Glossary

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National Indian Gaming Commission The United States regulatory agency responsible for overseeing Indian gaming.
Natural A winning hand without a wild card in a poker game that uses wild cards, such as Deuces Wild. In some wild card games, such as Deuces Wild, a Natural Royal Flush pays significantly more then a Royal Flush with at least one Natural (in this case one or more deuces)
See also: Wild Card, Deuces Wild.
NSUD Well known variant of "Deuces Wild 44" video poker game with an EV of 99.73%. See Deuces Wild 44 paytable.
OEJ Common abbreviation for "One Eyed Jacks" video poker game. See One Eyed Jacks paytable.
One Eyed Jacks Video poker game. See One Eyed Jacks paytable.
Over-hold The situation that occurs when the actual game hold is greater the amount a player would lose given perfect play (Max-EV strategy). Most-- if not all-- casino games Over-hold as most players do not play perfectly nor follow a max EV strategy. For many new video poker games the Over-hold is significant as the optimal strategy is difficult to master, often non-intuitive, and differs significantly from older games.
Pair Two cards of the same rank in a hand. In video poker, a Pair can be a High Pair, a Low Pair or, if the game has no Pair payout, neither.
See also: High Pair, Low Pair.
Pat meaning that the dealt hand will be held in entirety and no cards will be discarded on the draw. In some games, such as PKM, it is not possible to have a Pat hand. Supposedly, some machines lock up for a dealt (Pat) Royal Flush so that the player will not be able to make a mistake.
Pay Table List of hands and payouts for a game. Pay Tables are often given per unit bet, assuming a certain minimum (or maximum) number of units.
Payback Percentage The game's expected return.
Penalty card A card, that when discarded from a dealt video poker hand, has a negative effect on the overall expectation of the draw. Achieving the maximum return for most video poker games involves situations (dealt hands) in which one or more Penalty cards can matter.
Perfect Play Following a pre-determined strategy perfectly, without mistake or deviation, in any way. In most cases, Perfect Play refers to play following a simplified Max-EV strategy.
Pickem Video poker game. See Pickem paytable.
PKM Common abbreviation for "Pickem" video poker game. See Pickem paytable.
Play
  1. (n) Relating to the number hands or lines in a video poker game, as in "e;"triple-play"
  2. (n) describing the entire gambling situation or opportunity, as in "It was a good Play, and long with the CB, it was positive".
  3. (v) To participate in a game or sport, as in "To Play blackjack is fun, but I prefer video poker"
Positive expectation game A game in which the return (expectation) is greater then 100%. Mathematically, if the return is expressed as a fraction, the game has a positive expectation if EV - 1 > 0.
Probability Density Function A function describing the probability of event occurring for all possible events. For video poker, the set of events are precisely the possible winning hands along with "nada" the event for a non-winning hand. The probability of each winning hand (and nada) depend on the strategy, and can be obtained by numerical simulation or direct computation (hand enumeration). From the Probability Density Function, one can compute the game return and variance (that is, from the first and second moments).
See also: Cumulative Distribution Function.
Progressive A video poker game in which the payout for one or more hands increases until that hand is hit. When the hand is hit, the payout for the hand is reset to some predetermined value. The Progressive payout value grows in proportion the total amount wagered on the video poker machine or on a group of similar machines. Since the value of payout on a Progressive machine alters the pay table, the game return depends on the Progressive payout value. Optimal strategy also depends on the value of the Progressive payout.
Quick Quads A video poker game in which the wagering of a sixth coin (assuming the base game is a five coin max game) triggers a new mode in which two cards may be summed together and used to form a four of a kind or quad (with three other cards). The return of a Quick Quads video poker game is always better then the return of the base game. The Quick Quads feature, however, increases the variance.
RAB Common abbreviation for "Royal Aces Bonus" video poker game. See Royal Aces Bonus paytable.
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