World Poker Tour

Stern, 2006 — shot-by-shot rules and strategy guide.

Open World Poker Tour in the Pinball Genie app →

World Poker Tour hides a deep ruleset behind a layout that looks simple. Six red-arrow shots run across the lower playfield, sixteen drop targets sit in three banks, and a full second deck floats above it all. Understand this before anything else: the game runs two economies at once — the poker hand you build with the ramps, and the pot you build with the spinners — and your payout is one multiplied by the other.

The layout

Left to right: left orbit, left ramp, the VUK, the scoop, right ramp, right orbit. Each orbit carries a spinner. The VUK is the longest shot on the machine, firing the ball off the back of the playfield and up onto the mini-playfield, where a second pair of flippers takes over. Up there sit the Ace in the Hole jail and its captive ball, three white standups, a re-light target on the far left, and an exit slot that drops you into the pop bumpers.

Hands and the pot

Either ramp advances your hold 'em hand through Flop, Turn and River. Completing a hand pays the main pot multiplied by the strength of the hand you were dealt, and that multiplier is the whole ballgame — a high card halves the pot, a royal flush pays it nine times over. In tournament play hands arrive in ascending strength, starting with a pair.

The pot opens at 250,000 and grows 25,000 for every hand you finish. Spinner rotations add 5,000 apiece, and that per-spin figure grows by 500 per completed hand. Build the pot before you close a strong hand, never after. When it climbs past the All In figure — 750,000 the first time, 250,000 higher after each one — All In Multiball starts by itself and hands you a free completed hand plus the pot's base value.

The four multiballs

• Ace in the Hole: knock the jail bars open, then hit the captive ball three times. Both balls start on the mini-playfield, and re-locking one immediately pays a million and adds a third ball. Jackpots open at 200,000 and rise to 500,000, and every three reopens the jail. Deep in, each captive ball hit is a 1.5 million super jackpot.
• All In: starts itself when the pot is fat enough. Every main shot except the orbits is a jackpot from 150,000 up; use the orbits for side pots instead.
• No Limit: three hits on the left standup lights all three locks the first time, stackable at the VUK or scoop. The left ramp is a one million jackpot, relit by a cleared drop bank — centre at 1X, right at 2X, the eight-target left bank at 3X.
• Poker Hands: light every hand on the insert ladder for a four-ball mini wizard mode. Jackpots start at a million, spinners raise them, and the ninth lights a five million super.

Poker Corner

Every completed hand lights one mode at the scoop, and the relights do not stack — skip a mode and you have burned a hand. Each runs thirty seconds with one goal worth a Trophy, and each Trophy is a million points and raises the Poker Wizard payout later. Learn the goals ahead of time: two Big Blinds, three button shots, sixteen drops, twenty drops, two tells, or eight shots across both decks. In competition the two drop target modes are better ignored than fought, and Change Gears is worth holding until you have a multiball ready.

Chip tricks and triple scoring

Chip tricks are the combo system, and they live on every major shot except the VUK. The left orbit and right inlane flash the left-side tricks; the right orbit and left inlane flash the right-side ones. Chaining flashing shots pays double and triple the base, and your fifth spotted trick starts Super Trick — a rolling ten-second window worth roughly 200,000, then 300,000, then 400,000. Clear every flashing trick during it and an extra ball lights, but it will not carry to your next ball. Separately, completing a poker hand off the drops lights triple scoring on an inlane for three seconds — and it counts as triple progress toward super jackpots, not just triple points.

The wizard ladder

Three modes sit at the top. Poker Wizard opens at the scoop once you have played all six Poker Corner modes, and pays by Trophies earned — 1.6 million a jackpot with two, up to 3.1 million with four. Winning your sixth tournament starts the WPT World Championship, a ramp grind for ten million that pays another ten on completion. Above that is the Keefer Invitational: the Championship plus twenty-five million banked in each of six categories, then one more mystery award to open the door.

A working game plan

• Rip the orbits early — a pot built before your first strong hand is worth several times the same hand on an empty pot.
• Take the scoop whenever Poker Corner is lit. An unplayed mode light is a wasted hold 'em hand.
• Stack deliberately: start a mode, then a multiball on top of it. Modes cannot begin during multiball, but multiballs can begin during a mode.
• If the jail is open during any multiball, lock a ball in it — that briefly lights ball save and puts a fresh ball into play.
• Move triple scoring to the side your next shot comes from. It turns a routine jackpot into three.

Goals in World Poker Tour

Every goal below is tracked step-by-step, with shot paths drawn on the playfield map, inside the app.

• Skill Shot skillshot · Medium

  The award cycles before you plunge, so look before you pull. Advance Hold 'Em moves your hand along, Mystery pays a Cut the Cards award, and Skill Flip asks you to hit the leftmost mini-playfield shot without touching another switch for 1M, climbing by 1M per collection up to 5M.

  Reward: Hand advance, mystery award, or 1M to 5M

• Build Hold 'Em Hands progression · Easy

  The ramps deal your cards. Each ramp shot moves you Flop to Turn to River, and completing a hand pays the main pot multiplied by how strong the hand landed. Completed hands also light Poker Corner and push you through the tournament ladder.

  Reward: Main pot x hand strength, lights Poker Corner

• Hand Strength Multipliers progression · Medium

  A completed hand pays the current main pot times a multiplier set by the hand you were dealt. That multiplier swings the payout by a factor of eighteen, which is why building the pot before finishing a hand matters so much.

  Reward: 0.5x up to 9x the main pot

• Fatten The Main Pot strategy · Easy

  The main pot starts at 250K and grows 25K for every hand you complete. Every spinner rotation adds 5K on top, and that per-spin figure itself grows by 500 per completed hand. The pot is both your hand payout and the All In trigger.

  Reward: Larger hand payouts, All In Multiball

• Win Tournaments progression · Medium

  The red inserts between the slingshots track your tournament run. One completed hand wins the first for 1M, two hands wins the second for 1.5M, three hands the third for 2M. Everything after that needs four hands and pays 500K more than the last.

  Reward: 1M, 1.5M, 2M and up, plus extra balls

• Poker Corner Modes mode · Medium

  Every completed hand lights one Poker Corner mode at the scoop. Modes run 30 seconds, each has a goal worth a Trophy, and every Trophy is 1M and raises the Poker Wizard payout. Relights do not stack, so a mode you skip costs you a whole hand.

  Reward: Trophy worth 1M, raises Poker Wizard

• The Six Mode Goals progression · Medium

  Each Poker Corner mode has one specific requirement for the Trophy. Knowing the requirement before the mode starts is worth more than any shot skill — half of these are lost simply because the player is shooting the wrong thing for 30 seconds.

  Reward: One Trophy per mode completed

• Ace in the Hole Multiball multiball · Hard

  Knock the bars to open the jail, then work the captive ball — three hits free it and start the multiball. Both balls begin up on the mini-playfield, and re-locking one straight away is worth an instant 1M and a third ball.

  Reward: Jackpots to 500K, super jackpots at 1.5M

• All In Multiball multiball · Medium

  This one starts itself. Push the main pot up with the orbit spinners until it reaches the All In figure — 750K the first time, 250K higher every time after. You are handed a completed hand and the pot's base value the moment it starts.

  Reward: A free hand, the pot, and 150K jackpots

• No Limit Multiball multiball · Medium

  Three hits on the left standup lights all three locks the first time, and you can bank them one after another at the VUK or the scoop. The second No Limit is stricter: light one lock, collect it, then light the next.

  Reward: 1M left ramp jackpot, up to 3X

• Drop Target Poker progression · Medium

  The drops are a deck. Knock down the cards that make a hand and its insert lights, paying 100K times the hand's position on the ladder plus 100K for every unlit hand beneath it. Royal flush pays 1M base. Lit cards carry between balls.

  Reward: 100K to 1M plus skipped-hand bonuses

• Poker Hands Multiball wizard · Hard

  Light every hand on the ladder and you get a four-ball multiball — the game's mini wizard mode. Jackpots open at 1M, the spinners push them higher, and the ninth jackpot lights a 5M super. It can be started on top of another multiball.

  Reward: 1M jackpots, 5M super jackpot

• Triple Scoring multiplier · Medium

  Complete a drop target poker hand and triple scoring lights on one inlane. Three seconds, everything scoring tripled — and it counts as triple progress toward super jackpots, which is the part most players miss.

  Reward: 3x scoring and 3x jackpot progress

• Chip Tricks combo · Medium

  These are the combos. The left orbit and right inlane flash the left-side chip trick shots; the right orbit and left inlane flash the right-side ones. Every major shot except the VUK carries one. Spot your fifth and Super Trick begins.

  Reward: 15-50K each, then 200K-600K in Super Trick

• Cut the Cards mode · Medium

  The mystery award, and the longest shot on the machine — the VUK fires the ball off the back of the playfield and up to the mini-playfield. Awards run from small points to hold values, bonus multipliers, opening the jail and, rarely, an extra ball.

  Reward: Mystery award, add-a-ball, or mode time

• Hurry-Ups mode · Medium

  Three hits on the white mini-playfield targets start a hurry-up at 1M and it bleeds down from there. More white target hits push the number back up, and you bank it by dropping through the right-hand slot into the pops.

  Reward: Up to 1M, hold awards, extra ball at ten

• Side Pots strategy · Medium

  Side pots exist only during multiball, and only on the orbits. Each starts at 100K and the pop bumpers push it up. Ten side pots lights an extra ball, so orbits during a long multiball are never a wasted shot.

  Reward: 100K and up, extra ball at ten

• Red Targets And Bonus X multiplier · Easy

  The four red targets above the pops stand in for the usual rollover lanes, and the flipper buttons cycle which ones are lit. Complete the set to raise the pop bumper value and add a bonus multiplier.

  Reward: Higher bumper value, +1 bonus multiplier

• End-Of-Ball Bonus progression · Easy

  The bonus is a quiet running total of everything you have finished rather than everything you have hit, so it rewards closing things out. Most of it survives from ball to ball.

  Reward: Cumulative bonus x your multiplier

• Poker Wizard wizard · Hard

  Play all six Poker Corner modes and the scoop lights for Poker Wizard. The payout is set by how many Trophies you actually earned — two Trophies makes jackpots 1.6M, three makes them 2.3M, four makes them 3.1M.

  Reward: 1.6M to 3.1M jackpots

• WPT World Championship wizard · Hard

  Winning your sixth tournament opens this one. It is a ramp grind: collect 10M from flops, turns and rivers, with the hand awards themselves boosted by hitting drop targets. Finishing it pays another 10M.

  Reward: 10M on completion

• Keefer Invitational wizard · Hard

  The final mode, and it asks for a complete game. Win the World Championship, then score 25M in each of six separate categories, then take one more Cut the Cards award to start it. It pays 25M up front plus a four-ball multiball.

  Reward: 25M plus a four-ball multiball