Video Poker Forum

I would like to hear some opinions about playing games with progressive payouts versus the non-progressive machines...I was at the southpoint casino in Las Vegas not too long ago and they had a 5-play nickle game with a progressive payout...royal flush (approximate payouts) for the five various hands were: A. 253, B. 550, C. 1050.00, D. 600, E. 209, and for all of the above, about 8,000.00.
Of course, there is a catch...pays only 6 for a full-house, all other pays seemed to be the same as the non-progressive machines...
Anyway, would like to here what VP players on here prefer, prog. or non-prog. machines and why, and whether or not a progressive gets big enough where it's considered a 'positive' machine for the player...
 
"The next best thing to playing and winning....is playing and losing."

Yes, progressives do get positive when they get high enough. However, you need to understand that you won't hit them all and sometimes a slightly positive progressive just isn't worth the loss potential.
 
To determine if a mulit-line progressive is positive, add the progressive values together and divide by the number of lines (in this case 5). I would ignore the dealt RF unless you play the same game all the time. Take this average value and plug it into the RF using any of the software programs and it will give you the experted return.
 
A progressive will often require small strategy changes as well. In JOB you may well hold 3 to a RF rather than a high pair when the progressive gets high enough.