You know, video poker is full of streaks. Since every hand is independent ( meaning the results of hand n don't influence the results of hand n+1), you are playing a whole bunch of 1 hand sessions and will have all kinds of winning and losing streaks.
Play hand 1, lose. Must be on a losing streak ( 1 hand long). Play hand 2. Hit 2 pair, woo hoo, what a hot streak ( of 1 hand). Every hand in this session has been a winner. I'm having a 200% session ( assuming Jacks or better type pay table). Hand 3, hit a straight. This is fantastic, I'm on a real hummer. This is a 400% session. Hand 4 is a loser. Darn, another losing streak.
Sure sounds silly, doesn't it? But if you believe video poker hands are independent and the hand selection is at least as random as a person dealing cards with 7 shuffles, streaks are just reporting your results. If you believe that hand number 8 is more likely to be a winner if hand 1 -7 are winners, then you don't buy into the independent trials idea.
Here's another way of looking at it. Flip a coin 10 times. If the events come out HHHHHTTTTT and you think that is 'more rare' than the sequence HHTHHTHTTT, then you don't believe in the independent trials concept.
And if you don't believe in independent trials, why would you play? I guess if you can figure out the non randomness you think exists, you would have a very profitable situation.
Try your winning streak theory on win poker. Play 1000 hands and record the results. Also, try to guess what the next hand will be based on your streak definition. I think you will find that defining a 'winning streak' is a lot tougher than you think and the n+1 hand cannot be predicted based on the previous hands.
Flip a coin 1000 times, you will probably have 'winning streaks' of 8 or 9 heads in a row. But you try to predict the next coin flip for the 1000 hands, I'd guess that your success rate would be about 50%, even with all these streaks in there.
