In late September, I taught a 9/6 DDB Quick Quads class at the South Point. One of the combinations you hold in that game is KTx — where ‘x’ stands for a suited card too low to be part of a straight flush or a royal flush — namely a suited KT2, KT3, KT4, KT5, KT6, KT7, or KT8. This is standard 9/6 DDB strategy — although if you don’t play this particular game, it might look a little weird.
After class, some players came up and told me that the Wizard of Odds’ “Video Poker Strategy Calculator” doesn’t include KTx on the list of combinations to be held. I told them that this was impossible. They assured me it was true. And they were willing to accept my strategy over that from the WOO website. I told them that there was a big risk in doing this. The WOO strategies are more accurate than mine although many players believe mine are easier to use.
I had a Wi-Fi hotspot in my computer case and suggested we look it up on the WOO site. They couldn’t spare the time, so I let it go.
Later at home, I indeed looked it up. The combinations are included in a group WOO calls “3 to a Flush” and his list is 268; 279; 28T; 2TK; 358; 369; 37T; 3TK; 459; 46T; 4TK; 5TK; 6TK; 7TK; 8TK
On the strategy I presented in class, I had defined the combinations 257, 268, 279, 28T, 358, 369, 37T, 459, and 46T as 3-card flushes with 0 high cards with Quick Quad Potential. These combinations are the only ones where:
a. All three cards are the same suit and there are no other cards of that suit in the hand
b. No “high card” (specifically A, K, Q, J) is in the suited combination
c. The sum of the ranks of the lower two cards equals the rank of the highest card — e.g. 2+6=8 or 3+7=10. Because of this, if you draw a pair of the highest card (for which you have a 1-in-360 chance, rounded), you’ll receive a Quick Quad, which is worth 260 coins in this particular game for these particular ranks. My terminology for this particular feature is called “Quick Quad Potential.”
d. The three cards are not close enough to belong to the same 3-card straight flush. This eliminates 235, 246, and 347. While these combinations have Quick Quad Potential, they also have potential for straights and at least one straight flush. These features add value so you find these combinations earlier on the strategy.
If you want an overview to the game, you can download for free “A Quick Guide to Quick Quads” from www.videopoker.com)
If you notice, the WOO list is the same as mine except he includes the KTx hands and he omits the combination 257. Setting aside the 257 combination for a moment, the WOO listing makes a lot of sense. He is listing the 3-card flushes that are lower in value than the higher categories listed and higher in value than the lower categories listed. This list was created with a program coded by J.B., the webmaster for the WOO websites. J.B. is an excellent programmer and his strategies are very accurate. I’m going to call it the J.B. strategy rather than the WOO strategy, but it’s the same thing.
My list is different because I believe it is easier to remember strategies if I categorize hands. If I understand KTx means KT2 or KT3 or KT4 or KT5 or KT6 or KT7 or KT8 then I can use KTx in place of listing seven combinations. Also, FL3 0hi with QQ Potential includes all nine of the combinations on that list.
The reason 257 is on my list and not his is specifically for the 1-in-216,580 case where the other two cards in the hand are a suited QT. All of the FL3 0h with QQ Potential combinations are more valuable than QT except for 257. The reason has to do with one or more straight penalties. I omitted this in class because straight penalties are beyond the scope of that particular class. On my own personal strategy, I break out 257, of course.
Whether KTx or QT are listed higher on a strategy is irrelevant because you’re not going to have both in the same hand — unless you have a higher ranking 3-card royal flush or a pair of tens. So my strategy in class of
KTx > FL3 0h with QQ Potential > QT
is accurate except for the QT ‘257’ hand.
J.B.’s strategy, which is more accurate than mine, lists,
268; 279; 28T; 2TK; 358; 369; 37T; 3TK; 459; 46T; 4TK; 5TK; 6TK; 7TK; 8TK > QT > 257
To use my strategy you have to understand the terminology and the assumptions behind the terms. No such specialized knowledge is required to use J.B.’s strategy. In the section of strategy discussed today, the strategies are identical save for 257. There are some other differences in other sections of the strategy. Not a lot of them (we are talking about the same game after all), but there are some. I trade off a bit of accuracy for considerable ease in memorization. I’ll let others debate which is more useful to which players.