A recent article we shared about how playing cards work on electronic casino games generated some follow up questions that are similar in scope, so we decided to tackle a pair of them at once:
In video poker, does the RNG stop shuffling the entire deck when you hit play? Or are all other cards still shuffling until you draw after you hold your cards?
Tim M.
And
Let’s say you hold 3 cards in VP. Next two cards come out and it’s 3 of spades and the 4 of clubs.. was it always going to be the 3s and 4c? If I waited one more second would I get a different combination? Another second, another combination etc.. Does timing stop the RNG or is it already decided when I hit the button to begin the initial game? Thanks!
Adam
There are a couple of ways that video poker cards can work, but the standard today is that the RNG is still shuffling the remaining 47 cards (the five dealt are removed at the start of the hand) until you hit Draw to receive the replacement cards you discarded from your initial hand.
This was confirmed a few years ago in a video interview with an employee of Action Poker, a company that has had its hand in a major amount of the evolution of Video Poker over the past couple of decades.
The idea that 10 cards can be dealt out at the time of the wager is certainly a process that could be viable under regulation, as it’s still random, but is generally only seen on older machines, most of which are no longer on the casino floor. But it’s certainly possible you might encounter a machine still operating under that model. It’s simply not likely.
And regardless of approach, because it’s randomness that determines which cards are selected, and not pre-programmed near misses or other scenarios, either approach is still sufficiently randomized for the odds and approach to meet regulations, and give you the same chances at the various hands.
Now, as always, this is accurate when it comes to games using an RNG, and not those in markets where the outcome is determined outside the machine, such as the New York Lottery-overseen casinos, but even in those cases newer innovation is allowing some progress there to still allow VP to play like VP even with human ability to throw away winning hands and so on. But for simplicity the above relates to thsoe Vegas-style machines that use a random number generator.
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