Video Poker Integrity
Silencing the Loose Cannons
For over ten years we have been urging the slot-playing devotees to focus solely on Video Poker. Because the game requires skill to attain the maximum payback, not everyone can take advantage of this recommendation, but the growing popularity of Video Poker is evident in casinos in all locales. Four years ago we recommended that Video Poker be officially designated our National Game of Chance, primarily because of its integrity. That recommendation is even more valid today as more players enjoy this form of casino gaming.
The main theme of our campaign has been that, unlike reel-slots (either in their electro-
mechanical or video formats), Video Poker does not fool players. A reel slot machine may show you what appear to be reels with about 24 stops (symbols or blanks) on each, but can function as if if it had up to 82 stops, so players never see what they are up against in terms of odds,
frequency of winners or payback percentages. The term applied to this technique is "virtual reels" and it is perfectly legal everywhere reel-slots are found.
This characteristic is what makes reel-slots completely immune to analysis except to the few who know the software design controlling the machine. You can believe that this information is not easily available. Furthermore, the payback is easily altered by the slot mechanics without any feedback to the players.
On the other hand, Video Pokers observe prescribed rules of operation which lead to the same results you would obtain if you played the game with real cards on your kitchen table. Every legal machine must identify the payout schedule and the true composition of the deck. This crucial fact
makes it possible to accurately determine the statistics of the game--statistics which will govern the long-term results. This includes identifying the most liberal Video Poker machines, the payback attainable with expert play, the frequency of all winning hands and the strategy which is best for any machine. Video Poker is an open book.
This difference between "not knowing what you are up against" and "knowing what you are up against" has caused problems for Video Poker players. Although the cards are selected by very sophisticated methods of applying nearly perfect Random Number Generators, players will often
see the normal deviations which can be created in such generators. When they see such anomalies, they can easily be misled by their own lack of knowledge or can be misled by those who would capitalize on their fears of being cheated on Video Poker machines. The reel-slot player is spared this concern and plays blissfully along, simply because nobody ever tells them what to expect when they pull the handle.
Ironically, those who prey on the fears of Video Poker players do not tell the players to avoid reel-slots, where the players really have good cause for concern. These are the facts, but we have researched the topic of Video Poker integrity and want to pass
along additional information to provide aid and comfort to those who may have heard or read otherwise. The results show that Video Poker as we know it in our legal jurisdictions is an honest game. Some of the most frequent questions and answers are:
Q: What is a Random Number Generator (RNG)?
As a preface, we can state that nothing in a computer is truly random. What good would it be if any number ever coming out of a computer simply was anything unpredictable? 5+5=111 one
time and 1674 another.....useless! Everything that happens in a computer is happening by
design, or the computer belongs in the repair shop. Even a so-called "random" number generator must be designed by a human being and the best we can do is to create (with a computer program) a fantastically long sequence of numbers (between 1 and 52 for a no-joker machine) and then pick a short sequence of 10 numbers from the stack to set up a hand. These card numbers must have no connection between them and there are very potent ways to test for this lack of correlation, which we call "randomness". There are also tests to insure that the numbers which immediately follow each other or are separated from each other have no correlation to each other. How long is this sequence of numbers? Well they are so long that it would take many years to run through them all at typical machine speeds. There are about 10 to the 18th power in a modern random number cycle. Still, in deference to the mathematicians of the world, machine
designers accept their limitations and designate their programs as pseudo-RNG's.
Q: How do we apply an RNG in a Video Poker machine?
The numbers generated dictate what cards are chosen for the hand. Before the coin is inserted, the RNG is constantly cycling with a single point in the stack selected as the "seed" or starting point of the hand being changed every few milliseconds. When the coin is detected, there is a "freeze" and the program creates the 10 numbers we want, with proper filtering to prevent a
duplication. The RNG is completely divorced from the other functions of the machine. There are no ties between the RNG and the coin hoppers and the win-loss stats are unknown to the RNG. The old wives tales about "ready to pay", "paid to much" are pure poppycock. The same technique is
applied in KENO and Blackjack machines. Twenty KENO numbers are chosen in those machines and cards are stacked for the Player and Dealer in a Blackjack machine. What the reel-slots do is select a number for each reel and cause a stepper motor to run the reel to that point. The reel may have 24 stops but the allocation of up to 82 numbers to those 24 stops creates many more
non-winning patterns.
Q: Who Makes Sure of the Design Integrity of Video Poker?
Historically, Nevada had all the legalized gaming and virtually all of the machines were made in Nevada. Even today, this is true, but even more important is that Nevada wrote laws and regulations specifically for Video Poker and Nevada authorities led the way in this respect. The laws are clear and enforcement is diligent in insuring that the game plays exactly the way the players expect it to. The gaming machine manufacturers take great pride and go far beyond what the laws minimally require to insure the integrity of the game. Furthermore, every machine made in Nevada for export to any of the other jurisdictions must meet all the laws of that jurisdiction as well and in many cases, the newer jurisdictions have even tougher rules.
Q. Can Video Pokers Be Trusted Outside of Nevada?
For some unknown reason, New Jersey has never created any rules especially for its Video Pokers, but that doesn't mean that the state is not protecting its players. Every Nevada-origin machine is regulated as if it was on the Strip rather than the Boardwalk or Marina. All the machines and table games offered in NJ have been lab-tested by either private facilities or the state's newly established in-house lab.
For over 15 years, I asked for the NJCCC Rule Book on Blackjack, but always was told that it wasn't written yet, so I don't have one. But the rules applied to BJ in New Jersey are visibly more stringent than in other jurisdictions, and would be considered oppressive in Nevada. While we would urge the NJCCC to clarify the issue, we know that the games are perfectly honest.
Most mid-western states have regulations which were written more recently than Nevada's and are based on the comprehensive RNG test capabilities available to the manufacturers. Newer
jurisdictions have established in-house labs or use highly qualified independent test facilities to make sure that the machines are completely trustworthy. While I may not like the paybacks available outside of Nevada, I have never seen an American-made machine which I felt uncertain about.
Q: But I'm Sure I See Anomalies in Video Poker; Can They Be Explained?
Statistical laws are often difficult to believe when you deal with a small sample; in fact the
statistics of small samples is usually quite different from that of large samples. As the sample gets larger, the averages tend to prove out, but not always the way we think they will. Furthermore, most people do not know how to interpret samples of data. For example, most people believe that if you toss a fair coin continually, you will eventually achieve an equality of the number of heads
and tails; it's NOT TRUE. Nor do they comprehend the true probabilities (and variances) associated with seeing the things we hate most in Video Poker, like repeaters and maskers. Finally, we must learn to accept the fact that "random" does not mean "placid" and that games governed by an RNG have visible "hot" and "cold" streaks which are completely unpredictable. We have to recognize that even Video Pokers which pay back over 100% create many more losers than winners. None of us will live long enough to see everything average out, but you can be sure it will.