If an online casino player visits a land casino he may find some video poker games that he has not encountered before. This article picks out and reviews some of the more interesting of these. It is also possible that these video poker games are adapted for online playing at some point of time.

In Ace on the Deal players have the option of wagering six coins. This offers certain advantages. The first card dealt to the player will always be an ace. It is this feature that gives the video poker variant its name. This increases the chance of drawing the Jacks or Better winning combination considerably. Ace on the Deal becomes a more volatile video poker variant when six coins are wagered. For some winning combinations the payout per coin wagered increases substantially and for others the payout per coin wagered decreases. Ace on the Deal is ideal for risk taking high rollers. The average return to the player is 98%. This is less than what online video poker variants offer, but can be considered acceptable for land casinos.

A similar land casino video poker variant is Deuce on the Deal. This is based on the Deuces Wild variant that is popular at online casinos in which the deuces are wild cards. The additional fee in this game is five coins, but it guarantees that one of the five cards dealt is a deuce. Hence the benefit is also enhanced considerably. Despite the additional coins wagered, the payout table pays for only up to five coins. The payout ratios for a natural royal flush and four deuces are increased significantly. The payout ratios for five of a kind, straight flush and four of a kind are decreased marginally. The net result of these changes is an increase in volatility, but more significantly a reduction in the average return to the player, which falls to 96%. Therefore Deuce on the Deal is not a very attractive video poker variant. It is unlikely to find its way into online casinos.

Big Split Poker is a different kind of land casino based video poker variant. It has some shades of Pai Gow Poker, except that the player’s hands are matched against payout tables instead of the dealer’s hands. The player is dealt eight cards and has to arrange them into five card hand and a three card hand. Before the cards are dealt he has to decide his betting options. He can bet on either the five card payout table only or on both the five card and three card payout tables. He can wager up to five coins for each payout table. If the player has bet on the five card payout table only, then he is paid based on that table. If he has bet on both payout tables then he is paid based on product of the five card and three card payout tables. It would seem that the best option is to bet on the five card payout table only and make the five card hand as strong as possible. But this is not the optimum strategy. The payouts are such that the average return for betting on the five card payout table only is 97%, whereas the average return for betting on both payout tables is 99.95%.