--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "Dave" <haaljo@...> wrote:
>
> "...And who remembers the Odyssey VP with the bonus feature on those machines?..."
>
> Bonus Round Video:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wef5WVEs4Vc
>
>
Well, let's see how much I can remember about playing this game.
1. The game is called Bonus Playoff which you can see at the top of the screen in the video.
2. The payscale in the video is a rare 9/6 Bonus Playoff. Although, I do remember them being in New York, New York and Slots of Fun. The great majority of machines had 8/5 Bonus Playoff. In both versions it's a "two pair even money" game.....and it's also a 5 coin game. The great majority of plays came off the 8/5 Bonus Playoff.
3. The game is a classic example of how a low bankroll could get a big edge and a big hourly rate. As an old buddy, Bill Hartman, used to say, it's "dollar money for playing quarter video poker."
4. The Oddyssey machines came out in 1997/98. They were all over Las Vegas, Laughlin, Reno and Tahoe.
5. I wasn't computerized back then and still going thru the learning curve of video poker, but I had a collection of books and articles. The consensus with the gurus was 8/5 Jacks was 97.3%, and two-pair represented 12.9% of the payback, so I put the base game at 84.4%.
6. It was easy enough to clock the meter, which started at 75 coins. It took 80 coins in action to put 5 coins in the meter. That's 6.25%. So I knew the game was somewhere above 90.65%.
7. The rest of the payback had to be determined by how often the Bonus Card came out and what my chances were of winning the showdown hand.
8. There were three characters that you rotated playing, The Riverboat Captain, The Riverboat Gambler, and the Dance Hall Girl. I'll use the Dance Hall Girl in this post.
9. I had no inside information on how often the Bonus Card came out. All I could do was count the number of hands I played using the progressive meter itself, 16 games put 5 coins in the meter. And I also counted the number of times the Bonus Card came out to get the average. I kept a log in my pocket notebook. I started out playing high numbers, high 200's. Eventually, as the sample space kept getting bigger and bigger, I put the frequency of catching the Bonus Card at 140.
10. The player in the video started filming after he caught the Bonus Card. You can see it on the left just above the meter. When you hit the deal button you are dealt five cards. If one of those cards is the Bonus Card, then it removes itself to just above the meter and another card is drawn to complete the five card hand. When you finish the hand then you play the showdown hand.
11. I put my chances in the showdown hand at 50/50 only if I could play the hand as good as the Dance Hall Girl. It took some observation, mathwork and practice to get up to speed.
12. The showdown hand was 5 card draw, one hand, winner take all. The Dance Hall Girl never drew more than three cards. If you look at the video you'll see that when she draws three cards the #1,#3,and #5 cards are removed. The replacement cards go into the same position. So when her hand was revealed I would be looking at the #2 and #4 cards to see what she held.
13. In the showdown hand it is about 50/50 that you will be dealt a no pair hand. Initially I was holding one high card like an Ace. I wasn't having a whole lot of luck doing that. I started mimicking the Dance Hall Girl and holding 2 high cards, even off suit. Hands like AK, AQ, etc. I eventually did the math and the chances of improving to a pair or better holding one card was about 33%, while holding 2 high cards, the chances of improving to a pair or better was 38%.
14. The Dance Hall Girl also held an Ace kicker with a pair. I started doing the same but was somewhat befuddled by it. Holding just the pair the chances to improve to two pair or trips was 27%, holding the kicker with the pair, the chances to improve to 2 pair of trips was 25%. But when you improve to 2 pair it's most likely Aces Up which is the boss two pair. I eventually concluded that I could play the showdown hand as good as the Dance Hall Girl.
15. So the average play was 280 games (140 X 2). With 15 bets already in the meter at preset, that added another 5.36%. So it was a 96% game. And now it was easy to determine a playable number. I wanted a 6% edge. If I found a machine with 215 coins in the meter it was exactly a 6% edge. This left a 3.5% edge without the Royal or Straight Flush. I often found meters way higher than 215. The highest I ever found was 565.
16. If you look at the video you will see that the game plays extremely slow. And every 16 games you have to wait while the dealer flips another 5 coins in the meter. It was all I could do to get out 8 hands a minute. But it was still a big hourly rate. At 215 coins the game was worth $36 an hour.
17. Later, when Charles Lund's book, "Robbing The One-Armed Bandits" came out, he put the frequency of catching the Bonus Card at 133. But I have no clue where he derived this information.
