Progressive Video Poker Games

A progressive video-poker award can grow as qualifying play contributes to a jackpot. The rules determine which hands qualify, how the meter grows, who shares the pool and what happens after a win. Do not assume every progressive uses the same arrangement. Read eligibility before betting. A game may require a particular credit wager, denomination or extra feature bet to qualify. A smaller wager may pay a fixed award instead of the displayed jackpot. That is a rule to check, not a reason to exceed your budget. Separate the jackpot meter from the whole game’s expected return. A larger possible award does not establish that the complete game has a positive expectation. All other payouts and the correct strategy still matter. For a purely hypothetical fixed-strategy example, suppose the chance of a qualifying jackpot is one in forty thousand per hand. Increasing that jackpot by one thousand dollars adds two and a half cents to expected return per hand. If each hand costs one dollar and twenty-five cents, that is a two-percentage-point increase in gross return under those assumptions. It is not a calculation for an actual machine. Changing jackpot amounts can change the best Hold decisions, which can also change the hit probability. Use a chart or analysis for the exact meter, table and eligibility conditions. Check the reset rule and set a spending limit before playing.