Why Should You Hold All Five Cards on a Dealt 4-of-a-Kind?

The other night at my local casino, I was playing Bonus video poker and was dealt four 8s. I said wow, which attracted the attention of the player two machines down. I held the four of a kind and was about to hit Deal when the other player yelled stop! He told me I should hold the fifth card too. Since I didn't quite grasp the whole explanation, iI thought maybe you could tell me what difference it makes whether you hold the fifth card on four of a kind or take a draw.

Holding all five cards and pushing the draw button when dealt 4-of-a-kind is a play that early video poker experts made. In fact, it was something of a rite of passage: If you made the correct play, you were considered in the know.

In the early days, there were far fewer video poker variations than there are now and the schedules were typically basic, such as Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker. If you're dealt 4-of-a-kind on one of those games, there's no possible way to improve, so holding all five cards can't hurt. But doing so has a possible advantage: Holding all five cards reduces the chance that you press a wrong button and miss holding the dealt quad.

In addition, if you're deal quad 9s, for example, and hold all five cards, there's no chance the machine might deal a fifth 9, which would constitute a malfunction and most likely void the original winning hand. Of course, the chances of that happening when you draw one are next to nil. But the thinking is that nil is better than next to nil.

That logic from the old days of JoB and Bonus still applies. The difference is that today, you have to be certain that drawing to a dealt quad can't actually help you. The two obvious times when you don't want to hold all five is when you're playing games with wild cards or when you have a chance for a bonus with a good kicker, such as in Double Double Bonus.

Finally, VP experts recommend that, even after holding all five cards on a dealt 4-of-a-kind or any hand where you hold them all, you pause for a moment before you push the draw button. Especially for VP speed demons, there's always a chance a card could become unheld. Perhaps the machine burps. Or you inadvertently suffer a slip of a finger. Pausing allows you to double check that the word Hold appears in connection to all five cards. You'll usually get paid if the machine drops a card and you bring it to the casino's attention, but that's not a guarantee. Also, it's time-consuming and a bit of a hassle. And some players aren't particularly skilled at asking in a way that makes it likely they'll get a positive result.

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Kevin Lewis Dec-06-2022

Unsolicited advice

Many years ago, I was playing next to someone who got dealt quads on a JOB machine, and I stopped him from drawing the fifth card. He looked at me, his eyes went wide, and smoke began to issue from his nose and ears. His head started spinning around, faster and faster, until it exploded. His headless corpse was still kicking at me as security came with a couple of meathooks and dragged it away.

Since then, I don't offer unsolicited advice.

Sandra Ritter Dec-06-2022

Poor Kevin

Thank goodness I'm a kinder person. At least 25 years ago, probably more, when I was still going downtown, I was playing at El Cortez, one line VP, and I was dealt 4oak. I just held the 4 and was going to draw when the woman next to me, who was a casino worker playing VP on her break, stopped me and told me always hold all 5 cards, to avoid risking a malfunction on the machine. She showed me the note on the machine, that still exists, about malfunctions. Versus turning into a monster I thanked her and have played correctly ever since.

Sandra Ritter Dec-06-2022

I forgot to say

Because she was a casino worker, I felt her advise was creditable, which is why I accepted it so easily.

Gregory Dec-06-2022

In reality...

It does not matter.  Holding the winning cards is the key.  As far a "burping"...machines don't burp, but there is something called button bounce. That is where you press a button and it holds and then un-holds a card, even though you pressed the button only once.  Then the are the machines where you have to pound the buttons with your fist to get them to work.  It's nearly 2023 and they still can't make simple push buttons function properly?

Mike Dec-06-2022

Good advise on Pause

Buttons can be very unreliable.  
Sticking
Not working on the bottom button and having to push the card on the screen 
Selecting other cards and bet denoms when you push the card on the screen 
Not taking ticket printouts and only taking cash
Some places we go, there are 40-50% of machines that have some sort of annoying button or money feeder malfunction
You get the feeling that video poker is the old, crusty game that doesn't get the service and cleanliness that the main front line machines get.

pivoss Dec-06-2022

The opposite is also true...

years ago my dad was playing 100-hand DDB machine and drew 4OAK. Naturally excited, he turned around to let me know what was about to happen, then turned back to hit the draw button. Of course, he forgot to hold any cards before doing that...

Lucky Dec-06-2022

It can happen

About 30 years ago, at Harrahs, I was playing DDB.  Got dealt 4 9's.  I only held the 4, and a 9 of hearts popped up as the 5th card.  The machine paid out anyway, in coins ($250).  It then locked up.  I called the slot person who looked at it and literaly scratched his head.  Asked me what I did to the machine.  I said I held the four 9's.  He said I should have held the 5th card too.  He chuckled, shut down the machine, and asked me to play a different machine. There was a small balance still held on the machine that was paid in cash, and I found a different machine to play.  I also had a slot machine, also at Harrahs, that had the front glass with the wrong info. It showed mixed 7's as $1000, and not the $50 that was programmed into the machine.  I got the mixed 7's, only $50 came out, and I called for the tech.  The tech looked at some paperwork that was in the machine, and said I was paid correctly, but I was due the $1000 in total.  They paid it, and shut all 6 machines down.

Question of the Day - 06 December 2022

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