A Wizard at Video Poker Wizard
Cap Richards, the wizard behind the Video Poker
Wizard software got his start like most of us who have played VP for
several years: Stanford Wong's Professional Video Poker book gave him
the dream to shoot for and with tools such as Cap's Video Poker Wizard
software, it's now easier than ever to fulfill that dream of Royal Flushes
(every session) (...I dream big).
Cap realized early that for many people struggling with VP, strategy cards
are often difficult to use. He is correct. Some of us take to strategy cards
like white on rice but for the majority of folks out there, the cards can confuse
to the point where they don't use them when needed resulting in missed plays
for key hands.
Four Video Poker Wizard versions are available, all with built-in coaching
and record-keeping features. Here are the Video Poker Wizard Coach games you
can get:
- 9/6 Jacks or Better (4,000 coin or 4,700 coin Royal)
- Deuces Wild
- 10/7 Double Bonus
- All American Poker
Each is $24.95 and a 3-pack (not including All American) sells for $49.95.
Get all four for $59.95. You order online at www.VideoPokerWizard.com and as
soon as you pay at that secure Web site with a credit card, the site automatically
emails you a serial number that you'll need to install the software. Just download
the software, enter the serial number, and you're ready to get started.
A Kings or Better Jokers Wild version is under development.
Accuracy is Everything but Not Everybody's
Thing
To me, less than 100% accuracy is a waste of time. For me that is the case.
If I cannot play a game at Dancer level 3+ accuracy then I don't waste my time;
for my favorite games of Double Bonus and JoB, perfect level 4 accuracy is
all I'll settle for.
Cap indicates that the game promotes near-100% accuracy. He wants to give his
audience complete accuracy except in the in most difficult hands where advanced
difficulty to achieve 100% accuracy requires extensive knowledge.
Cap's view is that Expected Hourly Win Rate (EHWR) is everything. EHWR increases
with both playing accuracy AND playing speed. For example, if you can play
10% faster by sacrificing .1% accuracy, then you win more in the long run.
Ed: To see Cap's Article about Maximizing
your Expected Hourly Win Rate 
At first, I donned my typical "I'm better than that" hat. I have
since re-thought the issue and I am now fully convinced that software that
teaches near-100% accuracy, forsaking the ultra-advanced difficult moves that
add only fractions of a percent to your bottom line (Ace with a High Card in
10/7 Double Bonus comes to mind) has a very important place in the Video Poker
world.
Near-100% accuracy, as opposed to perfect play, is very important for one very
large group of people: the players who gamble 2-3 days a year, perhaps twice
a year, such as my wife who goes with me only every once in a while. Jayne
can easily master Video Poker Wizard's strategy after some practice and she
can refresh that knowledge before each trip. If I demanded she have 100% accuracy,
and if I demanded that she master Dancer's 10/7 Level 4 strategy cards, she
would give up and refuse to take the time needed to learn it. And why should
she? Should she spend 120 hours to master level 4 for a total of possibly 6
days' of play? The cost isn't worth it to her. Yet, for me who plays up to
40 days each year, it is incumbent upon me to play at perfect level. The added
learning time is financially worth the effort.
So I now see a huge group of folks who need software such as Video Poker Wizard
Coach. It is for serious players who infrequently travel to casinos but who
want the best game for their time invested. I would suspect this applies to
most spouses of all VPP readers, and possibly to many VPP readers themselves.
For that large group, you will be surprised at what Video Poker Wizard can
do for your game.
All About Video Poker Wizard Coach
One feature I like is that the entire strategy table for that game is displayed
on the screen during play. Once you're dealt a hand, check marks appear
to the left of each strategy level appropriate for that hand. For example,
if you're dealt a pair of Aces and 3s, a check mark appears next to the
strategy table entry for 2 Pairs as well as for Pair of Aces. The 2 Pairs
entry is higher in the table and thus is the correct play. You then keep
the appropriate cards and click Draw to see the final hand. At all times,
the expected dollar amount of each possible hand appears to the right of
each entry in the strategy table.
For people learning to play for the first time, or for people who need to refresh
after not playing for a while, I like the fact that all related strategy lines
are shown for each hand. I suggest that users watch the dealt cards and not
the strategy table, hold the cards they think are correct, and then look at
the strategy table to see if they chose the correct option before they draw.
They can quickly see if they picked the correct or a lesser-paying hand.
Of course, you can ignore the table altogether and the program beeps at you
if you choose the less-than-best hand. A quick click of the Hide Strategy or
Show Strategy buttons hides or displays the strategy table instantly at any
time.
Playing Without Coaching
If you just want to play without any coaching feature, you can click an option
to turn off the coach instantly.
Identifying Hands
A great learning bonus includes the option to identify hands. The program will
deal you five cards and you then must select the strategy that applies
to that hand. Clicking the Check Answer button tells you if you were correct
or if you chose the wrong strategy line. If two or more strategy lines
apply to the dealt hand, the coach gives you a hint that multiple strategy
lines apply to the hand.
Of course, you can just play the hand and see if you were correct but I like
the ability to identify hands, especially for newcomers who want to improve
their VP skills. Studying the strategy table looking for whatever line best
applies to the current hand is exactly what we do with strategy cards inside
a casino! Only, inside the casino our only feedback that we've chosen incorrectly
is loss of money over time. If I were training someone in VP, I would make
them go through several sessions of identifying hands in the strategy table
using Video Poker Wizard. Their accuracy when they must identify hands for
real inside a casino, against a real strategy card, will be higher.
Note: You can print the strategy table to take with you to the casino. Folks
who learn with Video Poker Wizard will, therefore, have their familiar strategies
with them when they get in front of a real machine.
Strategy Work
When you find problem areas you have with certain hands, as you will do through
the coaching sessions and in the record section (described next), you can
make the strategy table work for you. Simply right-click on any strategy
line, such as Pair of 2's, 3's or 4's and elect either to see a more detailed
description of that hand (such as A good hand because you might improve
to Four of a Kind), or elect to be dealt a hand that matches that strategy
so you can see and play that hand.
Suppose you mess up a lot when deal 3 card inside straights. Just right-click
that strategy entry and play the sample hand that appears to train yourself
to recognize these hands better.
Beginners often get stumped with strategy cards. A strategy card is the bane
of people who don't relate well to tabular information but who want to get
better at Video Poker. By working the strategy table with a right-click of
your mouse, seeing sample strategy table hands and getting more descriptions
of each strategy level when desired, beginners can much more rapidly accept
and understand the strategy table than they otherwise would be able to.
I recall my wife often confused straights, flushes, and straight flushes the
first few months she played VP. Yes, I know, how can anybody confuse those?
She's now become quite an accurate player but I recall those early days and
I wish I'd had Video Poker Wizard for her. She could right-click any line in
the strategy table (keep in mind, the strategy table is like the strategy cards
you've seen and used with the proper plays ordered from high to low) and read
more about that line. So if she's confused about what 3 Card Straight Flush
234 means, she can instantly see a hand that matches that strategy line. Or
she could instantly get a more detailed description of this entry. I think
she would have mastered VP concepts much faster with that ability.
Records and Statistics
Video Poker Wizard records every hand you play. Video Poker Wizard gives you
the ability to look back at any hand you've ever played and see how you
did. You can view statistics for today, for any previous day, month, year,
or for the entire history of your play!
And the history is a graphical history. You see cards that comprise every hand
you've played, every card you kept, the time and date you played it, and the
time it took you to play the hand through. Over time, your reaction time obviously
should get better.
You can also show only those hands on which you made strategy errors. I would
just love to give this program to a few friends who say they play perfectly
and show them their error history after 30 minutes or so of play! But even
more important than the ability to gloat, seeing which errors you make consistently
will enable you to correct your play for that common error and move towards
playing better and better.
Finally, the statistics table is truly beneficial by showing you the strategy
table on the left of the screen, and columns to the right that display how
many times that hand came up during your play history (both dealt and final
hands), how many credits you won or lost with those hands appearing, how many
errors you made on each strategy level, and your average reaction time for
that hand. Therefore, if you find that you react slowly when three cards to
a straight flush appear, you can work on getting faster at that kind of hand
to improve your hourly play-through speed.
Should you Own Video Poker Wizard?
I would assume that most VPP readers own Bob Dancer's Winpoker. Those who don't...
should. I would also assume that many have lately obtained the Frugal Video
Poker program. Let me state plainly that Video Poker Wizard offers features
that owners of both will benefit from (and for a VP player, benefit from
means make more money). And for the total beginner, I think the Video Poker
Wizard software is the best place to start.
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