Original Release: Jim Wolf, 2002, PC
Quite possibly the only freeware video poker trainer, the primary feature of which is to point out mistakes as you play.
Frugal Video Poker (PC, Jim Wolf, 2002)
Where to Buy: Freeware – download here
Review by: C. M0use
Brick-and-mortar casinos have been phasing out lucrative video poker machines for a few years now, but they may be pressured into bringing it back in an extended pandemic environment that’s going to force them to rely more on local dollars for some time.
The purpose of a good video poker trainer is to prepare you for environments where the game actually has a positive expected value over time. These types of trainers have been pretty rare, though; especially with all the features you’d want to emulate a casino environment, and ESPECIALLY for free.
Frugal Video Poker might actually be the only one in history to tick all those boxes. It used to be a commercial product, circa the early 2000s; however, author James Wolf eventually released it as freeware to promo his updated Wolf Poker (no longer available as he seems to have entirely gone out of business and left the internet behind). It’s still kind of hard to find; I couldn’t find a safe download site for it, so we’re hosting a copy here (linked above).
Anyway, the main thrust is that the trainer points out strategic errors as you play each version of video poker to help you learn and memorize optimal strategy for your game of choice. That would be pretty great by itself, but one really nice added feature here is the ability to emulate casino promotions that temporarily tilt the odds in your favor; for example, when a special bonus is offered for a four-card royal.
The game has a couple of oddities; you initially have to click “X” to close out the promo screen for Wolf Poker, which then takes you into the game instead of closing the program out (and have to do it again on the way out). And it plays some random classical music MIDIs for background atmosphere as you go, which may or may not be irritating to you (though you can turn the music off). But it has a nice interface overall and still runs just fine on Windows 10.
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