Max Out Poker

Last update: May 8, 2005

Introduction

Max Out Poker is a video poker variation I noticed in Caesars Palace in May, 2005. The game is essentially the same as multi-play video poker, except one hand is more heavily weighted, and a more liberal pay table is used on the other hands.

Rules

The player plays video poker normally with 1 to 5 coins bet. For coins 6 to 8 the player buys extra hands, which follow a slightly more liberal pay table. The extra hands start with the same cards the player keeps on the deal, as in multi-play video poker.

Return Tables

I'll call the hand the player bets coins 1 to 5 on the "big hand" because the player bets more on it, and the cards are displayed larger. The "small hands" are the additional three hands for coins 6 to 8. With the max 8 coins bet the total pay for a hand is 5*(big hand return) + 3*(small hand return). With this total win standard video poker analyzers can be used to evaluate the return. The return column in the following tables is the probability*(total win)/8.

Strategy

All I will say about the strategy is that the player should play the max 8 coins. The return for playing 8 coins averaged 0.4% higher than that for 5 coins on the machines at Caesars Palace. Conventional strategy software like Video Poker Strategy Master by Tom Ski can be used to create a strategy using 5*(big hand)+3*(small hand) for each win in the pay table.