Creating good video poker strategies is as much art as it is science. Someone suggested to me recently that my 9/6 Double Double Bonus Quick Quads strategy was unnecessarily cumbersome. I ended up agreeing with him and the results are found below. He told me I could publish this if I wanted but under no circumstances did he want to be identified in print.
The area it relates to deals with “Quick Trips.” A Quick Trip, QT, is a 4-card combination consisting of a pair and two other cards adding up the rank of the pair. Two examples would be 8844 and 8853.
In the first example above, I called the 44 a ‘matched duo.’ In the second example, I called the 53 an ‘unmatched duo.’ For a given rank (which would be 8 in the examples), the QT with a matched duo is ALWAYS more valuable than the QT with an unmatched duo. While both QTs have a 2-in-47 chance at improving to a Quick Quad (88844 in the first case; 88853 in the second), when the former doesn’t improve we have two pair and it could become a full house. When the latter doesn’t improve, it’s worth nothing as a final hand and other than the Quick Quad the best it can improve to is two pair.
So in my strategy, I included separate lines for QT with matched duos and QT with unmatched duos. In 9/6 DDB QQ, even though these different categories of QTs have different EVs, you play them exactly the same. So if I wrote QT 2-4 it would properly include 22AA, 332A, 443A, and 4422.
I don’t want to eliminate the distinction between Quick Trips with matched or unmatched duos because in other pay schedules and/or other games within the Quick Quads family they might be played differently. But in 9/6 DDB QQ, there is no need to include that differentiation in the strategy.
The part of the strategy we’re simplifying today is where one of these QTs is in the same five cards as a 4-card straight flush. My friend also told me to look at the Wizard of Odds hand analyzer on a hand like 7’7643′. What I found is that the QT, 7743, and the SF4, ‘7643’, have EXACTLY the same EV. In this game this is always the case where the SF4 has one inside and no high cards and the QT scores 260 when it connects.
When two hands are tied in value, it doesn’t matter in which order you put them on the strategy. If you MUST make a choice, my preference would be towards the play with the lower variance. That will give you less chance at running out of bankroll.
There are 13 different hands where you have a QT and a 4-card straight flush in the same five cards. In each case the four cards in the straight flush must be suited with each other, and the last card (which pairs one of the other cards) is necessarily of a different suit. A comprehensive list is as follows, including whether the straight flush draw or QT is the smarter play, and when it’s a tie:
Previous strategy:
New Simplified Strategy:
I’m not sure how much you learned from this, but I learned (or rather re-learned) a couple of important points. 1) The Wizard of Odds Hand Analyzer is a good tool and I wish it was available when I was first publishing on Quick Quads. I’ve been trying to get a similar tool on Video Poker for Winners. So far to no avail. 2) No matter how good your strategy is, somebody someday may find a way to improve it. And if they do, don’t be too proud to admit the new way is better and incorporate it into what you already use.