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Exciting new versions of Ultimate X are coming soon
By John Grochowski
Regular readers will know that video poker has long been a passion of mine. When my wife and I made our first Las Vegas trip together more than 25 years ago, it was a video poker-playing trek on the Strip that made it memorable.
That trek started me on a path to wanting to know more and more about video poker, including all the new versions that would follow in years to come.
I’ll have more about those new versions, with the latest and greatest games from IGT in a minute. But first, a small detour through the ghosts of casino trips past.
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Starting from Bally’s, we made stops at the old Bourbon Street casino, the Barbary Coast, Flamingo Hilton as it was called then, O’Shea’s, the Holiday Casino that has morphed into Harrah’s and the Sands, which long reigned on the current site of the Venetian.
All the way, we played quarter video poker. We both drew four of a kind a few times, and Marcy had a straight flush. When we returned to Bally’s and counted the quarters in our big plastic cups – and yes, we really carried buckets of coins up the Strip – we had $60 more than when we started.
For low-rollers to invest a few $20 bills, play for hours and win $60, well, it was an exciting day.
I’ve been a fan of video poker ever since, always eager to try the latest and greatest games. When Action Gaming through IGT introduced the first multi-hand game, Triple Play Poker, it tripled my pleasure. And when Leading Edge Design, also through IGT, introduced Multi-Strike Poker with its potential of four hands, it quadrupled my fun. One trip that brought mostly small losses was rescued on Day 4 by a straight flush on level 4 with an 8x multiplier.
Ultimate X Poker is another favorite, and I’m not alone there. It’s a popular favorite as the leader in that segment of multi-hand games that requires an extra bet to get a bonus feature.
Just as you’d expect, IGT wants to build on that success. Among the new games to expect in the coming months Ultimate X Bonus Streak and Ultimate X Spin Poker, which both play off the Ultimate X formula of awarding multipliers after winning hands. Along with Flip and Play Poker, the Ultimate X games are highlights among new videopoker games from IGT.
And when it comes to new video poker highlights, IGT is the place to look. Scientific Games has some nice recent video poker offerings through its acquisition of WMS Gaming and some classic video poker games through Bally Technologies. Aristocrat Technologies holds Casino Data Systems’ video poker games from the 1990s. Incredible Technologies got creative several years ago with its Magic Touch video poker games. But the machines that have really resonated with players are from IGT, which makes roughly 95 percent of the video poker games you see in casinos.
I received a guided tour through IGT’s new games from Trevor Lynch, product manager for video poker. Ultimate X Bonus Streak is available in Triple Play, Five Play and Ten Play formats. Each has a 10 credit per hand maximum bet – five credits for basic play plus five credits to buy the bonus feature.
As in Ultimate X, winning hands bring multiplier for subsequent hands. There are exceptions: The smallest-paying hands, Jacks or Better and two pairs, do not bring multipliers on Bonus Streak.
Here’s the part players will love. You don’t just get a multiplier for the next hand. You get a streak of multipliers. On non-wild card games, three of a kind, flushes and straights bring multipliers on the next three hands. If it’s a full house or better, you get a five-hand streak.
Not only that, the multiplier increases for each hand on the streak. When you have the maximum streak, multipliers are 2x, 3x, 4x, 8x and 12x – that is, payoffs on a winning hand are doubled on the next play, tripled on the one after and so on.
If you have a winner during the streak, it increases payoffs for the remainder of the streak to 12x.
“This is really ingenious by our math department,” Lynch said of the multiplier increase. “They say it’s the hardest problem that they’ve worked on in several years.”
Lynch thinks Bonus Streak, like original Ultimate X, will have its biggest appeal at low coin denominations.
“We feel Ten Play nickels is the sweet spot,” he said. “Of course if people want to set it up higher, that’s up to them.”
Ultimate X Spin Poker is just what it says. It puts the Ultimate X multipliers on a Spin Poker format, where the cards are on spinning reels.
“This is chocolate and peanut butter,” Lynch said, seeing a delicious combination. “Spin Poker has been a great brand for us Ultimate X has been a great brand for us. If you think of it as nine lines, think of it like nine-play. 90 credit maximum bet, and you’re awarded multipliers.”
Flip and Play Poker, available in single-hand as well as multi-hand formats, creates extra winners.
“It’s basically like a nudge feature in a slot machine,” Lynch said. “If I’m one card away from a winning hand on the deal, it will nudge my card up or down one rank to make that winning hand.”
With a Jack and two Queens as the starting hand, the Jack flipped with a split flip display, as if the card was hinged in the middle and each half flipped to reveal a third Queen. Players have the option of rejecting the flip if it gets in the way of a desired draw.
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“It’s my favorite game of the show, Lynch said, “because you get so many great starting hands.”
Perfect basic strategy is a must for this high volatility game
By Henry Tamburin
Let me repeat this because it’s important: The volatility is very high. This means that if you are not lucky and don’t get a winning hand followed by another winning hand, your bankroll will head south very quickly. This greater volatility requires a much bigger bankroll to withstand the big bankroll swings that will occur with this game.
In previous articles in Strictly Slots, I wrote about the six-coins-per-line games Super Times Pay and Quick Quads. This month, I’ll describe the mother of multi-coin-per-line games known as Ultimate X.
Ultimate X is available as a multi-hand and single-hand video poker game. If you wager 10 coins per line instead of five coins, you will earn a multiplier, not on the current hand, but on the following hand (i.e., betting 10 coins per line puts you in the Ultimate X mode). Essentially, you are doubling your initial bet in the hopes that you will get a greater payout on the following hand.
The easiest way to show you how Ultimate X works is to play a few hands. (The game is Triple Play Bonus Poker.)
Suppose on the first hand you wagered the maximum of 30 coins (i.e., 10 coins per line) to activate the Ultimate X feature and are dealt the following hand:
Notice on the bottom right of the screen, the “Ultimate X Poker” logo shows that it is active (because you wagered the maximum of 30 coins). On the first line, you hold the pair of 4s. The 4s will appear in the same card position on lines #2 and #3, and each line will receive three draw cards. The result of the draw gave you these final hands.
You wound up with two pairs on line #1 (pair of 4s and 8s) but you didn’t get a winning hand on lines #2 and #3. Our winning two pair on line #1 paid 10 coins (which is a standard payout for two pairs for a traditional five-coin wager). The 10-coin winning payout appears in the “Win” meter at the bottom left of the screen. Likewise, the 10 coins won increased the “Credit” meter (lower right) by 10 coins. Notice that to the left of line #1 (i.e., bottom hand), you’ll see “Next Hand 3X.” This signifies that the payout for a winning hand on Line #1 on the following hand would be multiplied by 3.
On the next hand, you are dealt:
Notice that “3X” appears to the left of line #1 (to signify whatever the payout is for a winning hand on line #1, it will be multiplied by 3). You hold the single ace, hit the draw button, and wound up with a pair of queens on line #1 and a pair of aces on line #3.
The payout for a high pair is five coins but on line #1, the payout is multiplied by 3 (because we had a winning hand on this line in the previous hand). Therefore, your total payout was 20 coins (five coins for the pair of aces on line #3, and 15 coins for the pair of queens on line #1). Since you have a winning hand on lines #1 and #3, the screen shows that you will have a 2x multiplier on any winning hands on lines #1 and #3 on the following hand.
On your third hand, you were dealt two unsuited high cards (J-Q) on line #1, you held them, and ended up with:
Unfortunately, you didn’t get a winning hand on lines #1 and #3 (with the 2x multiplier from the previous winning hands on these lines) but you got a winning hand on line #2 that gives you a 3x multiplier on this line for the following hand.
On the next hand, you were dealt two pair:
You hold the two pair, say a silent prayer, and after the draw ended up with the following hands:
Unfortunately, you didn’t get a full house or three of a kind on any line on the draw (darn!) so your final result was two pair on all lines. The payout was 10 coins on line #1, 10 coins on line # 3, and 30 coins on line #2 (because of the 3x multiplier from the previous winning hand line #2). Notice also that on the following hand, you will have a 3x multiplier on all three lines.
I hope after playing these sample hands, you get the gist of how the game plays and how fun and lucrative it could be if you get a winning hand on one or more lines followed by another winning hand on the same line(s).
The amount of the multiplier that you receive for any winning hand depends on which game you are playing (e.g., bonus poker, double double bonus, etc.), what the winning hand was (see below), and how many lines you played (e.g., Triple Play, Five Play, or Ten Play.). The multiplier is always 2x for winning hands higher than a full house. As an example, the multipliers for the Triple Play Bonus Poker game are:
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Notice that if you get a full house or flush on any line, then on the following hand the payout for any winning hand (on the same line) would be multiplied by 12 and 11 respectively. (My biggest winning hand to date playing Ultimate X was when I got four 3s with a 12x multiplier (the payout was a very nice 2400 coins or $600 playing quarters).
Keep in mind that when you activate the Ultimate X feature, you are doubling your bet (betting 10 coins per line instead of 5 coins) in return at a potential shot at a bigger payout on the following hand. Because you are betting a total of 30 coins per hand on a Triple Play Ultimate X game, the volatility is very high. Let me repeat this because it’s important: The volatility is very high. This means that if you are not lucky and don’t get a winning hand followed by another winning hand, your bankroll will head south very quickly. This greater volatility requires a much bigger bankroll to withstand the big bankroll swings that will occur with this game. (Psychologically, you also have to be prepared for the negative swings.)
According to IGT, there are nine game families on the Ultimate X platform, mostly on Three-, Five- and Ten-Play machines, although a single hand version is offered on their bundled-theme Five Star Poker. The highest return Ultimate X game that is offered is 9/6 Double Double Bonus Poker on Ten Play (99.87%, assuming perfect strategy). You can review the returns for other games on the Ultimate X page at www.wizardofodds.com.
If you want to know which casinos in Las Vegas offer Ultimate X, go to the Best Video Poker Page on www.lasvegasadvisor.com. You can also go to www.vpfree2.com and use the search function to find out which casinos in different regions of the U.S. offer Ultimate X, or use the “Find in Casinos” function on www.videopoker.com. If you want to play Ultimate X for free, go to www.videopoker.com. (I highly recommend you do so to get a feel for how the game plays and the size of the bankroll swings.)
Tip of the Month
When you play Ultimate X, you are paying more on the current hand in the hopes of getting a multiplier on the following hand. Therefore, on your last hand before you quit playing, you should only bet five coins per line (i.e., don’t activate the Ultimate X feature on the last hand because it has no value since you won’t be playing another hand). Also, before you start playing, check the screen on different Ultimate X games to see if a previous player left a multiplier on the game. If you are lucky to find one with a multiplier, jump in and play the hand with only a five coin per line wager. As always, but even more so with Ultimate X because you are betting twice as much per hand, play each hand with perfect basic strategy. Good luck!
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Henry Tamburin is a blackjack and video poker expert. He is the host of the smartgaming.com website and the editor of the Blackjack Insider newsletter (for a free three-month subscription, visit www.bjinsider.com/freetrial). For a free copy of his Casino Gambling Catalog, which contains books, strategy cards, and software for casino players, call toll free 1-888-353-3234, or visit the web store at smartgaming.com.
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