Ask the Slot Expert: The psychology of video poker gimmicks

Let's face it.

Playing single-hand video poker can be boring.

Hitting a royal is always exciting, but they are few and far between. What other events can happen on a machine to keep us engaged?

Back in my 9/6 Jacks days, hitting 4-of-a-kind or a straight flush was a cause for a mini-celebration. Now that I play Deuces Wild almost exclusively, my mini-celebrations occur with 4 Deuces and a mini-mini-celebration with 5-of-a-kind.

Bonus Poker paytables add excitement above and beyond the base paytable. I know this first hand. I had a bunch of free play at one casino. I decided to play it on a video poker machine with some combination of Triple and Double in its name.

I hit 4 Aces. The Win Meter kept climbing after it hit the 800 credits I expected to win. When I took a closer look at the hand, I saw that the fifth card was a kicker. I had won 4000 credits ($1000, it was a quarter machine). Now that was exciting!

The Bonus paytables move some of the money that can be won on the frequently hitting, lower-paying hands to less frequently hitting, higher-paying hands.

Higher volatility is the price you pay for Bonus paytable's excitement. Wallets can be drained quickly when you don't get your share of premium hands.

Manufacturers also use video poker gimmicks to add excitement to video poker.

I remember one gimmick from WMS Gaming called Multi-Pay. Instead of being paid on just the highest-paying hand, you also got paid on all possible hands.

For example, a Full House consists of a Pair and a 3-of-a-Kind. In Multi-Pay, you got paid for the Full House, the Pair and the 3-of-a-Kind.

John Grochowski wrote about hitting a Royal Flush on a Multi-Pay machine in this column. He was paid for the Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Flush, and Straight. The game was so new at the time that a slot supervisor questioned why he was paid an unusual amount on a non-progressive machine.

I thought that Multi-Pay disappeared quickly, but John wrote that it was popular for a few years around the turn of the century and WMS tried to revive the gimmick in the 2010s.

Multi-Pay may be gone but Multi-Play, on the other hand, has stood the test of time. I remember the first time I saw it at the World Gaming Congress trade show. It was so simple and brilliant. Everyone thought, Why didn't I think of that?

Multi-Play is ubiquitous. It goes hand-in-hand with some gimmicks, which are available only in Multi-Play.

Some gimmicks I have played are: Chase the Royal, Split Card, Dream Card, Good Times Pay, 5 Card Plus 2, and Super Draw 6. Most require doubling your bet to activate the gimmick.

Your additional bet buys you two things.

The main thing the additional bet buys is increased bankroll volatility. Most of the time, the result of the extra bet is how a friend described all gambling: money in the shredder. Sometimes, the gimmick bought with the extra bet results in a big payout.

I compare your bankroll swings playing video poker gimmicks to a Bizarro World roller coaster. Instead of climbing slowly and falling fast, as on a this-world roller coaster, your bankroll falls slowly and then can skyrocket upwards.

The other thing the bet buys can't be quantified. The bet buys an unexpected win.

We all expect to win on a 5-card hand, but winning with a Dream Card, a Split Card, a multiplier, or an extra card or two -- that's a preternatural win.

Randy Adams, design guru at Anchor Gaming, once told me why bonus rounds and other slot machine gimmicks like nudging symbols are so popular. He said that the unexpected win is worth than the expected win. It's worth more than its dollar value.

Players perceive the wins over and above the 5-card hand as a result of the gimmick to be worth more than they really are.

What are your favorite video poker gimmicks?

I'll tell you my favorites and the ones I think are the best next week.

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Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com.

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Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com. Due to the volume of requests, I am unable to reply to every question.

Copyright © John Robison. Slot Expert and Ask the Slot Expert are trademarks of John Robison.