Double Up Feature in Video Poker
Written February 18, 2008 by Jack Jones
Some casinos, allow you a double-or-nothing or double up feature of video poker with their machines if you had a winning hand. All you have to do is press the “Yes” button after a win, the game then deals one card face up for the dealer and four cards face-down for the player. You can then choose one of the face-down cards, if the card beats the dealers then you get double the amount you previously won, along with the option to try and double-up again.
Is it worth it to give the double up feature of video poker a try? Well this is one of the few bets the casino offers that doesn’t have a house edge as it’s a 50/50 chance you either go broke or double up your money. It doesn’t matter how much you have wagered or how the previous double ups went for you, this is a bet that’s just all about how much risk you are willing to take on for yourself. Most of these machines will put a limit on how many times you can try to double-up, and that limit is normally five times. How many times you should go for the gold just depends on the paytable and how much tolerance for risk that you have. Only the player knows how much he is willing to wager on a single flip of a card. If your goal is to acheive the highest expected return the machine can offer, all the while reducing the house edge the casino holds as low as possible, then you should double up the maximum times allowed.
There are a couple of things to remember though. A lot of casinos do not allow you to rack up points on the player’s card for these double-up bets. You can also double-up your winnings to the point where you go over $1,200 and you’ll end up being handed a W2G to fill out. The last thing to consider is the pay table, since there are a few machines that offer 100% or more return. If that is the case then by doubling up you are actually lowering the return you should expect, which is no good.
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