If the wide selection of games types and the endless variety of pay tables are not enough, there are other variations of video poker games to consider. One of the most popular is progressive video poker.

In standard video poker, each line of the pay table has one value and it never changes; a high pair always pays 1-for-1, a 4-of-a-kind always pays 25-for-1 or some other fixed number, and a royal flush always pays 800-for-1 with 5 credits played.

Progressive video poker changes this. Progressive video poker games typically add money to a jackpot as players play the machine. Usually the jackpot is for hitting a royal flush, but some progressive games have running jackpots for straight flushes or certain four-of-a-kind hands.

Normally progressive games have reduced payouts for the full house and flush hands. For example, a jacks or better game that would normally pay 9-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush will only pay 8-for-1 for a full house (sometimes only 7-for-1 for a full house) and 5-for-1 for a flush when it is a progressive game.

The good news is that as the progressive jackpot climbs, the house edge decreases – and can eventually become favorable for the player. For a jacks-or-better game, the house edge moves towards the player by about 0.5 to 0.6 percent for each additional 1,000 credits in the jackpot. For example, an 8/5 game (8-for-1 paid for a full house and 5-for-1 paid for a flush) has a 97.30 percent payback when the royal flush progressive jackpot is at the reset value of 4,000 credits. When the jackpot climbs to 5,000 credits, the payback improves to 97.81 percent. Should the jackpot climb to double the reset value of 4,000 to 8,000 credits, the payback is approximately the same as a full pay 9/6 jacks or better game (99.59 percent). What this means is when the jackpot of an 8/5 jacks or better progressive game is at 8,000 credits, a player can play the game with the same payback expectation as the increasingly harder to find full pay (9/6) game.

However, just because the payback is the same doesn’t mean everything about the game is the same. Because more of the payback is concentrated in the royal flush, the variance of the game will increase – and increase dramatically from 19.32 to more than four times that amount or 81.75.

What this means for the player is additional money is required for the bankroll.

Not only that, but the playing strategy will have to change. Since the royal is worth so much more, saving for the royal will become more common. For example, when the royal flush jackpot is at 4,000 coins, basic strategy says to save a high pair (pair of jacks through a pair of aces) before saving three of a royal. However, when the jackpot reaches 8,000 coins, the strategy reverses to saving three of a royal before saving a high pair.

This means the strategy must change depending on the size of the jackpot. As the jackpot increases, the player will increasingly choose saving for a royal over other plays that would make some smaller amount of money. This means the player’s bankroll will be drained faster than normal until a jackpot is won so he must have adequate money to handle this.

Saving for a royal more often causes the frequency of hitting a royal to actually increase. At 4,000 credits for a royal on an 8/5 jacks or better game, playing expert strategy will have a royal hit every 40,170 hands on average. At 8,000 credits on the same game, a royal will be hit every 32,644 hands – a 20 percent increase. The percentage of overall payback for hitting a royal flush also increases as the jackpot climbs to 4.90 percent at 8,000 credits from 1.99 percent at 4,000 credits – almost two and one half times more.

Should you decide to play progressive video poker, I suggest generating a playing strategy with a computer program or smartphone app for royal jackpots at 1,000 credit intervals starting at the level you are willing to play. As an example, in the above mentioned 8/5 Jacks or Better progressive game, you may want to generate one playing strategy with the royal flush jackpot starting at 7,000 credits, another at 8,000 credits, another at 9,000 credits, and another at 10,000 credits. It is extremely rare that a jackpot will go beyond 10,000 credits. When playing the game, use the strategy that is closest to the game being played.

Is playing progressive video poker for you? If you have an adequate bankroll and the software to change your strategy basically on the fly, it may be. Also, if all that is available are poorly paying non-progressive games, waiting for a sufficiently high jackpot to make the game worth playing may be the best strategy for the serious recreational player. However, only you can determine if you are willing to do what is required to be a winner at progressive video poker play.

More detailed information on Progressive Video Poker as well as dozens of additional video poker games is available in Frank Scoblete’s and Jerry "Stickman’s" book "Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker." It is available on Amazon.

Until next time….

All the best in your casino and life endeavors.