Figuring Out a New Strategy on the Fly

There are a LOT of video poker games out there. Sometimes you come across one that you haven’t studied before. There are some rules of thumb that can get you pretty close. This week we’re going to talk about doing that in games without wild cards where you get your money back for a pair of jacks or better. Next week we’ll talk about doing the same thing for Deuces Wild variations.

The first step of the process is the most critical. If you skip over that, your results down the road won’t be as good as they otherwise could be. And that first step is to know the strategy for at least one game cold.

This game that you know cold could be Jacks or Better, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, etc. But you need to know instantly how to play the following hands correctly. None of these are particularly difficult for an intermediate level player, but beginners will miss a goodly percentage of them.

1. K♥ Q♥ J♥ K♣ 3♦
2. A♠ K♠ J♠ 5♠ 2♥
3. A♦ K♦ T♦ 4♦ 3♣
4. 4♦ 4♠ 5♥ 6♣ 7♦
5. 9♦ T♠ T♥ J♣ Q♦
6. J♠ T♠ 9♠ 8♠ 7♦
7. J♠ T♠ 9♠ 7♠ 8♦
8. Q♦ J♣ T♦ 8♠ 3♠
9. K♠ Q♠ T♥ 9♣ 2♦
10. A♦ 2♠ 3♥ 5♣ 9♦
11. A♠ Q♥ J♣ 5♠ 2♥
12. 2♣ 4♠ 5♥ 6♠ 9♥
13. A♦ K♦ J♣ 4♦ 6♠
14. K♠ J♠ 3♥ 4♥ 5♥
15. Q♥ J♥ 2♠ 3♠ 4♠
16. A♠ A♥ 3♠ 3♥ J♠  
17. K♠ K♥ 3♠ 3♥ J♠  

Now let’s look at how changes to the pay schedule will affect these plays. Note that my statements are strong tendencies, but exceptions may be found sometimes. I’m using the following notation here:

2P — two pair

3K — three of a kind

ST — straight

FL — flush

FH — full house

4K — four of a kind

SF — straight flush

RF — royal flush.

When flushes pay 30 on a 5-coin basis, I’ll say FL pays 6-for-1. I went back and forth about whether to say “pay” or “pays.” I can argue persuasively against either way of doing it, but I had to pick one. So, I did.

1. When FL pays 5-for-1, KK is always correct. When FL pays 6-for-1, KQJ is correct if 2P pays 1-for-1, and KK is correct if 2P pays 2-for-1. If FL pays 7-for-1, KQJ is correct.
2. When FL pays 6-for-1 or less, hold AKJ. When FL pays 7-for-1, hold AKJ5.
3. When FL pays 5-for-1, hold AKT. When FL pays 7-for-1, hold AKT4. When FL pays 6-for-1, it depends on how much you get for 2P. When 2P pays 2-for-1, hold AKT. When 2P pays 1-for-1, hold AKT4.
4. Hold 44 when ST pays 4-for-1 and 3K pays 3-for-1. If either ST pays 5-for-1 or 3K pays 2-for-1, hold 4567.
5. If 2P pays 2-for-1 and ST pays 4-for-1, hold TT. If 2P pays 2-for-1 and ST pays 5-for-1, hold QJT9. If 2P pays 1-for-1, hold QJT9 unless 4K pays more than 50-for-1.
6. Hold JT987 if SF pays 50-for-1. If it pays more than that, hold JT98.
7. I don’t know of any games (other than special cases with progressives on the straight flush) where you don’t hold all five cards.
8. Hold QJT8 when 2P pays 1-for-1. Hold QJ when 2P pays 2-for-1.
9. Hold KQ by itself always.
10. Hold A by itself unless ST pays 5-for-1, in which case hold A235.
11. Hold QJ in every game except Triple Double Bonus and Super Aces Bonus, in which case you hold the ace by itself.
12. Hold 2456 when 2P pays 1-for-1. Throw everything away when 2P pays 2-for-1.
13. Hold AK when FL pays 6-for-1 or less. Hold AK4 when FL pays 7-for-1.
14. Basically, always hold 345 unless you’re dealing with a progressive. How high the progressive must get to justify holding the KQ depends on the game.
15. Basically, always hold QJ. Comparing the last two hands, 234 is significantly less valuable than 345 because of its nearness to the ace.
16. Hold AA33 unless 2P pays 1-for-1 and four aces pay 160-for-1 or more.
17. Hold KK33 unless 2P pays 1-for-1 and four kings pay 120-for-1 while FH pays 8-for-1 or less.

During my classes, I frequently give out this kind of information when it is relevant to the game I’m teaching that day. One of my students asked me to put it all down in one place, so that’s why I wrote this article.