While most of my video poker play is done in Las Vegas, I do have a few out-of-town plays which I like. I go back to some of them again and again. Unfortunately, publishing what and where would be a death sentence for the games.
Today I want to discuss the technique I use to get ready for one game which I play every few months. It’s a game I play nowhere else and I’m at an age where my memory isn’t as good as it was 20 years ago. (Many of my readers are at that “same” age!) So in this article, I’m going to use 9/6 Jacks or Better Quick Quads (JoB QQ) as a proxy for the actual game I’m playing. That way I can talk about my methodology without revealing the actual game.
I know 9/6 Double Double Bonus Quick Quads (DDB QQ) pretty well. I’ve studied it, played it, and written about it not only repeatedly but also recently, so I’m confident in my abilities on that game. JoB QQ is one game I studied a little bit several years ago in order to write A Quick Guide to Quick Quads, available for free on www.videopoker.com/quickquads, but until this out-of-town opportunity appeared, I hadn’t looked at all the nuances of the game.
So my first step was to take the strategy I had developed and improve it based on what I could find in the video poker strategy calculator and the video poker hand analyzer found on the www.wizardofodds.com site. My personal strategy will have every last penalty card situation in it — including when 22 is better than 22A and when you hold a suited ace-ten — but the methodology I’m describing today does not require that level of precision.
I then went down my strategy chart and noted every type of hand where JoB QQ was different from DDB QQ. There are computer programmers who can order the computer to spit out such a list, but I have to do it by hand. It’s not that difficult and it’s not that time consuming. Plus, wallowing in the details helps me to better learn it and understand it.
I then identified on an Excel spread sheet only the types of hands that are different. Below is a section of that spread sheet. It’s not complete, but it’ll give you an idea of what I’m talking about.
In addition to my normal notation, I added a few “extra” notational devices that I found useful. You’re welcome to adopt any or all of them — or not. In Line A, I put “regular JoB.” The penalty card rules for regular JoB and JoB QQ are identical in this area of the strategy chart. Since I also have regular JoB memorized, just knowing that JoB QQ uses the same strategy is sufficient.
On Lines B and C, I used examples rather than an exhaustive list.
Line D was surprising to me. In regular JoB strategy, unless a 9 is present in the hand, the correct play is ‘KT’ and in JoB QQ it is the K by itself. If a hand cannot end up in a QQ (which is true here so long as we hold the K), the two games usually have identical strategies for that hand. So why is it different here? It’s a close play, but 4-of-a-kinds receive almost twice as much in JoB QQ than they do in regular JoB. That’s enough to change the play.
On Line E, I debated whether or not to include the word “unsuited.” I decided against it, although you may put it in if you like. In the notation used here, single quotes indicate the cards are suited with each other and the absence of such quotes means at least two suits are involved. For me that’s enough. Others may find that more subtle than they prefer.
Note that if you hold KQ from AKQ, you are also going to hold QJ from AQJ, simply because AKQ and AQJ have identical values, and QJ > KQ due to straight potential. Is this obvious to you? If not, you probably should include AQJ on your list.
On Line F, I noted that in JoB QQ, a pair of nines or tens is preferable to a four-card flush with no high cards, but in DDB QQ, the four-card flush is preferable. For those unfamiliar with Quick Quads, the reason for this isn’t obvious. After all, in regular JoB, TT and 55 have identical values. But in Quick Quads, TT may form a quick quad drawing T9A, T82, T73, T64, and T55. But 55 forms a quick quad only by drawing 54A or 532. Those extra chances for a 236-coin jackpot (which is what you get for a quick quad in JoB QQ) make TT considerably more valuable than 55.
Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet and is written in Greek as an equilateral triangle. In many mathematical contexts, delta refers to “the change in.” Here I’m using it to mean “the difference between”.
My actual list (for the game I really go to play) is quite a bit longer and more complicated than what I showed here. But it is still short enough that I can master it in about five minutes or less. That is MUCH easier for me than looking at a 50-line strategy from scratch every time. Using this technique, I focus on how the strategies are different and ignore how they are the same — because I already have that mastered.
Note the caveat that you have to know one of the games really, really well (however that is personally defined for you) for this to work. This technique ignores more than 95% of the strategy. If there is any doubt in your mind how to play any hands in that group of hands, today’s technique won’t help you. You’ll need a more complete strategy. But if you DO have one of the strategies mastered, just studying the deltas can get you up to speed much more quickly than if you didn’t have them listed.
For many players, creating a list of deltas for the games 9/6 Jacks or Better and 8/5 Bonus might make sense. Or perhaps for two different versions of Deuces Wild that you play. Or maybe 9/6 DDB and 9/5 DDB. These games are similar, but not identical. Reminding yourself of the differences shortly before you go to play will probably improve your results.