Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker

Deal or No Deal Poker video poker provides something close to the experience of the popular TV game show called Deal or No Deal in a video poker setting. You’ll be dealing with briefcases and a banker just like on the show. And you’ll also get the chance to earn multipliers to spice up the action.

Video poker has come a long way in a very short time. When it was first created, it was basically just a reproduction of the table game known as Five-Card Draw. The first format used in video poker, known as Jacks or Better, is still the basis for all other variations.

Manufacturers seem to find new ways to come up with clever twists on the game. Some of these new games are even tied into pop culture. Deal or No Deal Poker video poker is one example. It’s based loosely on a game show named Deal or No Deal that took television by storm for several years.

On the show, contestants pick different briefcases that contain certain amounts of money. As other briefcases are opened, the contestant gets offers from a banker to buy the contestant’s original briefcase. The tension comes from whether or not the contestant is willing to take the offers.

Along the way, Deal or No Deal Poker video poker also spices up the action with the use of multipliers. These multipliers come into play when a player draws certain winning hands. Tying these multipliers into subsequent winning hands will boost your profits considerably.

Deal or No Deal Poker video poker provides you with a little bit more decision-making than other video poker games. Choosing between briefcases and whether or not to accept the banker’s offer adds pressure. But you can also come away from it on top if you choose wisely.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game known as Deal or No Deal Poker video poker. We’ll explain how basic video poker works and how the extra features add something different to gameplay. And we’ll go through the pay table involved with this game while also getting into the strategy you should be using when you play.

The Benefits of Video Poker

Perhaps some of you are familiar with video poker and are simply trying to learn the specifics of what Deal or No Deal Poker video poker brings to the table. If that’s the case, you probably already know why video poker is so great.

But if you were drawn to Deal or No Deal Poker video poker because you like the TV show and don’t know much about video poker, you’re in for a treat. In casinos, there are slot machines and table games. Video poker combines elements of the two games and can be considered the best of both worlds.

Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why video poker is considered by many people to be the most gambler-friendly of all games found in casinos or as part of online gambling sites:

• Simplicity : You can learn how to play basic video poker in just a few hands, especially if you know a little bit about poker in general. Even complete newcomers don’t have a hard time. Once you know how to play the basic game, more complex versions like Deal or No Deal Poker video poker will be easier to follow.
• Variety : You never get bored with playing the same video poker game. There are many different pay tables available to you in video poker. In addition, there are games like Deal or No Deal Poker video poker with special twists galore to always keep gameplay intriguing.
• Self-Contained Play : When you play video poker, it’s only you and a machine (or an online game). There won’t be any casino patrons bothering you about your style of play. And you won’t have to worry about bothering casino employees if you don’t quite know what you’re doing.
• Strategy : Video poker is often compared to slot machines because they’re usually housed in the same sections of a casino. But slot machines give you no opportunity to have an impact on gameplay. With video poker, the better strategy you use, the more you’ll win over the long haul.
• Probabilities : Video poker is essentially based on the probability math tied to a deck of 52 cards. From those probabilities, you can estimate how often certain winning hands are going to show up. And you can calculate a payback percentage for a specific game and pay table, allowing you to compare it to other video poker games.
• Payback: On the whole, video poker offers some of the best payback of any casino game. You can expect to make more playing video poker than playing slots over a long stretch of time. And many video poker games offer payback in line with what table games provide as well.
• Online Play : There might not be any casino game whose action translates so well to online play than video poker. Play it in a casino or play it on a top real money online casino. There’s really no difference between the two experiences.

These are just a few of the reasons why video poker stands out among the pack of casino options. All that’s left is to learn how to play.

As we said, Deal or No Deal Poker video poker is a little bit more complex than the average video poker game. Let’s start out by learning the basics of playing a simple hand.
How to Play a Hand of Video Poker

Step 1: Building a Bankroll

You’ll need a bankroll in place to make wagers on your hands. That will allow you to win money in return. And when you do win that money, the bankroll is where your winnings will collect.

You can start up a bankroll in video poker by inserting money into a machine. The machine will also accept a redemption ticket issued by the same casino where the machine is located. If you’re playing online at a gambling website, you’ll need to create and fund a gambling account to get started with video poker play.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll notice that, on the screen, your bankroll will be represented by units known as credits or coins. Each of these units equal to a unit of the denomination you’ve chosen to play. For example, five coins wagered on a 25-cent machine will coast $1.25 of your bankroll (5 times .25 equals 1.25).

Step 2: Making a Bet

This is one of the areas where Deal or No Deal Poker video poker separates itself a bit from most video poker machines. In most cases, you can wager between one and five credits on a video poker machine.

In the case of Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, you’ll bet between 60 and 300 credits per hand. You can bet in increments of 60, which means your choices for the size of your bets are:

• 60
• 120
• 180
• 240
• 300

Most video poker games make it worth your while to bet the maximum amount every single hand. In doing so, you raise the potential payback for the royal flush, which is the most lucrative hand.

But Deal or No Deal Poker video poker contains no such advantage to betting the maximum amount. The payback for the royal flush goes up in direct proportion to the amount wagered, just as is the case with all other hands.

Step 3: Playing a Hand

We’re going to get into the different things that come up in a hand of Deal or No Deal Poker video poker that make it different from the basic game. But, for now, let’s just talk about how to play the base hand. After all, you’ll still be going through this process when playing Deal or No Deal Poker.

Video poker resembles the card game known as Five-Card Draw poker. In both games, you’ll get five cards dealt to you. And, in both, you’ll get to discard cards from that hand and draw new ones to replace them to make the best poker hand possible.

In Five-Card Draw, you’ll need to worry about beating everyone else at the table to win the pot. Sometimes, you can do that by making the best hand. Other times, you can bluff to make other players give up their hands.

But video poker only requires you to make one of the winning hands on the pay table. Do that, and you will get some money back in return for your original wager. In the case of Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, here are the hands you’ll be trying to make:

• Pair of jacks or better
• Two pair
• Three of a kind
• Straight (five cards of consecutive rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
• Flush (five cards of same suit)
• Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
• Four of a kind
• Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
• Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)

These hands are listed, from top to bottom, in order of the easiest hands to make down to the hardest. In terms of payback, the hands that are hardest to make generally pay the most.

When you make your bet and press the “deal” button, five cards will appear on your screen. These five cards will come from a simulated deck containing the exact same 52 cards that would be included in a standard deck. There’s a random number generator inside the software to ensure every deal is random.

You’ll take a look at these cards to decide which of them are worth holding and which should be discarded. This decision will be based on whether they form the basis for any of the winning hands listed above. The cards you discard will be replaced by others from the deck, which now has 47 cards remaining (52 minus the 5 that you were originally dealt).

There will be times when it seems like the best play is to go for one of the more common hands. And there will also be times when you might try for one of the highest-paying hands even though it would take an extremely lucky draw to get the cards you need.

In video poker, it’s all a matter of deciding between risk and reward. Let’s take a look at a sample hand. Imagine that you received the following five cards on the deal:

None of the combinations in this deal are enough for a winning hand. But the draw could change all that. Which cards will you hold, and which will you discard?

You have a pair of fives. If you choose, you can try to improve that by discarding the other three cards from the deal. With the new three cards, you can end up with two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind, which, on the Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, is more valuable than normal.

You can also hold onto the four spades in the hopes you can draw a fifth one in return for the discarded five of diamonds. That would give you a flush. Your chances are a little less than one in five of that happening, since there are nine spades still in the deck of 47.

One other possibility would be to hold the five, six, and seven of spades, discarding the other two. If you do this, you’d have an outside shot at a straight flush. It would take a lucky draw to get the exact two cards you need, but it would make for a lucrative payoff if you get it.

As you can see, this hand provides a lot of possibilities. Many other video poker hands will be more obvious in terms of what cards you’ll be playing. And you’ll learn how to make these decisions so quickly that you’ll be able to play several hands a minute.

Once you make your decision, press the buttons underneath the cards you’ve decided to hold. When you hit the “draw” button, the machine’s software will know to replace all the discarded cards with cards from the top of the draw deck. That will complete the hand.

That is how you’ll play the basic hand of video poker at the basis of Deal or No Deal Poker video poker. Now it’s time to talk about how the game’s special features work.

Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker Special Features

The Briefcases

Those who know the TV show Deal or No Deal know that the game begins with a contestant choosing from a series of briefcases.

The contestant picks one, not knowing how much money is inside.

You’ll see something similar happen to you when you play Deal or No Deal Poker video poker. Only it will come up when you are drawing cards.

Once you receive you deal in Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, you will make your decision in the same manner as if you were playing a basic hand. On the screen, you’ll see the five cards on the bottom. Above those cards, you’ll see 20 briefcases, four above each of the five cards.

Each of those briefcases in Deal or No Deal Poker video poker contains a different card from the deck of 52. Obviously, none of those cards will be the same as any that you have in your deal.

After your decision, instead of the machine automatically drawing your cards, you’ll be asked to pick one of the four briefcases in the column right above the cards you’ve discarded. Whatever card is underneath the briefcase you choose will be the one that goes into your hand.

Before the draw cards are revealed in Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, the game will reveal the cards in the briefcases above the cards you held. This information won’t be of any use to you, other than to perhaps tease you with cards you wished could have showed up in your hand.

Then, you’ll pick the briefcase for each of the draw cards that you need. It can obviously be anywhere from one through five cards as this process goes on.

After each card is revealed on the draw in Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, the other three in the column will be revealed so you can see what you might have received had you chosen differently. Again, this is a part of the Deal or No Deal TV show format as well.

The different briefcases don’t really add anything other than an element of luck to Deal or No Deal Poker video poker. It makes the game a little bit harder to control than other video poker variants in some ways. But you won’t need to adjust your strategy for this part of the game.

The Banker Appears

In the Deal or No Deal TV show, the banker is usually portrayed as the game’s villain. The hook is that the briefcases contain his money, and he doesn’t want to just give it away, especially if it’s a big amount. As a result, he makes periodic offers to buy the player’s briefcase, depending on how much could conceivably be in there.

That’s when the player gets to choose between deal or no deal on the show. A similar conversation transpires in digital form when you’re playing Deal or No Deal Poker video poker. And it takes place usually after cards are revealed on the draw.

Once you go through the process of making your decision about what to hold and discard, the banker could come and make an offer on your hand. For instance, let’s go back to that sample hand above:

For the sake of this example, imagine that you held on to the pair of fives. Let’s say that you turn over the briefcase above where the six of spades is located and you see the following:

You have three of a kind, which is a solid return of 1.5 coins for every one that you bet. But you’ll most likely hear the sound of a phone come out of the machine right off that five of hearts, and it will be the banker calling with an offer on your hand.

The banker knows now that you have three of a kind at least. But the possibility of a full house or even four of a kind is what he’s hoping to prevent. Let’s take a look at how much those two hands pay on the Deal or No Deal Poker video poker pay table:

• Full House: 3.5 coins to 1
• Four 5s: 12.5 coins to 1

As a result, the banker might call with an offer of something like 5 to 1. It would be a little less than splitting the difference between the full house and the four of kind. And it would ensure you of a nice payback on the hand.

Of course, the risk that you run in accepting such an offer is that you might go on to make the four of a kind if you play the hand out. Just as in the show Deal or No Deal, Deal or No Deal Poker video poker tantalizes you with the old trick of giving you the choice between a sure thing and something that might be big or might be nothing.

In any case, once the banker makes his offer, you’ll have to choose between deal or no deal. If you choose to take the deal, you’ll walk away with whatever his offer was. You won’t have to go through drawing the remaining cards.

If you choose no deal, you will continue the hand and see how it plays out. You’ll receive winnings based on what your final five-card hand turns out to be.

The banker twist adds a little bit of pressure to the Deal or No Deal Poker video poker action. As we’ll tell you when we get to strategy, it’s probably not going to be a good idea to accept what that offer is. But it certainly might tempt you, especially if your bankroll needs a boost.

Multipliers in Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker

On top of everything else involved with Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, it contains a pretty basic twist to video poker in the form of multipliers. Multipliers allow players to multiply their winnings on a certain hand by the predetermined amount of the multiplier.

In the case of Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, possible multipliers are:

• 2x
• 3x
• 4x
• 5x

While these multipliers are random, you don’t have an equal chance of getting them. In other words, it won’t be a one out of four chance that you get 2x, one out of four chance that you get 3x, and so on. The machine has a weighted system based on the payback percentage of the game.

In any case, you’ll receive these multipliers any time you receive anything higher than two pair on the draw. The multiplier will then go into effect for the following hand.

For example, let’s say that you get a three of a kind. The multiplier that pops up on the screen turns out to be 4x. On the next hand, you get a full house. On a 3,000-coin wager, a full house normally pays off 1,050 coins. With the 4x multiplier, that payoff becomes:

4 times 1,050 = 4,200 coins

You would also then get a multiplier for the following hand because of the full house. That process can continue indefinitely when you get a nice winning streak going. It’s one of the ways Deal or No Deal Poker video poker helps provide a solid payback to players over the long haul of playing the game.

Pay Table for Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker

The pay table for Deal or No Deal Poker video poker looks a little bit different than most video poker games because of the size of the bets. Normally, with a game where the bets range from one through five coins, the payoff is much lower. In this case, the payoffs rise to meet the bigger bet amounts.

When you compare the two pay tables, however, you might find the proportions are a bit out of whack. For instance, on a Super Double Double Bonus pay table, a flush pays off at 6 to 1. Yet on the Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, it only pays off at 3 to 1.

You can explain that discrepancy by looking at what the multipliers add to the game. Most video poker games which include multipliers only do so if the player bets an extra amount above the normal five credits. But in Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, the multipliers are included no matter what.

As a result, you’re getting a huge payback boost in Deal or No Deal Poker video poker for nothing. Thus, the pay tables award about half as much for wins as would be the case on other pay tables. You’re indirectly paying for the multipliers with the discounted payback.

Let’s take a look at the most common pay table available for Deal or No Deal Poker video poker:

Hand/Coins	60 coin	120 coins	180 coins	240 coins	300 coins
Royal flush	24,000	48,000	72,000	96,000	120,000
Straight flush	1,500	3,000	4,500	6,000	7,500
Four aces w/ any 2,3,4	12,000	24,000	36,000	48,000	60,000
Four aces w/ any J, Q, K	9,600	19,200	28,800	38,400	48,000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s w/ any A,2,3,4	4,800	9,600	14,400	19,200	24,000
Four Jacks – Kings w/ any J,Q,K, A	4,800	9,600	14,400	19,200	24,000
Four aces	4,800	9,600	14,400	19,200	24,000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s	2,400	4,800	7,200	9,600	12,000
Four 5s – Ks	1,500	3,000	4,500	6,000	7,500
Full house	210	420	630	840	1,050
Flush	180	360	540	720	900
Straight	120	240	360	480	600
Three of a kind	90	180	270	360	450
Two pair	60	120	180	240	300
Pair of jacks +	30	60	90	120	150

Strategy for Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker

You have to deal with a little more in terms of strategy when you’re playing Deal or No Deal Poker video poker. Not only do you have to worry about making the right decision about what to hold and what to discard each time out, but you also have to worry about answering the banker correctly.

As it turns out, the correct answer to the banker should always be no deal, at least if you’re planning to play Deal or No Deal Poker video poker on a regular basis. The banker’s offer is based on expected value.

Think of expected value as the average of what the returns might be for a given set of cards if they were played over and over again. There will be certain times when you draw what you need for the four of a kind or full house, and other times when you don’t improve upon the three of a kind.

If you’re only playing a casual session of Deal or No Deal Poker video poker, you might want to take the banker offers when you get them in order to ensure some winnings. But those who want to play the game for the long haul should always decline the banker’s offer. Your payback percentage and chances of limiting the built-in house edge will be higher if you just play the game out as you normally would.

Besides that, you still have to learn how to make all the right choices about what to hold and discard from each deal. That can be really tricky, next to impossible really, in the heat of the game. That’s why you should get some help.

Focus on learning the right plays for a Super Double Double Bonus pay table, since that’s close enough to Deal or No Deal Poker video poker and is much more established as a game. Then, use one of the following resources to help you learn ideal strategy.

Video Poker Training Software

You’ll use training software to not only learn perfect play, but also, if you’re a beginner, get used to how video poker works. The software lets you learn concepts like bankrolls and pay tables and all that other important information. It basically lets you play as if you were playing for real in a casino.

It teaches you strategy through trial and error. Every time you make a mistake in terms of what to hold and what to discard from a certain deal, the software will alert you. It will also tell you the right play so, hopefully, you won’t make that mistake again.

Strategy Chart

You shouldn’t have much trouble finding a strategy chart for Super Double Double Bonus poker from various online sources. Once you find it, print it out and memorize it. This way, you can have all the information without bringing it into the casino.

Strategy charts rank all of the card combinations you might receive on the deal in terms of expected value. Once you have it memorized, you’ll be able to spot the most valuable combinations in each deal. In that way, you’ll always know which cards to hold and discard no matter what you get on the deal.

Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker Pros and Cons

Pros of Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker

• Multipliers in play without need for extra bets
• Different look of the game can be exciting
• Element of chances comes into play with choice of briefcases

Cons of Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker

• Pay tables are depressed because of free multipliers
• Banker’s offers might tempt you into bad decisions
• A bit more complex than basic video poker

Deal or No Deal Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Deal or No Deal Poker video poker doesn’t require a studio audience to provide you with thrills. The various connections to the TV show are actually just sideshows. Getting those multipliers with regularity is the best way for you to boost your bankroll playing this game.