This is a new type of machine and it's an intriguing variation of Video Poker. For those who aren't familiar with it, the one I saw offers several different games: Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker and Triple Double Bonus Poker with greatly reduced pay schedules. I played only the 6/5 Bonus Poker game (a paltry 96.87% return, but don't run away just yet), so all of my comments are based upon that. On the machine I tried, all of the games are available in 3-play, 5-play and 10-play versions. The "Chase The Royal" bonus happens only when maximum coins have been bet on all lines. I played the three-line game and I bet the maximum in quarters on every hand, so here's how it works for that version.

If the player is dealt a hand in which there is a pair of Jacks, Queens or Kings, another screen opens on the game and a random 3-card Royal hand is displayed. The player then has the option to accept the 3-card Royal hand and play it out or to keep the hand s/he was originally dealt and play that out. The option is not made available when one is dealt, say, four Jacks or Trips or a Full House and so forth, but only on hands containing a pair of Jacks, Queens or Kings. So if you wish, you can "trade-in" a pair of Jacks, as an example, for a 3-card Royal hand, which will then also appear on the two play lines above, assuming you're playing the 3-line game. If you do that, you will then begin to "chase the royal". The cards for all 3 hands will be dealt like any other multi-line game and you're paid on the result of each. Normally, you should not break a "high" pair to draw to any three-card Royal in a Bonus Poker game with a 4000-coin payout on the Royal, but this game has a nice incentive for doing so.

When you are in the "chase" mode, a Flush pays 60 for 5 and a Straight pays 50 for 5. Consequently, the return for that miserable 6/5 Bonus Poker game goes up to an amazing 117%!! Of course, that's only good for the three hands you play in that mode, so we'll have to weigh that off against all the plays you'll be making at the 96.87% return, which I'll do in a bit.

Basically what you're getting is a 1 in 1176 'shot', at a Royal, so about every 390 times you try this, it'll work, assuming you play three lines at a time. (Remember, this is activated only when you get the designated hand on the deal or the "flop", as some players call it, so it's not going to happen on every hand you play.) If the VP gods are with you and you get every hand you need "on schedule" according to the probabilities, you will catch a Royal at this game once every 12,700 hands, were it a single-line machine. So, on a triple-line game, it'll happen about once every 4250 "rounds" of play. (A quick note here: One of our very talented readers pointed out to me that the numbers are a little different for the probablility of a Royal in the "chase" mode because there are 49 cards left in the deck, not 47 as there'd normally be.)

But what are the costs involved and what's the best way to play this game? The costs are fairly simple to compute. You will be dealt a pair of Jacks, Queens or Kings in 9.75% of all the hands you play, on average. When that happens, you'll be eligible for the "Chase" mode with its higher pay out, which averages 117%, as I mentioned earlier. However, as you'll see, you won't always want to trade-in that hand to go into the "chase" mode, so it'll be more like 9.25% of the time. But to get there, you have to play a lot of 96.87% Bonus Poker. So let's pretend that we play 10,000 hands of this game and everything happens on schedule. That means we'll go into the Chase mode 925 times and that play will have an average return of just over 117%. The other 9,075 hands of play will have an average return of 96.87% (ouch!). I'll spare you the math involved (although it's fairly simple), but it all works out to be an overall return of 98.73%, if you choose to "chase the royal" each and every time that's the proper play. It will be the proper play most of the time, but there are some notable exceptions. For example, let's say you're dealt a hand like 10d, Jd, Qd, Kd, Jh. The machine will ask you to chase the Royal, but you'd be foolish to trade in a four-card royal in exchange for a 3-card Royal. The same would be true if you had a pair of Jacks in a 4-card Straight Flush, either "inside" or "open". You should stick with the SF and refuse the 3-card Royal. Of course, you cannot have a pair in a Flush or Straight that is dealt to you, so if you get one, the option to "chase" won't even come up.

But what can easily happen is that you're dealt a three-card Royal like Jd, Qd, Kd, Js, 2h, so you're offered the option to "chase". Now, why would you want to trade in a good 3-card Royal like J, Q, K suited and run the risk of getting a less valuable one? The reason to do it is because of the bonus pay on Straights and Flushes when you're in the "chase" mode. The 3-card Royal with the lowest expected value is any with both a 10 and an Ace in it, while the highest is a suited J, Q, K, followed closely by a suited 10, J, Q.. When you are in the chase mode, even the worst 3-card Royal has an expected value of 7.65 coins for every 5 coins bet (again, based upon drawing from a 49-card remaining deck), whereas the expected value of a suited J, Q, K in the regular 6/5 Bonus Poker mode is 7.46 coins for each 5 that is bet. No brainer here, folks. Chase the Royal!

There is one more "kicker" in this game that cannot be ignored and it's a 30,000-coin jackpot if you get a Royal Flush on all three hands when you've made a maximum bet of 5 coins on each line. Now, just about the only way that's going to happen is if you are dealt a Royal, which you'd naturally then hold on all three lines. The odds of being dealt a Royal are one in 650,000 (okay, a little less than that, but it'll do), so that 30,000 coin jackpot is worth about 0.30% in very, very long-term return. Add it to the 98.73% and we arrive at a total return of just about 99%, if you use the proper playing strategy. Not too bad, considering.

I'll see you here next time.