Short for Pair.

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.

The game's expected return.

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.

Video poker game. See Pickem paytable.

1. (n) Relating to the number hands or lines in a video poker game, as in &quote;"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"

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.

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.