Comparing 9/6 Jacks or Better with 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe at the Advanced Level

This next semester of free video poker classes at the South Point casino will be on Wednesdays between August 2 and October 4. Each semester I include one game taught at the advanced level. The advanced level is much more difficult than what I usually teach, and is only for players interested in squeezing every last little bit out of the game.

This semester I’m teaching both 9/6 Jacks or Better (JoB) and 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe (BPD) at the advanced level. I’m teaching them back-to-back, on the same day, September 6, beginning at noon.

The games are very similar. All pay schedule categories pay the same amount except for 4-of-a-kind (25-for-1 versus 80-for-1) and two pair (2-for-1 versus 1-for-1). These two changes offset each other almost exactly, making JoB worth 99.54% and BPD worth 99.64%.

The reason I have room to teach two separate advanced classes is that both of these games have fewer fine points than most other games, and the ones they have are pretty easy. In addition, about half of the advanced points for the two games are identical.

But there are differences. Games that pay 1-for-1 for two pair go for straights much more often than games that pay 2-for-1 for the same hand.

Today I’m going to list 20 hands. Approximately half of them (maybe exactly half — maybe not) are played the same in the two games. The others, of course, are played differently.

Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to figure out which are which. At the end of the article, I’ll tell you which are which — but I’m not going to tell you what the correct plays are.  Let me give you an example. One of the hands is K♦ Q♣ J♥ 8♥ 7♥. There are two reasonable plays:  K♦ Q♣ J♥ and J♥ 8♥ 7♥.  (If you prefer a third play, you will get value out of the beginner classes — August 2 for JoB —- August 30 for BPD.)

If you think they are played the same, which is the correct play? If you think they are played differently, which play goes with which game? If you think that advanced plays aren’t that important so you don’t need to know which is correct, this particular hand is an intermediate play and should be in the repertoire of every player who plays for money that is important to him.

With available software, including some freebies available online, finding out the correct play on a hand is easy. If you can’t be bothered to check on the right play, you are never going to be able to play these games at the advanced level anyway. I’ll explain each of them in detail during the class.

1. A♠ Q♥ J♠ T♥ 5♠
2. A♦ K♣ J♥ T♥ 7♥
3. A♣ K♣ T♣ 5♣ 3♥
4. K♦ T♦ 9♣ 6♦ 5♠
5. A♠ J♥ T♣ 5♦ 2♠

 

1. K♥ J♠ T♠ 9♥ 5♣
2. A♦ Q♣ T♣ 9♥ 8♠
3. A♦ K♠ J♠ T♦ 5♠
4. Q♣ J♣ T♥ 9♠ 9♥
5. A♦ J♠ 7♥ 5♣ 4♥

 

1. A♠ K♠ Q♥ T♠ 3♠
2. K♦ T♦ 8♣ 6♦ 5♠
3. Q♥ J♣ T♥ 8♠ 7♥
4. A♠ K♥ J♥ T♣ 9♥
5. K♦ Q♣ J♥ 8♥ 7♥

 

1. A♦ J♠ T♥ 7♣ 4♥
2. A♠ K♥ 5♣ 3♣ 2♣
3. T♦ 8♠ 7♥ 5♣ 4♥
4. A♠ J♥ T♣ 5♥ 2♠
5. J♠ T♥ 9♠ 7♦ 5♣

 

The hands that are played identically in the two games are d, g, h, i, k, n, o, p, q, s and t. The others are played differently.

How did you do? If you aced the test, congratulations. You’ve done some work. If you didn’t ace this test, learning these distinctions is very likely within your capabilities. It’s not really that hard. But it takes effort. Whether or not it’s worth the effort is for you to decide.