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Look Ahead Poker

Introduction

Any experienced gambler, whether professional or otherwise, can confirm that knowing which card will come next offers a significant advantage to the player. This principle is exactly what Super Look Ahead Poker introduces. Once the cards are dealt, the game shows you the next card in the deck. However, IGT doesn't freely give away this information; it requires an additional two coins on top of the standard five, which also slightly adjusts the pay table. Below are the full regulations.

Rules

  1. The game follows the conventional rules for single-play video poker, with the exceptions noted here.
  2. Players can choose to make regular bets, ranging from one to five coins, or can opt for a seven-coin bet to activate the Look Ahead function.
  3. All bets must be placed prior to dealing the cards.
  4. If the Look Ahead function is in use, the game will display the next card after the initial deal.
  5. As is customary, players will select which cards they wish to retain.
  6. Besides the extra cost of two coins for the Look Ahead feature, there's also an enhancement to the pay table for certain winning combinations.

Example

After making a seven-coin wager, the hand I received featured an interesting development. The little ace of diamonds on the left represents the next card that will be drawn.

In standard video poker play, the usual strategy would be to hold both the ace and jack. However, with knowledge that the next card is an ace of diamonds, I opted to keep only the ace of hearts.

As expected, the game swapped out my initial discard, the four of clubs, for the ace of diamonds. Unfortunately, the outcome didn't improve on the pair of aces I anticipated, resulting in a payout only for a high pair.

Please note that using my video poker hand analyzer The numbers provided will not be accurate because, following the Look Ahead card, the player is actually drawing from a 46-card deck instead of 47.

Games and Pay Tables

IGT graciously supplied a comprehensive list of games and their respective pay tables where Look Ahead Poker is playable.

The returns shown in the subsequent tables are calculated based on a full seven-coin wager.

Bonus Poker

Poker Hand 99.40% 98.24% 97.83% 96.05%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 80 50 50
FOUR ACES 100 100 100 100
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 60 60 60 60
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 30 30 30 30
FULL HOUSE 9 8 8 8
FLUSH 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 3
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 2 2 2 2
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1

Bonus Poker Deluxe

Poker Hand 99.80% 98.68% 97.68% 96.51% 95.70%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 90 120 50 80 120
FOUR OF A KIND 95 95 95 95 95
FULL HOUSE 10 9 9 8 7
FLUSH 6 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 5 5 5 5 5
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

Deuces Wild

Poker Hand 99.27% 98.00% 97.41% 97.08% 96.27% 95.42%
ROYAL FLUSH NO DEUCES 800 800 800 800 800 800
FOUR DEUCES 200 200 200 200 200 200
ROYAL FLUSH WITH DEUCE 25 20 20 30 20 30
FIVE OF A KIND 16 13 13 17 11 16
STRAIGHT FLUSH 10 11 10 14 9 12
FOUR OF A KIND 5 5 5 5 5 5
FULL HOUSE 4 4 4 3 4 3
FLUSH 3 3 3 2 3 2
STRAIGHT 2 2 2 2 2 2
THREE OF A KIND 1 1 1 1 1 1

Deuces Wild Bonus Poker

Poker Hand 99.50% 98.87% 97.72% 96.72% 95.49%
ROYAL FLUSH NO DEUCES 800 800 800 800 800
FOUR DEUCES + ONE ACE 400 400 400 400 400
FOUR DEUCES 200 200 200 200 200
ROYAL FLUSH WITH DEUCE 25 25 25 25 25
FIVE ACES 100 100 120 120 120
FIVE 3's, 4's, 5's 50 50 50 50 50
FIVE 6's THROUGH K's 30 30 30 30 30
STRAIGHT FLUSH 14 13 10 13 11
FOUR OF A KIND 4 4 4 4 4
FULL HOUSE 4 4 4 4 4
FLUSH 3 3 3 2 2
STRAIGHT 1 1 1 1 1
THREE OF A KIND 1 1 1 1 1

Double Bonus

Poker Hand 99.23% 98.18% 96.65% 94.49%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 50 100 140 100
FOUR ACES 200 200 200 200
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 120 120 120 120
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 60 60 60 60
FULL HOUSE 10 10 10 9
FLUSH 7 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 5 5 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1

Double Double Bonus

Poker Hand 99.01% 98.20% 97.19% 96.09% 94.72%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 100 150 180 200 120
FOUR A's + ANY 2, 3 OR 4 400 400 400 400 400
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's + ANY A, 2, 3, 4 200 200 200 200 200
FOUR ACES 200 200 200 200 200
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 100 100 100 100 100
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 70 70 70 70 70
FULL HOUSE 10 10 9 8 8
FLUSH 6 5 5 5 5
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

Jacks or Better

Poker Hand 99.73% 98.63% 97.46% 96.98% 95.48%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 120 50 80 150 50
FOUR OF A KIND 30 30 30 30 30
FULL HOUSE 9 10 9 8 8
FLUSH 7 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 3 3 3 3 3
TWO PAIR 2 2 2 2 2
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

Triple Double Bonus

TRIPLE DOUBLE BONUS POKER 99.62% 98.44% 97.06% 96.08% 94.97%
ROYAL FLUSH 800 800 800 800 800
STRAIGHT FLUSH 100 140 50 80 100
FOUR A's + ANY 2, 3 OR 4 800 800 800 800 800
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's + ANY A, 2, 3, 4 400 400 400 400 400
FOUR ACES 200 200 200 200 200
FOUR 2's, 3's, 4's 100 100 100 100 100
FOUR 5's THROUGH K's 60 60 60 60 60
FULL HOUSE 10 10 10 9 8
FLUSH 7 6 6 6 6
STRAIGHT 4 4 4 4 4
THREE OF A KIND 2 2 2 2 2
TWO PAIR 1 1 1 1 1
JACKS OR BETTER 1 1 1 1 1

Analysis

My computer requires three days to process all possible combinations for any specific pay table on a single core, so I hope you understand that I'm offering analysis on a limited number of pay tables for this game. As always, these tables are based on optimal strategies by the player.

In these tables, the return is calculated as the product of the winnings, their probability, and a factor of 5/7. This factor accounts for the fact that the player needs to place a bet of seven coins, while the payout is equivalent to only five times what the pay table suggests.

10-6-4 Double Double Bonus

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Royal flush 800 60,100,115,292 0.000036 0.020511  
Straight flush 100 348,036,025,680 0.000208 0.014847  
Four aces + 2-4 400 134,655,743,124 0.000080 0.022977  
Four 2-4 + A-4 200 333,883,756,332 0.000199 0.028487  
Four aces + 5-K 200 287,549,935,848 0.000172 0.024533  
Four 2-4 100 676,405,891,728 0.000404 0.028855  
Four 5-K 70 3,066,123,704,448 0.001831 0.091559  
Full house 10 35,553,627,217,080 0.021234 0.151670  
Flush 6 38,692,376,838,612 0.023108 0.099036  
Straight 4 48,760,613,357,316 0.029121 0.083204  
Three of a kind 3 132,268,313,400,384 0.078995 0.169275  
Two pair 1 293,264,282,158,848 0.175147 0.125105  
Jacks or better 1 304,865,065,482,096 0.182075 0.130054  
Nothing 0 816,080,329,818,012 0.487389 0.000000  
Total   1,674,391,363,444,800 1.000000 0.990112  

10-7-4 Triple Double Bonus

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Royal flush 800 55,827,487,800 0.000033 0.019053  
Straight flush 100 357,641,145,792 0.000214 0.015257  
Four aces + 2-4 800 157,698,610,272 0.000094 0.053819  
Four 2-4 + A-4 400 419,336,026,704 0.000250 0.071555  
Four aces + 5-K 200 230,854,735,188 0.000138 0.019696  
Four 2-4 100 558,065,083,212 0.000333 0.023807  
Four 5-K 60 2,991,319,902,648 0.001787 0.076565  
Full house 10 32,941,051,437,672 0.019673 0.140525  
Flush 7 44,715,058,097,976 0.026705 0.133526  
Straight 4 49,676,392,631,544 0.029668 0.084767  
Three of a kind 2 129,536,619,778,440 0.077363 0.110519  
Two pair 1 281,533,946,483,160 0.168141 0.120101  
Jacks or better 1 297,825,527,340,432 0.177871 0.127051  
Nothing 0 833,392,024,683,960 0.497728 0.000000  
Total   1,674,391,363,444,800 1.000000 0.996238  

9-6-4 Bonus Poker

Hand Pays Combinations Probability Return
Royal flush 800 57,777,225,660 0.000035 0.019718  
Straight flush 50 300,781,663,812 0.000180 0.006416  
Four aces 100 352,084,163,256 0.000210 0.015020  
Four 2-4 60 1,015,231,075,740 0.000606 0.025986  
Four 5-K 30 3,062,878,723,044 0.001829 0.039198  
Full house 9 36,913,475,261,880 0.022046 0.141724  
Flush 6 37,422,033,921,468 0.022350 0.095784  
Straight 4 46,642,635,726,960 0.027856 0.079590  
Three of a kind 3 129,490,734,791,376 0.077336 0.165720  
Two pair 2 337,692,546,047,808 0.201681 0.288115  
Jacks or better 1 273,725,942,113,260 0.163478 0.116770  
Nothing 0 807,715,242,730,536 0.482393 0.000000  
Total   1,674,391,363,444,800 1.000000 0.994040  

Strategy

Sorry, you\"re on your own with that.

Comparison to Super Look Ahead Poker

There exists a related variant known as Super Look Ahead Poker. The key differences are:

  • In Super Look Ahead Poker, players have the option to reject the Look Ahead card.
  • In Super Look Ahead Poker, the cost to access the Look Ahead feature is three additional coins, instead of the usual two.

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Strategies

Full-Pay Jacks or Better:

Full-Pay Deuces Wild:

Quick Quads:

Other Strategies: