Gambling NewsCasino GamblingOnline GamblingBlackjackVideo PokerSlotsCrapsPokerRoulette
ReadyBetGo! HomeGambling OnlineCasino GamblingBlackjackCrapsPokerRouletteSlotsVideo PokerOur AuthorsBook ReviewsGambling News
Other Software Reviews
A Wizard at Video Poker WizardCap Richards, the wizard behind the Video Poker Wizard software got his start like most of us who have played VP for several years: Stanford Wong's Professional Video Poker book gave him the dream to shoot for and with tools such as Cap's Video Poker Wizard software, it's now easier than ever to fulfill that dream of Royal Flushes.BVS Video Poker Excellent Training SoftwareReadyBetGo recently tested the BVS Video Poker training software and found it a very good package that can help you learn how to play video poker at a good price. The software covers 40 video poker games so you can start with the classics like Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild, or hone your skills with the latest variations. Video Poker Software Sniffs out the Best Video Poker StrategyVideo Poker Coach and Video Poker Hunt are both smart program that can help novice players improve their video poker games painlessly. Choose Video Poker Coach if you are looking for a complete set of games or choose Video Poker Hunt if your needs are more limited. Either way, you'll pick up some valuable habits.
Recommended Software
Frugal Video Poker Software

Book Picture
Frugal Video Poker is one of the most comprehensive programs available with 54 pre-loaded games and scores of unique features. It is the first to combine in one program both a tutor which will signal your errors AND a strategy generator, so you can print out a chart to take with you to the casino. The handy Slot Club Calculator helps you figure what slot club and comps benefits add to the base value of the game you have analyzed. Editor's Choice.
Related Links
Jean Scott's Queen of CompsJean Scott, the Queen of Comps, is best known for encouraging smarter casino gambling and that's why we are happy to encourage you to visit her site. Her practical suggestions will save you time and money in your quest to make your time in the casino more fun and profitable.

Frugal Video Poker Stands Above the Pack

Nobody likes to throw money away, but this happens all the time when people play video poker without knowing the best strategy for the game they're playing.  Jean Scott and Jim Wolf believe in
  being frugal and smart and have combined this philosophy with their love of video poker to produce one of the best video poker software training programs made today.  Whether you are a beginner just learning the game, a mid-level player trying a new game, or an expert who wants more details and statistics, Frugal Video Poker is the program you should choose.  The program has many features that are not available in other packages, but before we get into all the bells and whistles, let's start with the basic look and feel of the playing environment.
Playing Environment
The program default screen for FVP is the familiar 5 cards of video poker waiting to be revealed.  The default game is Jacks or Better 9/6, but there are many games and variations to choose from.  The software makes playing easy.  You have the choice of starting with a set amount of credits or you can start with zero credits and play immediately.  The cards are large and easy to read.  You can select the cards to hold by either mouse or keyboard.  You also have the option of resetting the keyboard to any keystrokes you choose.  The computer will not hold the hands for you unless you request it to "Show the Best Hand," but it will show you (and tell you with a sound) if you have been dealt a winning hand. 
Each time you play you begin a "session" which will be used to measure your learning progress.  Session information includes number of hands played, credits bet and credits won, session % return, Expected Return (possible, achieved, accuracy), number of errors and percentage of correct plays.  Below the session statistics you will find the distribution of hands that were dealt and how much each contributed to your overall return.  In addition to your session, the program also keeps track of the volatility of your play, showing the high and low points of your credits during your session.   The Evaluate Player window shows a player's performance over all sessions under that player's name. 
Sessions are also where your errors are recorded for later review.  Here you can see patterns of errors you make, the cost of these errors in Expected Return, and degree of severity of the error.  Errors can be viewed in relation to both perfect play and strategy play.
Frugal Video Poker is unique as it has both perfect strategy and strategy charts for all games built into the program.  Strategy play is a simplified version of perfect play that you can view visually and memorize.  Some people may feel more comfortable using strategy cards that they can print and take to the casinos, while others prefer to learn the best play through more thorough analysis.  With FVP, you make the decision about how you best like to learn.  I prefer to carry the information in my head, but I appreciated that FVP had the strategy cards available at any time for reference.  The help function of the program provides an excellent discussion of these two modes of learning.
Game Selection
Frugal Video Poker has over 100 different pre-configured machine payoff tables to choose from while playing and practicing.  The games are broken down into major types and then variants are listed below.  The major types are Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Kicker Games (Double Double Bonus Poker and variations), Deuces Wild, Joker Wild and Pick 'Em games.  Under each major type are variants like All American Poker, Tens or Better under Jacks or Better; Aces and Eights, Aces and Faces, under Bonus Poker, etc.  The program also gives you the flexibility to adjust the pay tables of the games listed.  For an experiment, I changed a 9/6 machine to a 6/5 machine.  After pressing "Analysis", the program determined the payout percentage and created a new set of strategy cards for this payout table.  Very impressive.
Playing Modes
Frugal Video Poker comes with a number of different play modes built-in.  The default mode is just like a regular video poker machine with the extra benefit of having your errors pointed out to you and your statistics being recorded.  There is also a "Flash Card" mode where your play is analyzed without the extra step of drawing cards.  This mode is  a quick way to judge the accuracy of your play.
The software also has a computer play mode where the program plays either a set amount of hands or until the credits go to zero.
More Bells and Whistles
Create a Hand and hand analysis -- FVP gives you the opportunity to manually enter the more troublesome hands for instant analysis.  For example I was curious to know which cards to hold when dealt Ah 2h 3h Qc Kc.  With the Create a Hand function I quickly built my hand and selected the cards to hold to see the comparative ER of each decision.  It turns out that Qc Kc are the cards to hold, but by a very small margin.
Random error replay -- if you are stubbornly making the same errors, the program can randomly insert those types of hands into your session to give you another chance to get it right.
Difficulty mode settings – FVP also allows you to set the difficulty of the hands you will encounter.  If you feel you have the basics down, you may want to increase the number of challenging hands.
Slot Club cashback calculations -- FVP provides a way to calculate how returns from a slot club contribute to the overall payback of a machine. 
Help screens -- Frugal Video Poker has the most comprehensive help section of any video poker software.  As a matter of fact, the information under help is probably worth the purchase price alone. 
Summary
Frugal Video Poker is one of the most robust video poker training software packages I've ever come across.  The development team has obviously put a lot of thought and effort into making this a powerful and flexible program to help you learn the best strategy for most of the popular games in casinos today.  I would highly recommend the purchase of this software.

You can purchase Frugal Video Poker by visiting the website of Jean Scott,  www.queenofcomps.com
Below is a complete list of features of Frugal Video Poker.   This list was provided by Jim Wolf, the program's developer.

Neat things for both the beginner and expert THAT NO OTHER SOFTWARE can do…

    Music - You can choose which song to play, or shut it off completely.

    Strategy charts that you can play, and not just view

    Slot marquee that warns you of repeated strategy errors during your current session. It also adds general tips and information about video poker and casinos.

    Also offered in the slot marquee are witticisms from the frugal queen of comps, Jean Scott.

    A introductory video about complimentaries and video poker by Jean Scott

    Over 100 pre-configured payoff tables

    You can customize the keyboard to pick cards and deal/ draw

    Great graphics

    Allows negative credits, so that play isn’t stopped when you’re out of money.

    You can customize the colors of the screen and the cards

    Multipay machines

    We offer forwards, backwards, and both direction sequential royal analysis.

    You can change the appearance of the strategy chart

    You can print out a colored strategy chart, a standard chart with your choice of font, or launch the chart in your word processor

    A volatility graph that shows the peaks and valleys of your bankroll in your session play. It also states the minimum and maximum credits during the session, and which hands they occurred.

    We generate the EV for a strategy chart. VPSM just lists the perfect EV, which are NOT the EV of those charts. You must know the true return of what you are playing!

    Players can have as many sessions as they want, and we don’t bother you with that open/ close file stuff like Winpoker does. All sessions are listed for review. You can continue an old session or start a new session at any time. You can rename or delete a session.

    You are not limited to the number of machines that can have different payoff tables. You can configure, rename, or delete a machine at any time.

    You can have more than one player (unlimited). This makes it great in households where both the husband and wife may play. One person may have advanced options when they log into the game. Another player may have the game configured to the very minimum level. Options follow the player, and are not forced upon everyone who plays the game.

    Player statistics that span all sessions and machines. Learn how the casino would rate your play.

    Our hands per hour statistic is actually accurate, as we stop the clock when you look at a tutoring window.

    You can change the bonus or kicker payoffs for ANY of the 4 of a kinds.

    In the machine statistics, we compare what you would lose playing a strategy chart relative to computer perfect play. This aids in deciding how you want to learn the machine.

    When you create a hand in FVP, you can click on the cards in the hand and have the strategy or ER (depending on play mode) instantly update. You can also drag and drop cards into the hand, instead of having to clear the whole hand and starting over.

    Strategy play machine statistics: Not even VPSM has this.

    We save all errors. Therefore, you can practice without having errors signaled, and review them later. You can view the errors of any session at any time.

    Tournament Mode: Race against the clock to complete the allowed number of hands in the allotted time.

    The game will automatically set your computers resolution to the resolutions of the game, if you request.

    The pacing of the cards being dealt, can be controlled by the player. Experts might want to speed up play in this way. Beginners may want to slow it down.

    Do you have some information from your slot club, but can’t quite figure out the cashback rate? We offer two different methods of calculating cashback. Just plug the appropriate values into our cashback calculator. We even add the rate to the return of the game, so that you know exactly what to expect at the casino.

    The Deal/ Draw key can be removed from the game screen

Neat things for the beginner THAT NO OTHER SOFTWARE can do…

    Strategy chart lists all the different plays contained in the hand, to help aid in identification.

    We have no confusing statistics in our strategy charts, unless asked. This allows beginners to wean themselves into play.

    In computer perfect play, we show the return, but no other confusing statistics unless asked. This allows beginners to wean themselves into play.

    A comprehensive help file

    Graphs that explain the appearance and contribution of the paying poker hands, so that you don’t have to stare at bland statistics that otherwise appear to have no correlation.

    A graph that will compare the play of one hand compared to another, so that you can understand why one play is better

    A favorites machines list, so that the beginner does not get overwhelmed by the different video poker machines available. We initialize this list to the 7 most commonly found machines. Machines can be added or subtracted from this list at any time. The list follows the player - this means that you are not stuck with the machines that your husband is playing, or vice-versa.

    We categorize the machines, so that the beginner can learn to identify the type of game he/ she is playing

    In the machine statistics, we show what the average wins or losses per hour on the machine will be, dependent on the # of hands played per hour. In this way, you have an idea of what to expect in the casino.

    The beginner can view the payoff table before selecting a machine from our lists (a very good practice!). They can also view the machine statistics.

    You can have errors replayed during a session. You can be re-tested on the hands that you are having trouble with. We also randomly select the errant hands, and randomly shuffle the suits, so that the replay is not so obvious. The player picks the random mix of regular hands and error hands, for example, approximately 1 out of every 20 hands will be an errant hand.

    Like the real VP machines, we highlight in the payoff table the paying hand that is dealt to you (before the draw). We offer the option for us not to do this. It is good practice, especially when you are a beginner, to find those paying hands without help.

    As you play, you may want to note certain plays on hands, or the returns of certain machines. We offer a scratch pad text editor for you to record your thoughts during play. The scratch pad is automatically saved, and can be printed out at any time.

Neat things for experts THAT NO OTHER SOFTWARE can do…

    You can add statistics at any time - for strategy charts or computer perfect play.

    You can add both the strategy chart and perfect play tutors to most windows.

    Computer plays hands in the background. Since essentially this tool is used to learn about the required bankroll for sessions on a machine, this helps speed up the analysis. The computer session can be reviewed as with any other session. You can play a game while the computer plays its hands. You can choose the play mode and multiplay. The computer can either play a set amount of hands or until the credits are zero.

    You can view the hands that will not occur on a strategy chart, because another hand steals plays from that hand. This is an important clue to a strategy situation that may need to be further explored in perfect play, due to penalty cards

    You can examine the session relative to the other play mode. For strategy players, this allows them to see where penalty cards may have changed the play on a hand, that the strategy chart did not pick up on. For computer perfect players, they may be able to find a pattern of incorrect plays related to not identifying the proper strategy in the hand.

    You can define the payoffs for natural and wild hand independent of each other. For example, you can give a wild full house one payoff and a natural full house another.

    You can rearrange (tweak) the rankings in a strategy chart and then analyze the chart for its return. Some do this so that they can learn the cost of a play, like always going for a royal. Some will do this to see if they can improve on the chart.

    If you do improve a chart by tweaking, we will automatically select that chart for game play (we search all the charts, both computer and player generated, for the best EV).

    You can manually load any strategy chart for game play

    Inheriting charts - For example, the strategy for 9/6 Jacks or Better can be loaded into 10/7 Double Bonus, and then analyzed for the resultant EV. This helps to determine how your skills on one machine would transfer to another.

    Unsorted charts for wild games. Determines if a play on one tier of a chart has precedence over another (rare but does occur). For example, in Deuces and Joker wild, {1 wild + 4 card royal flush} does not appear on the 1 wild tier. This is because the best play is to throw away the wild card and go for the natural royal.

Things FVP can do that some other software programs might be able to do

    1-4 credit and 5 credit payoff tables

    Any machine can be a multiplay machines

    You can watch the computer play hands

    We also allow coin-in credits, where play is stopped when you run out of money

    Computer perfect play

    Change the payoffs and analyze a machine for return (except we also generate a strategy chart, and the return of that chart

    You can change what percentage defines a low, medium, or high error.

    Double down

    Perfect play machine statistics

    Session statistics (only one session allowed on winpoker)

    Show best hand

    Flash card play (no deal on the draw)

TOP TEN features of FVP

1.    Calculating the value of slot club points

2.    Sequential royal analysis

3.    A volatility graph that shows the peaks and valleys of your bankroll in your session play,

4.    You can change the bonus or kicker payoffs for ANY of the 4 of a kinds,

5.    Tournament Mode

6.    Strategy chart lists all the different plays contained in the hand, to help aid in identification.

7.    You can have errors replayed during a session so you can be re-tested on the hands that you are having trouble with.

8.    You can rearrange (tweak) the rankings in a strategy chart and then analyze the chart for its return. Some do this so that they can learn the cost of a play, like always going for a royal.

9.    You can define the payoffs for natural and wild hand independent of each other.

10.    There are two options for the tutoring function:  "perfect play" if you want to learn every little penalty card situation and "strategy play" if you would like to learn a very good simplified strategy that gives you an EV very close to the perfect one but does not include any complex penalty-card factors.   This latter is very appropriate for most players.

© 2006-2012 ReadyBetGo!

ReadyBetGo! is an independent gambling news and information service. If you plan to play in casinos, ensure
that you are not breaking any local laws. It's up to you to know the legality of your actions when you gamble.