Knowing a Strategy versus Using a Strategy Card

Strategy cards can be useful. Generally speaking, they use some sort of notation to shorten and simplify a written strategy. Most cards intentionally give up some accuracy in favor of ease of use. I sell strategy cards and Winner’s Guides which include strategies.

I always carry a strategy with me when I’m playing a game I rarely play that is close, but not identical, to a game that I know well. (The strategies I carry are not always on a card. I have many strategies, for example, on Word or Excel documents which I print off as needed. These don’t last as long as a card, but they are easily replaceable.) For example, I play 9-5 Jacks or Better about once a month. I play 8-5 Bonus Poker more often than that. The strategies are pretty close but I don’t play the 9-5 Jacks often enough to have those differences down pat.

Hands like the following are played differently in the two games (with correct plays listed at end of this article):

a. A♣ Q♥ T♥ 7♣ 3♦

b. J♠ T♠ 8♥ 6♥ 5♥

c. A♣ J♠ T♠ 7♣ 3♠

d. A♥ 8♣ 4♦ 5♦ 7♦

e. K♣ J♥ 4♦ 6♦ 7♦.

While these examples demonstrate smaller distinctions than concern most players, these are the only types of hands that I don’t have 100% mastered. If I played both games a lot, I’d have the differences memorized; but I don’t, so I use the cheat sheets.

However, since I have a very good idea of which hands are different between the two games and these particular hands don’t come up very often, it’s also likely that the strategy card will remain pocketed during my play.

Another time to use a strategy is on a “one time deal.” Perhaps a casino is offering double royals for eight hours. When those eight hours are finished (or even before if the casino changes its mind midstream like Jerry’s Nugget did a few years ago), the promotion is over. This might be a promotion that you never play again, so investing the time necessary to completely and accurately memorize the game is probably not a good use of your time. Plus, the good machines could be locked up many hours before the promotion starts so your time might be better spent getting to the casino early and reserving a seat rather than sitting at home working on a strategy.

I’ve occasionally seen people using a strategy card when they don’t have a good idea of how to play the game at all. This is a big mistake. They are looking up every hand and frequently misplaying the hands even after they have checked their strategy.

It takes time to become familiar with a strategy card and what is and is not included. Let’s say you’re dealt an unsuited AKQ along with two “nothing” cards in some version of Jacks or Better. The standard play is to toss the ace and hold the KQ. But try to find that play on a strategy card and you’re in for a tough time. On the Dancer/Daily cards we include that play in a footnote. Other cards assume you can deduce the play for yourself. Or look for a combination such as an unsuited JT97 in Double Double Bonus. You hold lots of inside straights in that game. Do you hold this one? (Answer: No).

If you use a good strategy along with computer practice, you’ll learn these correct plays fairly quickly. They are not hard.

A strategy sheet shouldn’t be used in place of study. You need to know the game pretty well in order to use a strategy effectively. In my classes, for example, I present a strategy, explain the nuances, and then give an open-book test at the end of the class. Many of the students will miss several of the hands in that test even though they have just taken the class and my words are still echoing in their ears. A month or two later, if they go into a casino with that same strategy but without practicing in the interim, they are not going to be playing very accurately.

Is study REQUIRED before playing video poker? Absolutely not. It’s your money and you can choose to invest/spend/waste it however you like. But making money at video poker is not easy. I’m a very experienced player, smarter than average, and I study a lot, but I still find it difficult to average more than $50,000 a year from gambling at video poker. If others can do that consistently with a lot less work, good for them. I just don’t know how they would accomplish that.

What if you’re a recreational player who isn’t really trying to make a living playing the game? Your money will last a lot longer if you practice before you go into the casino. And practicing on a computer with strategy card in hand will serve you much better than trying to use either tool without the other.

Here are the correct plays for the five example hands above: