DR. WONG'S JACKS+ VIDEO POKER Real Casino Action (c) Copyright 1992, Villa Crespo Software, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Villa Crespo Software, Inc. -- 1725 McGovern Street -- Highland Park, IL 60035 Telephone: (708) 433-0500 Video poker is now the most popular casino slot game in America. Find out why with this realistic computer simulation. The pace is fast, the challenge is fun, and, for the serious player, tutor advice and hand analysis are always available. OBJECT OF THE GAME The object of VIDEO POKER is to assemble a hand of five cards forming the most valuable combination possible. You are initially dealt five cards. You may hold or discard any or all of these cards, after which the dealer replaces those you have discarded. If you then have a pair of jacks or better, you win. Poker hands rank as follows, from most to least valuable: Royal Flush 10, J, Q, K, A, all of the same suit Straight Flush Five cards in a row (by rank), all of the same suit 4 of a Kind Four cards of the same rank Full House Three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank Flush Five cards of the same suit Straight Five cards in a row, of any suit 3 of a Kind Three cards of the same rank Two pair Two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank Pair Two cards of the same rank QUICK START INSTRUCTIONS To play JACKS+ VIDEO POKER without any special options, boot up the game and then, from the title screen, press any key. Select the number of coins you wish to wager by pressing the up and down arrow keys. Then press [F2] to have the computer deal. You may automatically bet the maximum (5 coins) by pressing [F3], in which case the computer will automatically deal. The computer will deal you five cards. Select the cards you wish to hold by pressing their corresponding number keys [1] - [5]. If you change your mind, you can discard a held card by pressing its number again. To ask for advice from the computer tutor, press [F7]. To see a statistical analysis of your hand, press [F6]. (The statistical tables will be explained later.) Once you have decided which cards to hold, press [ENTER] to draw. The computer will now replace your discards. If you have a winning hand, the result of your hand will be highlighted in the payoff schedule and you will be paid the amount won. To play another hand, press the Up arrow or the [F3] (maximum coins) key. When you are done playing, press [F10] to cash out. You can keep track of your winnings by consulting the "Credit" table to the left of the cards. It displays your Initial payroll (which will be 1000 coins), your Current payroll, coins Paid by the computer on this hand, Coins In (wagered) on this hand, and the number of Hands Played. THE TUTOR After any deal you can ask the computer tutor for advice by pressing [F7]. The cards you should hold will then be marked. Toggle the Advice key, [F6], to select a Tutor option. You have three choices: "Ask" will deactivate the tutor (it will only give advice if you ask for it); "Warn" will warn you if you are about to make an ill-advised play; "Show" will automatically show you which cards to hold. The Tolerance settings will be explained in the Analysis section. ANALYSIS JACKS+ VIDEO POKER features a powerful statistical calculator that figures out all the possible permutations of a hand and how much each will pay out. The computer tutor uses this information to tell you what your best possible play is. After you have been dealt a hand, but before you discard any cards, press [F6] for Analyze. The top half of the analyzer screen is an expected return chart showing up to 10 sets of held cards with the expected return for the current hand. Whenever you change the held cards for the given hand and return to the analyzer screen, another line is shown in the expected return chart. Two types of analysis are available. Press [F8] for Q-REF to see the Quick Reference Analysis, which shows the expected return for all 32 possible held-card combinations for a dealt hand. Press [F9] for Detail to see the possible winning hands from the currently held cards, as well as the Expected Return from them. Click on the uppermost down arrow in the Analysis window. The display will now show all 32 possible hands that could result and their likely payouts, in descending order of payouts. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll between hands. Here's an example. Betting 5 coins, you have been dealt a hand with two 9s, a Queen, a 5, and a 3. The tutor advises you to hold the 9s. The Analysis window shows the average payout on deals with two 9s held is 4.1184. This means that you would win, on average, a little more than 4 coins back for each 5 bet on hands with a pair of 9s. Tolerance The statistics used in the Analysis window are the same as those used by the tutor to advise you on profitable play. If the tutor is set to Warn, it will warn you whenever you are about to make something other than what it considers the best play, even if that play is only slightly better than the one you have chosen. However, you can set the computer to notify you of big errors but not bother you about small errors. This is the function of the Tolerance Level. You can set the Tolerance Level to define the minimum mistake about which you want to be notified. The Tolerance Level is given as percentage points of deviation from the best play. For example, if the cards you hold have an expected return of 88.6% of the amount of your bet, and the best play has an expected return of 91.0%, the difference is 2.4%. If the Tolerance Level is 2 or less, the tutor will notify you that the expected return for the hand can be improved by holding different cards. If the Tolerance Level is 3 or more, the tutor will not notify you of the error. Press [F4] for Options and then [F6] for Tolerance Level. Tolerance is automatically set at 3 percent, which means that the tutor will accept plays that are 3% less profitable than the optimum play. You can use the up and down arrow keys or type in the appropriate number to change tolerance to anything from 0% (the tutor won't accept anything less than the optimum play) to 100% (the tutor will accept anything). Press [ENTER] to register the new Tolerance level. GENERAL FEATURES Help For Help from almost anywhere in JACKS+ VIDEO POKER, press [F1]. Use the up and down arrows to scroll through the Help screen. Press [F10] to leave the Help screen. Boss Key [From the keyboard only.] Press B to clear the screen. Press B again to save the session as LASTGAME and exit to DOS. Press any other key to resume the session wherever you left off. Leaving the Game [From the keyboard only.] Press [ESC] to leave the game. You will be given three choices: [F1] QUIT: Return to DOS without saving the session. [F2] OOPS!: Return to the session. [F3] SAVE & QUIT: Save the session and return to DOS. OPTIONS Press [F4] to see the Options menu. [F2] PROCEED: After changing or reviewing options, return to the game. [F3] LOAD GAME: Load the last session. [F4] DOUBLE DOWN: Toggle the Double Down option. Here's how it works: After you win a hand, a pop-up window asks you if you want to double down. Press the [F2] NO key to keep your winnings and go on to the next hand. If you press [F1] YES, the machine deals five cards. The first card, dealt face up, is the dealer's. Select one of the four other cards by pressing [2], [3], [4], or [5]. If your card is lower than the dealer's, you lose your winnings. If your card is equal to the dealer's, you neither win nor lose and get another opportunity to double down. If your card is higher than the dealer's, your winnings are double. You can double down until you lose or press [F2] NO. [F5] INITIAL CREDITS: Change the number of coins with which you start the game. [F6] TOLERANCE LEVEL: See above. [F7] SOUND: Toggle between these sound options: CASINO: All sounds. GAME: All sounds except casino background. WARN: Warns you when keystrokes are invalid. NONE: No sound. [F8] ANIMATION: Toggle animation on and off. ** END OF FILE **