When playing electronic machines that use cards as their base, such as on Video Poker, it’s helpful to know how the game works for decision making:
In video poker, say Jacks or Better, when discarding cards do they go back into a random generated “deck” to pull from? You are dealt 3 J’s and hold them, are not the chances of drawing the fourth J a 1:49 chance? (Or 1:47 if discarded do not go back to generator “deck”)
Steven L.
Video poker works like a real 52-card deck in most games without jokers. This works the same at live and online casinos. A random number generator (RNG) is used to sort the deck’s cards. The RNG is certified by a third-party gaming lab to ensure fairness.
Redrawing Discards in Video Poker
A hand of video poker starts with a freshly-shuffled deck. The RNG determines the first five cards. The player chooses the ones to hold. The others are discarded. Cards not held by the player are removed from the game. They cannot be redrawn during that hand. Replacement cards are dealt from the remaining unseen cards.
This leaves 47 cards left in the deck after the initial deal, assuming it is a standard 52-card game, as five have already been dealt. In the above Jacks or Better scenario, where three jacks are dealt, one remains in the deck. This means one of the 47 remaining cards is a jack. The player has two chances to draw it, meaning they turn trips into quads every 23.5 times, or 4.26% of the time.
Once this hand is over, the deck is reshuffled. All cards have an equal chance of appearing in the next hand, regardless of whether they appeared in the previous one. There is no correlation between one video poker hand and the next.
If the video poker deck did not reshuffle after every hand, observant players could take advantage of it. Assume that a deck has used 25 cards without reshuffling, and no cards are missing from a club royal flush. On the next hand, the player is dealt five cards, including the 10 part of that royal flush. There would only be 22 cards left in the deck, including four that complete the royal flush, greatly increasing the chances of making that hand. The same can be said if four of a certain card are left before a deal.
It could also be abused in another way. If all the quads and royals are busted, a savvy player would change machines or lower their bet until the reshuffle. Reshuffling cards every hand prevents players from counting cards at video poker.
Electronic Table Games and Online Casinos Work the Same
The number of electronic table games in casinos is rising. These machines use a similar RNG. Single-deck games, like Three Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em, start exactly the same. Cards from a shuffled 52-card deck are dealt to players, the dealer, and, if applicable, the community board. The cards are reshuffled after every hand, making it so one hand does not affect future ones.
Multi-deck games, like blackjack and baccarat, create the disclosed number of decks through RNG shuffling. Cards are randomly dealt until the shuffle point occurs, or are reshuffled every hand. When the decks are reshuffled, a new arrangement of cards is created. This prevents players from gaining an advantage by knowing which cards are still left in the deck.
Have a question? Submit yours here!
I have heard that some video poker games deal 5 cards for the initial deal with 5 cards “underneath” the top 5 cards. So, for example, the initial draw is in this order 10-hearts, J-hearts, Q-hearts, K-hearts, 3-spades. In some games are there 5 cards in order underneath in order like A-hearts, 4-spades, 5-spades, 6-spades, Q-diamonds, so if you discard the 3-spades from the initial draw, you would receive the card “underneath” the 5th position, the Q-diamonds and you would get a pair of queens, rather than the “next card” in the deck, the A-hearts for the Royal?
In this interview with a video poker expert (he works for one of the companies who makes the games), he confirms that the “next card” approach has been the industry standard since the 90s. The couple of minutes covering that and how it works in other markets (like tribal casinos) is incredibly helpful information for those who wish to know how it works.