There are online casino games that involve an element of skill. Players have to take decisions based on their knowledge of which actions would maximize their chances of winning. Traditionally these games could not be put on Auto Play because the player had to make a choice in order for the game to proceed. However some software providers have incorporated the required strategy into the software. This not only allows the games to be played on Auto Play but also eliminates player error completely because the optimal strategy has been fed into the software.
There is a flip side to this. The fun and excitement of playing the game has been taken away. Not all players can sit like zombies watching the software flawlessly execute hand after hand in blackjack. Blackjack was never meant to be played that way. This puts players in a quandary. Should they play manually and risk making mistakes and therefore a financial setback. Or should they put the games on Auto Play and chat with friends on the Internet while the software makes or loses money for them. Two casino games from Microgaming allow players the best of both worlds and this article provides tips on how to configure and proceed with these games. One game is Bonus Pai Gow Poker and the other is the set of video poker games.
In Bonus Pai Gow Poker after the player makes the wager he clicks the deal button to receive seven cards. He has to split the cards into the five card highest hand and the two card second highest hand. One way to do this is to click the House Way button. In that event the splitting is done optimally for him. This is also incorporated in the Auto Play. The other way is to click on the two cards the player wants in the second highest hand. What a player can do is click the two cards he wants in the second highest hand based on his level of skill. He can then click the House Way button. If the player's choice was correct clicking the House Way button has no effect. However if the player's choice was incorrect then the required change is made and the correct cards are selected.
In video poker the player must first disable the Auto Hold feature from the Options menu. If he does not do that then the correct cards will be marked Held, even if the player has not started the Auto Play. The player must then select the Hints tab in the Options menu, enable the Hints On feature and set it to 0.01. Then when the difference in expected return from the player's choice of cards and the optimum expected return is greater than 0.01 the player will be warned. The message box will provide the optimum return and the player's expected return. The player has the option of carrying on but that would lead to lower returns. The player can change the cards based on his perception or the player can click the analyze button and find the correct option. The player can then choose the cards according to the correct option.
The procedure described above will result in the game slowing down. It will be considerably slower than the Auto Play mode and also slower than the manual mode that involves choosing the optimum options up front. Players have to take a call based on their objectives.
|
Add Comment
Autoplay as a feature is great but I think that in certain cases come to think of it, it benefits in games of skill and doesn't take anything away really. Microgaming blackjack for example has optimal play strategy cards for most of their blackjack variations that offer auto-play which if anything would be a big help.