I play a bank of machines at the Atlantis in Reno from time to time when the Progressive gets above $5100. The bank of machines are $1 machines and the progressive pays out at the $5 max bet. The progressive starts out at $4000 and goes up $0.025 per pull. It DOES NOT pay out the normal 8-5 progressive (what you normally see for Jacks or Better, which is what I play). It pays out a full 9-6 on full houses and flushes. I've read Stanford Wongs information here on this web sight concerning the Break Even Point (BEP) on 8-5 Jacks or Better progressive machines being around $8800 for $1 machines. Since this bank of machines pays 9-6, I've determined the BEP to be $5096.23. This is how I did my math using the simple Jacks or Better Strategy (found on the Wizard of Odds website) with a payback of 99.46%. If I am wrong in my logic, please someone correct me and set me straight.
1 - .9946 = .0054 or -0.54% loss per hand.
$5 per pull x .0054 = $0.027 loss per hand
40,601 hands (# of hand between royals playing perfect strategy) x $0.027 = $1096.23 loss if playing a full pay 9-6 jacks or better machine that pays $4000 for a royal flush. This is to say, that when I hit on a standard full pay 9-6 machine I will have lost a total of $5096.23 on average, and then recouped only $4000 once hitting the royal.
Therefore, for the above progressive (9-6 instead of 8-5), when the progressive hits $5096.23 its at the BEP, and when it is higher than this it becomes a winning game.
This is how the first column looks for Jack or Better:
Royal Flush 250
Straight Flush 50
Four of Kinds 25
Full House 9
Flush 6
Straight 4
Three of Kind 3
Two Pair 2
Pair, Jacks or Better 1
The $5 column looks like this:
Royal Flush Progressive
Straight Flush 250
Four of Kinds 125
Full House 45
Flush 30
Straight 20
Three of Kind 15
Two Pair 10
Pair, Jacks or Better 5
Today the Progressive was just above $7400 !!! This is the first time I've seen it above $7000. It's not uncommon to see it at $5500 to $6400 before someone hits and it resets to $4000. I sat at a machine for about twenty minutes. Out of the 14 machines that are in this bank, I think about 9 or 10 were being played at the same time (guess I wasn't the only one trying to hit the Royal Flush). Anywany, about twenty minutes into this session, I new guy sits down at the machine next to me, and on his third spin, he hits a Royal Flush. Damn, I was so close! I was there at the right time, but unfortunately,I just picked one machine off. Oh well. Anyway, for those of you who make it up this way to Reno and enjoy playing video poker profitably, this bank can be found at the Atlantis. It is located near the high limit slot area (half the bank faces in towards the high slot area and the other half faces out). It's just a few steps away from the players club counter. Good Luck!
