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Rack 'Em Up Poker

Introduction

Rack 'Em Up Poker is a video poker variant by Action Gaming.  It is an optional feature added to 25-, 50-, and 100-play video poker machines. If the player bets an extra two credits per play, he invokes the bonus feature.  The bonus feature pays the player an extra award according to how many total times he improves to certain hands. For example, in 25-play 8-5 Bonus Poker, if the player improves to a three of a kind on at least 15 hands, then he will win a bonus of 4,000 credits.

Rules

  1. The game is an added feature to some 25-, 50-, and 100-play games.
  2. With one to five coins bet per play, the game plays like conventional multi-play video poker, which I assume the reader is familiar with.
  3. If the player bets seven coins per play, the additional two coins above five coins pay for the bonus feature. All wins will still be based on a five-coin bet per play. The extra two coins should be viewed as a fee.
  4. If the feature is activated, in addition to being paid normally on each additional hand, the player will be eligible for bonus wins.
  5. Bonus wins will be based on thfe number of improved wins of a given type, across all plays, among six types of wins. To get credit for a win for purposes of the bonus, the hand must IMPROVE. For example, if you hold a three of a kind, you don't get credit for three of a kind bonus hands, because the hand didn't get better on the draw.
  6. In games with no wild cards, these six hands are a three of a kind to four aces. In deuces wild games they are a full house to four deuces.
  7. Below, as an example, are the bonus pay tables for 9-5 Jacks or Better.

Bonus Pay Table — 25-Play 9-5 Jacks or Better

Wins Three of
a Kind		 Straight Flush Full
House		 Four of
a Kind		 Four
Aces
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 10 20 25 45 225 1000
2 15 50 50 90 300 2000
3 20 70 75 135 400 3000
4 25 100 100 180 500 4000
5 30 130 125 225 600 4000
6 35 160 155 270 700 4000
7 40 200 205 315 1000 4000
8 45 240 255 500 4000 4000
9 60 300 310 1000 4000 4000
10 100 350 450 4000 4000 4000
11 200 400 1000 4000 4000 4000
12 300 600 4000 4000 4000 4000
13 500 2000 4000 4000 4000 4000
14 1000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000
15 to 25 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000

Bonus Pay Table — 50-Play 9-5 Jacks or Better

Wins Three of
a Kind		 Straight Flush Full
House		 Four of
a Kind		 Four
Aces
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 10 20 25 45 225 1000
2 15 45 50 90 300 2000
3 20 70 75 135 400 3000
4 25 95 100 180 500 4000
5 30 120 125 225 600 4000
6 35 145 150 270 700 4000
7 40 170 175 315 800 4000
8 45 195 200 360 900 4000
9 90 220 250 425 1000 4000
10 100 245 300 525 2000 4000
11 125 280 350 625 3000 4000
12 150 320 400 725 4000 4000
13 200 400 500 825 4000 4000
14 300 500 600 1000 4000 4000
15 400 600 700 2000 4000 4000
16 500 700 800 3000 4000 4000
17 600 800 900 4000 4000 4000
18 700 900 1000 4000 4000 4000
19 800 1000 2000 4000 4000 4000
20 900 2000 3000 4000 4000 4000
21 1000 3000 3000 4000 4000 4000
22 2000 4000 3000 4000 4000 4000
23 3000 4000 3000 4000 4000 4000
24 to 50 4000 4000 3000 4000 4000 4000

Bonus Pay Table — 100-Play 9-5 Jacks or Better

Wins Three of
a Kind		 Straight Flush Full
House		 Four of
a Kind		 Four
Aces
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 10 20 25 45 225 1000
2 15 45 50 90 300 1500
3 20 70 75 135 350 2000
4 25 95 100 180 400 2500
5 30 120 125 225 450 3000
6 40 145 150 270 500 3500
7 50 170 175 315 550 4000
8 60 195 200 360 600 4000
9 70 220 225 405 650 4000
10 80 245 250 450 700 4000
11 90 270 275 495 750 4000
12 100 295 300 540 800 4000
13 110 320 325 585 850 4000
14 120 345 350 630 900 4000
15 140 370 375 675 950 4000
16 160 395 400 720 1000 4000
17 180 420 425 765 2000 4000
18 200 445 450 810 3000 4000
19 220 470 475 855 4000 4000
20 250 480 500 900 4000 4000
21 300 490 600 1000 4000 4000
22 400 500 700 2000 4000 4000
23 500 600 800 3000 4000 4000
24 600 700 900 4000 4000 4000
25 700 800 1000 4000 4000 4000
26 800 900 2000 4000 4000 4000
27 900 1000 3000 4000 4000 4000
28 1000 2000 4000 4000 4000 4000
29 2000 3000 4000 4000 4000 4000
30 3000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000
31 to 100 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000 4000

Example

In this example, I was playing 100-play 9-5 Jacks or Better and held two deuces. Here is what I had after the draw:

  • 17 Two Pair
  • 14 Three of a Kind
  • 2 Full House
  • 1 Four of a Kind
rack em up 100 play

As shown in the 100-play pay table above, 14 three of a kinds are worth 120, 2 full houses are worth 90, and one four-of-a-kind is worth 225. Thus, the bonus win is 120+90+225 = 435. The individual wins for each hand are worth 5×(17×2 + 14×3 + 2×9 + 1×25) = 595. The total win is thus 595+435 = 1030, as also shown in the Win box.

Return Table

An analysis of this game would have been rather tedious. Fortunately, VideoPoker.com indicates the games, pay tables, and returns for Rack 'Em Poker. You can find the list if you click "Customize Games/Plays." They don't list separately returns by number of plays. Based on the analysis of a trusted video poker programmer, I believe these returns apply to the 25-play game only. I will post after the table his 50-play and 100-play results for two games.

Return Table

Game Pay Table Return
Jacks or Better 9-5 98.564%
Jacks or Better 8-5 97.768%
Jacks or Better 7-5 96.511%
Bonus Poker 7-5 98.063%
Bonus Poker 6-5 97.303%
Bonus Poker 6-5 96.912%
Bonus Poker Deluxe 8-6 98.680%
Bonus Poker Deluxe 8-5 97.553%
Bonus Poker Deluxe 7-5 96.578%
Double Bonus 9-6-5 98.427%
Double Bonus 9-6-4 97.219%
Double Bonus 9-6-4 96.815%
Double Double Bonus 9-5 98.403%
Double Double Bonus 9-5 97.873%
Double Double Bonus 8-5 96.859%
Double Double Bonus 7-5 96.144%
Triple Double Bonus 9-6 98.646%
Triple Double Bonus 9-5 97.783%
Triple Double Bonus 8-5 96.128%
Deuces Wild 20-12-10-4-4-3 98.075%
Deuces Wild 25-16-13-4-3-2 97.266%
Deuces Wild Bonus 10-4-3-3-1-1 98.080%
Deuces Wild Bonus 12-4-3-2-1-1 97.176%

As mentioned before the table, I believe the returns lists are for the 25-play game only. Based on the trusted analysis of a friend I'll refer to as GK for now, here are return by number of plays for a couple games.

9-5 Jacks or Better:

  • 25 Line: 0.98563578137925
  • 50 Line: 0.98581410470529
  • 100 Line: 0.98807212005431

7-5 Bonus Poker

  • 25 Line: 0.9806343622856
  • 50 Line: 0.98202038203347
  • 100 Line: 0.98160382181086

Analysis

I wanted to do some analysis for this game, so calculated the expected bonus value for some common draws in 25-play 8-5 Bonus Poker. Here they are:

  • Pair (discarding three singletons) — 47.42 credits.
  • Two Pair (discarding one singleton) — 95.97 credits.
  • Three of a Kind (discarding two singletons) — 260.13 credits.
  • Four to an inside straight — 42.47 credits.
  • Four to an outside straight — 92.39 credits.
  • Four to a flush — 136.01 credits.

Strategy

Optimal strategy would involve not just conventional video poker strategy, but also the expected bonus value for all 32 possible plays for any given draw. I leave that as an exercise for the reader.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank VideoPoker.com for their complimentary Gold membership and letting me use screenshots from their game on this site.

Written by: Michael Shackleford