Some of the terms used in articles and game strategies may be a little confusing because they have a special meaning as applied to video poker. Also, there is occasionally some minor disagreement on definitions between writers. If you not sure about something, the following definitions, which I use consistently, may save you the trouble of writing with a question.
Cycle: The statistically predicted average number of hands per royal flush (or other top jackpot). In other words, a "cycle" is simply the reciprocal of the probability of a royal on the next hand. Remember that the games are random, however, so don't expect to get exactly one royal flush per "cycle." The Poisson Distribution tells us that there is only a 63.2% probability of at least one royal in one cycle, but this balanced by the chances of two or more royals in one cycle.
Expected Return: The average amount of money payed back on a particular play for a particular bet. The Expected Return (ER) is the Expected Value of a play multiplied by the amount bet. Most commercially available video poker analysis programs, when analyzing a hand, give the ER of each possible play. The program may call those numbers Expected Values, but any qualified statistician will confirm that as a misnomer (see next definition).
Expected Value: The statistically projected average per-unit-bet payback of a particular play. Another way of looking at the EV is the average of all possible outcomes for a particular play or game. Most commercially available video poker analysis programs give the Expected Return (ER) of each possible play when a hand is analyzed. Assuming a five coin bet, dividing the ER by five will give the EV. A better technique, however, is to change the bet to one coin and adjust all one-coin payoffs to per-coin values so that the program will give EV directly. For more details, see my article "What is Expected Value?"
Full Pay: Usually the best payoff schedule offered for a particular game. For example, 9/6 Jacks-or-Better or 10/7 Double Bonus Poker. (Such numbers are the per-coin payoffs that are most commonly shorted on the particular game.) There are exceptions, however, such as full pay games with 4700 coin royal at several casinos, the 10/6 and 9/7 Jacks-or-Better games at the Stratosphere, and any game with a full pay schedule plus a progressive jackpot. Most strategies are initially developed for the full pay version, then often adapted for certain variations.
Optimum Play: Employing a strategy that may not be quite perfect play but instead is designed to yield the highest per hour win rate with real human play. For details, see my article, "What is Optimum Play?"
Payback: The long term expected return of a game as it is being played. Usually expressed as a percent, but sometimes expressed as the Expected Value (EV) of the game. You can expect to make money on a game only if its long term payback, including any slot club cash rebate, is over 100% (EV greater than one). For your personal evaluation of a situation, you should include the value of any additional comps or promotions.
Payoff: The number of coins or credits paid for a particular winning hand. Often expresses on a "per-coin" basis. For example, a Full House in standard full pay Jacks-or-Better with five coins bet pays 45 coins, but this is usually expressed as 9-for-1. This way, it is the same for a 4-coin, 10-coin or 100-coin machine. Note the use of "for" rather than "to" for the payoff odds; this is because the bet has already disappeared into the guts of the machine, and it is not returned. A Full House pays out a total of only nine coins for each coin bet. It would be "9-to-1" only if it also returned your bet (for a total of 10 coins paid out).
Payoff Schedule: Each slot or video poker machine's complete payoff schedule is posted on the glass front or on the screen. This is usually in the form of a table that shows the number of coins paid for each possible final hand for each possible number of coins bet. The big advantage that video poker has over reel slots, however, is that Nevada and Louisiana regulations require every unseen card to have equal probability of appearing at any time, just as if the cards were being dealt from a well-shuffled deck of real cards, thus making it possible to determine the game's maximum payback and an accurate strategy to achieve that payback.
Payout: The actual dropping of coins by a machine. Some old machines still pay out the coins immediately for every payoff, but most now accumulate credits, and the actual payout occurs only when one presses the Cash Out button. In the case of a coinless machine, it is the printing of a cash voucher. In the case of a jackpot, it is usually a hand pay.
Penalty Card: A useless card in a dealt hand which must be discarded, but whose absence from the remaining deck reduces the chances of making some of the secondary payoffs. This reduces the EV of the play even though it does not affect the probability of the primary target hand. For details, see my article, "What is a Penalty Card?"
Perfect Play: Making every play for the absolute highest Expected Value. Perfect play is easy on a trivial game such as Double Down Stud or Pick'em Poker, and not too difficult on Jacks-or-Better, but it is nearly impossible for a human to achieve on the more complex games such as Double Bonus Poker and All American Poker. That is why I have developed Optimum Play. For details, see my article, "What is a Optimum Play?"
Push: No exchange of money. In a blackjack game, when the player and dealer have the same hand, the dealer leaves the player's money in the betting square and taps the table to designate a push. In video poker, however, your bet has already disappeared into the machine's hopper, and a payoff equal to your bet is proclaimed by the machine to be a win, when actually the one-for-one payoff is only a push. Video poker was the first casino game to achieve this trick of making a push look like a win.
Rated Payback: The long term expected return of a game. Many analysts quote the value given by a game analysis program, but that assumes perfect play. For example, they rate Double Bonus Poker at 100.17%, or even round that up to 100.2%. What happens when you ASSUME something? It makes an ... well, you know. I always round down, and I make an allowance for real human play depending on the complexity of the game. My payback ratings are achievable with real human play.
Secondary Payoff: In many cases we are drawing with the hopes of making a particular big payoff, but much of the EV of the play comes from smaller payoffs when we miss the big one. For example, you might draw two cards to a Royal Flush but end up with a high pair, two pair, three-of-a-kind, a straight or a flush, all of which we would call secondary payoffs.
Zilch: Nothing. A dealt hand with no cards worth holding (i.e., you should redraw all five cards) or a final hand with no payoff.
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