Perfect Ultimate X and Bonus Streak
Once a game type, number of lines of play and pay table and multiplier set are selected, there are three different modes of usage:
Perfect Hold Advice - select five cards from a deck and a sum of the current multipliers and this app shows a perfect hold hand, that is, the cards to hold that maximizes the average or expected long-run payouts. (Some hands have more than one optimal play and you set the criteria to break the ties. These hands are indicated.)
Scored Practice - here a random hand and current sum of multipliers is dealt, the user selects hold cards and then this is rated against a perfect hold hand. The current sum is randomly generated according to the theoretical frequencies of seeing them. You may over-ride the generated sum and select
Play and Learn - a player just plays the game for fun where random cards are dealt, the player selects hold cards, a draw is made and any payouts recorded. The same draws are used to fill-in a perfect hold hand for comparisons so one can learn perfect play as they go.
History - each hand, regardless of mode, is saved for later review.
Trip Recorder - this feature is used to record data associated with video poker gambling trips or activity.
Each Perfect Play is explained in detail if desired. This is a powerful aid if one is vulturing (see below). Extensive help screens are provided as are information buttons throughout the screens.
Games Supported Currently:
The Ultimate X games supported are for One, Three, Five and Ten Line versions of:
Bonus Poker
Bonus Poker Deluxe
Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild Bonus Poker
Double Aces and Faces
Double Bonus Poker
Double Double Bonus Poker
Jacks or Better
Joker Poker (Kings)
Triple Double Bonus Poker
The Bonus Streak Ultimate X are for Three, Five and Ten Line versions of:
Bonus Poker
Bonus Poker Deluxe
Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild Bonus Poker
Double Bonus Poker
Double Double Bonus Poker
Jacks or Better
Triple Double Bonus Poker
Other Features:
Three different methods are built-in for selecting cards for analysis. One is a table of all the cards, a second shows bigger cards for just a selected suit and the third is by typing an abbreviation like 3D for a 3 of Diamonds. Sometimes the display is too small for a full deck to fit on a smart phone screen so having three ways to select cards is valuable.
A Tour Feature on most screens gives step-by-step descriptions of items on the screen.
Small information icons are located though-out the app screens for quick popup help.
For each game there is a default pay table and multiplier set that you can override with a new default.
When there is more than one way to play a hand optimally, you are notified and can click to see the alternative play.
Buy Now:
Bonus Streak
Computing optimal play for Bonus Streak games is prohibitive for 5- and 10-Line games (see the academic paper below). However, as the Wizard of Odds noted, the multipliers tend to average out for these higher line games. That means it is possible to use a strategy independent of the actual current multipliers to get a very close approximation to the true optimal expected value. The results we give are over 99.5% of the overall optimal expected value for 5- and 10-line games. We show the approximate expected values on the pay tables. These Static strategy games offer approximate optimal play only and, as such, are the sole exception in our apps to offering Perfect Play. We include them based on customer requests.
Below is an academic analysis of Ultimate-X Video Poker that illustrates some of the computational approaches used to analyze Video Poker games.
Vulturing
Vulturing is one way to play Ultimate X with a player advantage. But, like the bird, you will be scavenging the remains of other players (so to speak).
Having said that, it is tedious and unlike other forms of playing video poker. The process is simple. Find an Ultimate X machine and go through each game's screens for each denomination. When a screen has any multipliers greater than 1 left by a previous player, play one bet of 5 coins (not 10) using Perfect Play for the non-multiplier form of the game. For every pay table we have seen, this will give you a positive expected value. Note the required conditions: at least one multiplier greater than 1, play 5 coins, not 10, and, importantly, play the resulting hand using Perfect Play for the normal video poker form of the game. The tedious part is finding games with left-over multipliers. And, unlike a typical video poker session, you will not be at one machine for long. Also, some Ultimate X machines reset the multipliers to ones after a period of inactivity, so opportunities may be limited.
The Perfect Play for the normal video poker form of the game can be found in Advice Mode by entering the hand for the Ultimate X game and then using the Why? button to display all 32 possible holds. Use the one with the greatest Naive expected value. It will usually be one of the top few hold hands.
Vulturing Bonus Streak is slightly different. You have to play a full max bet to retain the multipliers. This is supported in the app.