Original Release: IGT, 2009
A clever multi-hand variant of video poker that offers the possibility of slot-size jackpot wins
Ultimate X Poker (IGT, 2009)
Review by: C. M0use
“Ultimate X” is a familiar sight on casino floors, but it’s not a specific type of video poker … it’s a multi-game machine from IGT, similar in its basic concept to the Game King machines, but with a unique twist. You select from a variety of familiar video poker standards, from Jacks or Better to Double Double Bonus Poker, but each game has you play multiple hands simultaneously (3, 5 or 10) and is outfitted with a unique multiplier gimmick.
So long as you bet at least five coins (which also maxes your pay table on most machines), an assortment of win multipliers will appear and attach themselves to certain hands; this is based on your previous winning hands. The amounts are determined by which hand you had too, ranging from 2x to 12x. Max bet with 10 coins and you’re guaranteed another set of these multipliers on your next play, even if you ratchet your coin total down for that bet.
If you’re sharp about such things you might already be noticing an advantage play possibility shaping up here. And Ultimate X is one of the longest-running advantage plays (possibly THE longest) in continuous existence on casino floors, but it’s the lowest-hanging possible fruit: vulturing. A player may well be sitting there max betting 10 coins, and then get up and leave with a set of juicy multipliers waiting on the denomination they were betting. It only lasts for that one play, but a good enough set of multipliers creates an excellent positive expectation bet for that one play. An even better situation is if multiple people have left multipliers sitting on varying denominations throughout the day, which no one else has come along and claimed yet.
Keep in mind that Ultimate X first came out in the late 00s and is virtually unchanged since then, so this advantage play was sussed out very quickly and has basically been common knowledge to anyone with an interest in these things for well over a decade now. Casinos are likewise very much wise to it and some will kick out or even trespass people they see combing the machines. They obviously don’t find the game enough of a hassle to remove it, it’s been quite popular for a very long time now, but each has their own opaque policies about this that you won’t really be aware of until a yellow security vest is approaching you. Some will proactively kick out people that are obviously combing machines, others seemingly don’t care unless you bother other players or get into a fight with other vultures.
On that last point, the game has spawned a small but enduring cottage industry of Lester Diamonds who try to hustle people into building multipliers for them. They’ll cold approach people who are playing other games, intimate that they have some kind of secret technique for beating Ultimate X, then steer them over to a bank of machines and have them max bet on each denomination until a good set of multipliers is built on each denomination. Then they tell them the machine is “cold” or something and move them to another machine to repeat the process.
If you’ve found your way to this obscure corner of the internet, I’d guess there’s at least a 50/50 shot you’re looking to AP Ultimate X yourself. On that subject, all I’ll say is this. While casinos are on high alert for people combing these machines and tend to view them as ticks to be removed from the property, they have no reason to question someone who just picks a machine casually to play and checks the denominations to see what’s up first … then maybe changes machines once because they don’t like the buttons or the seat or whatever … then maybe takes a break to do something else for awhile and comes back to a third machine to play a little more. If they happened to notice other people playing one of those machines at max bet during that time, well, that’s a coincidence. It’s not something to try and make a full-time income off of, but it’s a possibly lucrative little time-filler activity if you’re waiting between poker games or something and don’t have anything better to do at the moment.
The only remaining question is, is Ultimate X worth playing for its own sake? It certainly seems to have casual player appeal, as it’s held a place on casino floors for coming up on 20 years now despite drawing a disreputable element. I’d chalk that up to the random assortment of multipliers with each new play adding a new layer of engagement to the process. It makes it seem on the surface like you have a better shot at a big win than with regular Game King type video poker, but keep in mind that the pay tables tend to be worse to make up for the multiplier gimmick, like bottom of the legally allowed barrel in that jurisdiction. The other thing is the volatility. You’re playing at least three hands at once, if not as many as 10, and betting to cover each of those at what are usually fairly substantial minimum bets. So “big wins” still come back to your “main” hand coming in good on the initial draw and allowing you to hold those cards into the other hands, making it a much more high-variance game than usually sedated and grindy standard video poker. That provides more of a rush when you win, and can create some massive jackpots the likes of which you don’t see at standard video poker, but it can also drain off your money to no avail at speeds that would make some slot machines blush!
Links
Casino Player Magazine article on perfect strategy
Videos
Basic video tutorial for beginners