. However, since the TR is a percentage of the total amount bet, it is not affected by the linear scaling of the payoffs with the bet. Thus, for a bet of one through four coins, the TR will not change. Video Poker Tutor contains the pre-calculated data for the total return of the default Jacks or Better game with a bet of five (ie. with the 4000 coin default jackpot). To view this data, use the EDIT SET DEFAULTS command if necessary to restore default settings, and set the bet to five. Then choose the ANALYZE GAME command from the menu. The total return display screen will appear. - 23 - For each type of winning hand, the theoretical frequency of its occurrence is shown. This frequency is also expressed as the average number of hands played between hitting that type. For reference purposes, the bet and payoffs that were used in performing the calculation are shown. In the rightmost column, the contribution to the total return made by each type of hand is displayed. This is expressed as a percentage of the total amount bet. For example, if you bet 1000 coins in a session of video poker using these default payoffs and a bet of five, on average 21.459% of that, or 214.59 coins would be paid back due to hitting Jacks or Better winners. The returns of each of the winning hand types are summed to arrive at the total return for the game. For the default case, this is shown (with a reminder that this implies perfect play) as 99.544%. Since this is below 100%, we can expect in the very long run that this machine can not be beaten. Studying the total return results can yield a lot of information about what to expect when playing video poker. You can make some guesses about how your returns will differ from the TR due to the relatively few number of hands played. For example in the default data, fully 1.981% of the total return comes from hitting the royal flush jackpot. But if you play video poker at this machine for an evening, you will probably only play about 1500 hands (an average player plays about 300 or so hands per hour). Your chances of hitting that jackpot are only 3.65% (calculated as 1 - (40389 / 40390)^1500). Assuming you don't hit that 27 : 1 chance, you can subtract the 1.981% from your TR expectations. This means that usually you will get a return averaging 97.563%. Of course, if you play only 1500 hands, you probably won't hit the straight flush either. However, your chances are better (15%). The good news is that when you do hit these long shots, you are most likely going to end your session as a winner (a big winner in the case of the royal flush). So for the casino player, the game of video poker boils down to playing the common hands expertly to minimize losses while hoping to hit the big winner. Different games offer a player the chance to choose how much of the total return comes from the long-shot hand. For example, the Deuces Wild game offering a 100.8% total return has a TR of 99% when the royal flush jackpot is excluded. Of this, about 4.1% comes from the four deuces winner, which happens on average each 4909 hands. This is common enough so that a player has a good chance of seeing one in a playing session, and yet it pays 200 : 1, almost ensuring leaving the machine as a winner. Plus this payoff doesn't require a five coin bet, so this machine is a good choice for a budget-minded single coin bettor. - 24 - Running a Total Return Analysis If you change the default pay table, or choose a bet other than the maximum and then select the ANALYZE GAME command you will have an opportunity to run a total return analysis. Rather than immediately displaying total return data that does not correspond to the current game settings, the game will give you three options. First, you can cancel the command and return to the main display by typing C or clicking on the CANCEL button. Second, you can choose to see the existing TR display anyway by typing E or clicking on EXISTING. Or third, you can begin a new total return analysis based on the current pay table and bet settings. Often, looking at the existing data will still present a fairly accurate picture of the current game. If the difference between the pay table used for the existing display and the current settings is not great, it is fairly easy to estimate the impact of the changes. This is done by assuming that the frequency of the final hands is the same, and just adjusting the TR due to the difference in the payoffs. For example, to estimate the total return of the default Jacks or Better game with a bet of less than the maximum, it is only necessary to adjust the contribution of the royal flush hand. Rather than the jackpot payoff of 4000 coins for a bet of five (ie. 800 : 1), a bet of less than five will return only 250 : 1. So the 1.981% contribution to the TR of the royal flush for a bet of five is reduced to 0.619% (250/800 times 1.981). The game's total return can be estimated to drop by the difference, down to 98.18%. This type of estimate will always understate the actual total return possible. This is because it fails to account for the different way certain hands should be played with the new settings. As a result, the estimate is not always including the correct play for each hand. Consider the hand: 2S 3H 10S JS QS With a bet of five in the default game, the correct play is to keep the 10S, JS and QS, and try to draw the royal flush. If the bet is one however, making a royal flush less valuable, the correct play is to keep the four spades. Performing a new total return calculation with a bet of one will reveal the actual TR is 98.37%. To perform a new total return calculation, type N or click on NEW. This procedure requires a lot of computation. On a floating-point equipped 12 MHz 286 machine, this is about an eight hour job (most conveniently performed overnight). You may experience a significantly different result than this depending - 25 - on your computer's performance. In any event, Video Poker Tutor will first check your computer's speed and present you with an estimate of how long the process will take. Type N or click on NO if you do not wish to proceed once seeing the estimate. If you type Y or click on YES, the total return calculation will begin. Once the analysis begins, the screen will show the percentage completed. Aborting the process at this point can be accomplished only by typing ^C (ie. hold down the CTRL key and press C). This will cause the partially completed data to be lost, restoring the default TR data, and Video Poker Tutor will be exited. When the calculations are completed, the total return display will automatically appear to show the results. This data will have replaced the default TR data, so you can switch back and forth among the game screens and still return to see it again. Plus, the data will be stored in the VPTUTOR.INI file when you exit the game, and will be restored for future practice sessions. The data will persist until either an EDIT SET DEFAULTS command is given, or a new total return calculation is begun. Play Analysis One of the best uses of Video Poker Tutor is to practice and improve your playing skills. During and after a practice session, use the ANALYZE PLAY command to see how well you are doing. This display screen will present a wealth of useful information about how your skills are progressing. The total number of hands played and the total amount bet and won is shown at the upper left. The ratio of winnings to bets placed is shown as the return. This number should ideally approach the total return of the game as larger and larger numbers of hands are played. The elapsed game time is shown, and is used to calculate the hands per hour played. Don't worry about your playing speed when learning the game. Remember, the idea is just to have fun. But serious players who find an attractive progressive jackpot will be very interested in playing as quickly as possible (without making errors) to have the best chance of being the person who collects. In this case, shoot for 500 hands per hour as a speed goal, although the best players may sustain 700! At the top center of the screen, your playing errors are summarized. The count of each category of errors is shown, and so is the total error count. An occasional minor error is acceptable, as sometimes a hand can be played in two ways with very similar expected returns. But practice to eliminate - 26 - moderate and especially serious errors. If you are trying to improve playing speed but are still making these types of errors, just slow down. The only thing worse than playing poorly at a slow pace is doing it quickly! The ratio of hands played correctly to total hands is listed as accuracy. A much better indicator of playing skill than the error accuracy is shown at the top right of the screen. The ER Possible is the cumulative sum of the expected return for the correct play of each hand dealt. This number indicates the average amount of winnings you could expect with perfect play if you were dealt that exact same set of hands over and over again. Compare this value with the total bets placed. If it is bigger, this means you have been somewhat lucky with the initial five card hands you received. If it much less than the bets placed, you have on average been dealt poor hands. The ER Achieved is the cumulative sum of the expected return for the play you actually made for each hand. If you played perfectly, it is the same as the ER Possible value. For each error you made, it dropped further behind the ER Possible, because you lowered your expected return for that hand by playing incorrectly. The bigger the mistake you made, the bigger the discrepancy became. The ratio of ER Achieved to ER Possible is shown as the ER Accuracy. This is the best measure of how accurately you play video poker. It shows the percentage of the theoretical total return that you are likely to achieve at your current level of skill. Multiply this ER Accuracy by the game's TR to estimate what long-term return you can expect if you continue to make the same types of errors. Try to improve your skills until you can maintain an ER Accuracy of 99.9% or better for long practice sessions. Only by doing this can you hope to attain near the game's total return in the long run. For fun, you can compare the ER Achieved number with the total amount won for the playing session. For huge numbers of hands, these two numbers should converge, but in the short run this comparison gives you an idea of how lucky you were when drawing cards to form final hands. If you won more than the ER Achieved, it means you filled in your hands with better than average cards. You will recognize the chart filling the lower part of the ANALYZE PLAY display as being similar to the total return display. The key difference is that the total return display shows the long-term theoretical values, while the play analysis shows your actual results. For huge numbers of hands played perfectly these values should be similar. For shorter playing sessions, it is interesting to compare the two displays. - 27 - No Draw Mode All of the skill in playing video poker is involved in selecting which cards from the initial hand to keep and which to replace. What happens when you draw the new cards is entirely luck (of course, this is where a lot of the fun comes in). If your goal is to make the maximum use of your practice time, the drawing of new cards can be dispensed with. Use the MODE NO DRAW command to select NO DRAW mode, and the DRAW button will never appear. Instead, once you have selected the cards to hold, click again on the DEAL button. Your play will be checked for error, and then a new initial hand will be dealt. While in NO DRAW mode, the credits will not change, and only error statistics will be accumulated for the ANALYZE PLAY screen. Autoplay It can be fun and instructive to have Video Poker Tutor play the game automatically. Choose the MODE SLOW AUTOPLAY command to have the program play perfect video poker while you watch. The card dealing and winner payoff will happen at the normal pace. Choose the MODE FAST AUTOPLAY command, and the computer will play hands of video poker as quickly as possible (turn off the audio to get the maximum speed). Run relatively short sessions to get an idea of the range of results that are possible when you play for a few hours in the casinos. When run for overnight or longer periods, this command allows a way to verify the theoretical total return calculations. Use the play analysis features to see how the results for a long run compare to the predictions. In FAST AUTOPLAY mode, the credit display is updated only once every 100 hands to increase speed (graphics mode only). It isn't necessary to turn off the autoplay to check the results in the middle of a run. Just select a command (eg. ANALYZE PLAY) from the menu as usual. When you return to the main screen, the autoplay session will resume. File Operations After your computer works all night running a total return calculation or an autoplay session, it is nice to have a way to permanently save (or print) the results. This is the purpose of the file operations. The FILE HAND, FILE GAME and FILE PLAY commands will save the results of the ANALYZE HAND, ANALYZE GAME and ANALYZE PLAY operations. The first time one of these commands is selected during a session of Video Poker Tutor a file named VPTUTOR.OUT will be created in the current directory. If the file already - 28 - exists from a previous session, it will be overwritten, so be sure to rename files which you wish to keep permanently after exiting. For the duration of the session, additional file commands will append data to VPTUTOR.OUT. To save the data from a "new hand" analysis, be sure to invoke the FILE HAND command from the hand analysis display screen. Otherwise, this file command will save the analysis of the most recently dealt hand. - 29 - THE SHAREWARE CONCEPT The version of Video Poker Tutor that you are using is being marketed under a concept known as shareware. This amounts to allowing interested users to try out software before they buy it. After a reasonable trial period you must either send a registration payment to the author of the program, or stop using it. Shareware authors depend on your honesty to make this marketing alternative work. Shareware allows the availability of thousands of quality software products, often with a lower price and more features than available from more traditional software publishers. If you paid a small fee to a disk distributor for a copy of Video Poker Tutor, this does not entitle you to unlimited use of the program. None of this fee went to the author of the program. The distributor is obligated to state clearly that this product is shareware, and therefore subject to a registration fee for continued use. Please notify the author if this has not been the case. Many hours of careful work has gone into the creation of Video Poker Tutor. If you find this to be a useful program, please send a registration payment. Your payment will probably be returned with interest when you next apply your new video poker skills in a casino. Registered users will receive the latest version of software and documentation, which includes support of Bonus Four of a Kind, Joker Wild, Deuces Wild, Deuces Wild with Joker, Sequential Royal and other game variations. Also, registered users are entitled to free support via mail, and will occasionally receive updates regarding new product introductions. ORDERING INFORMATION The fee to receive a registered copy of Video Poker Tutor is $25.00 ($30.00 outside the US). Please send a check or money order payable to Panamint Software (in US dollars drawn on a US bank), or US currency to: Panamint Software 316 California Ave. Suite 683 Reno, NV 89509-1669 U.S.A. Nevada residents, please add $1.75 sales tax. Include your address, and specify desired floppy disk size (3 1/2" or 5 1/4"). A registration form can be printed on your printer by typing P at the shareware notice screen which is displayed when starting the program. - 30 -