A few weeks ago, I published a colorful chart (originally created by Jimmy Jazz) about how to hold the 4-card straight hands W567-WQJT in NSU Deuces Wild. The chart I created in Word didn’t translate to the program used for the column, but the information on the chart was correct.
Strangely, holding the 4-card straight every time is worth exactly $5 to the five-coin dollar player. Of the 47 possible draws, 9 give you your money back exactly, 19 give you a straight worth $10, and 19 give you five cards that do not return anything.
If you just hold the deuce, the hand is worth between about $4.97 and $5.03, depending on the rank and suit of the 47 remaining cards.
A now-deceased friend of mine, Annie Fried (sometimes she used Annie Lefton, or Annie Fried Lefton), decided she didn’t like memorizing the rather complicated rules and always held the deuce in these hands. She justified this in numerous ways:
- The rule was complicated. Memorizing it used mental band with and was subject to errors.
- Always holding the solitary deuce in these hands is much faster to play.
- It’s only worth a few pennies if it’s wrong.
- Sometimes she connects on a nice hand (say 5-of-a-kind, dirty royal, or four deuces), which are a lot more fun than just a straight.
- She inherited a lot of money, increased it through employment and shrewd investing, and was really gambling for entertainment — not profit. If her play reduced the total EV of the game from 99.728% down to 99.726%, what difference did that make to a multi-millionaire?
I understood her logic, but I always tried to play the strategy exactly correctly. I was using video poker for my livelihood, and my rule of thumb was to play as accurately as possible.
There was a casino we played at where the best two games (for considerably higher stakes than dollars) were 8/5 Bonus Poker (99.16%) and 9/6 Double Double Bonus (98.98%). I played BP because it was higher EV. Annie played DDB because the bigger jackpots were more fun for her.
So far as I was concerned, the two decisions were consistent with each other. I was a “nit” looking for every little edge and Annie was looking for fun as she gambled. We understood the position of the other, talked about it some, but didn’t dwell on the subject repeatedly.
The reason I bring this up now, is that in the chat following my column on categorizing hands, a poster named Bradley Davis said he always held the deuce on these hands. His “reasons” were very close to some of Annie’s. He took some flack for presenting this opinion from somebody who didn’t understand the point he was making — welcome to my world!
Turns out I know Bradley Davis and we’re friends. Some 35 years ago he wrote a book called “Mastering Joker Wild Video Poker.” The strategies in the book were much more accurate than those published by other video poker writers of the day — most prominently Dan Paymar and Lenny Frome.
I met him in the mid-nineties at an Atlantic City function sponsored by Casino Player magazine. A bunch of gambling writers from around the country were invited to speak. It might have been my first teaching gig. At the time, I had three self-published booklets on video poker I was peddling for $10 apiece.
Davis used a laser pointer in his presentation. I had not seen one before, commented on it, and he gave his to me! We’ve kept in touch over the years and sometimes meet up when he comes to Vegas.
Anyway, while I continue to play as a nit, I’m not critical of those who play for fun. I don’t know Davis’s exact bankroll by any means, but I believe he’s a senior citizen with enough money to last him “for the duration.”