{"id":865689,"date":"2024-09-17T16:53:10","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T23:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/?p=865689"},"modified":"2024-09-17T16:53:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T23:53:13","slug":"staying-in-the-groove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/staying-in-the-groove\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying in the Groove"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve been playing NSU Deuces Wild for more than 20 years. It\u2019s a simple game to play at the 99% accuracy level. It\u2019s easier than most other video poker games to play at the 99.9% accuracy level. But it\u2019s virtually impossible to play 100% accurately. The appendices to the Dancer\/Daily Winners Guide to NSU Deuces Wild <\/em>contain hundreds of exceptions to the basic strategy. Even the basic strategy has some real toughies in it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the following nine pairs of hands. In none of the pairs are the two hands played identically. Do you know which is which? As difficult as this test is, it is much simpler when you have the clue that the two hands are played differently, than it is when you face any of these while playing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As is my custom, a W <\/em><\/strong>stands for a deuce. In the answers, bold italics means the cards are suited with each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Test: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. W <\/em><\/strong>4<\/em>\u2660 5\u2660 K\u2660 T\u2665 versus <\/em>W <\/em><\/strong>4\u2660 5\u2660 K\u2660 J\u2665<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. W <\/em><\/strong>4\u2665 5\u2665 Q\u2665 K\u2663 versus <\/em>W<\/em><\/strong> 4\u2665 5\u2665 Q\u2665 J\u2663<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. W <\/em><\/strong>6\u2666 7\u2663 8\u2665 K\u2665 versus <\/em>W<\/em><\/strong> 6\u2666 7\u2663 8\u2665 K\u2660<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. W <\/em><\/strong>4\u2663 5\u2663 3\u2665 J\u2666 versus <\/em>W <\/em><\/strong>4\u2663 5\u2663 3\u2665 Q\u2666<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          1. \u00a0K\u2666 T\u2666 6\u2666 A\u2660 9\u2665 versus<\/em> <\/em><\/strong>K\u2666 T\u2666 6\u2666 A\u2660 9\u2660\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
              \n
            1. K\u2660 T\u2660 5\u2660 A\u2666 3\u2666 versus K\u2660 T\u2660 5\u2660 Q\u2666 3\u2666<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                \n
              1. 8\u2665 9\u2665 Q\u2660 A\u2663 4\u2663 versus 8\u2665 9\u2665 Q\u2660 A\u2663 3\u2663<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                  \n
                1. A\u2663 T\u2663 9\u2665 7\u2660 5\u2666 versus A\u2663 T\u2663 9\u2665 7\u2660 5\u2660<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
                    \n
                  1. W <\/em><\/strong>A\u2666 K\u2666 T\u2660 8\u2660 versus <\/em>W <\/em><\/strong>A\u2666 K\u2666 J\u2660 9\u2660<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                    Answers:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      \n
                    1. W45 <\/em><\/strong>and <\/em>W<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    2. W <\/em><\/strong>and <\/em>W45<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    3. W <\/em><\/strong>and <\/em>W<\/em><\/strong>678<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    4. W45 <\/em><\/strong>and<\/em> W<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    5. KT<\/em><\/strong> and draw 5<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    6. KT<\/em><\/strong> and draw 5<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    7. 89<\/em><\/strong> and draw 5<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    8. AT<\/em><\/strong> and draw 5<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n
                    9. WT8 <\/em><\/strong>and WAK<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                      Don\u2019t fret too much if you didn\u2019t score well. The test was my way of supporting my statement that it was virtually impossible to play this game perfectly. Each of these nine examples have a lot of similar hands to learn. Learning these particular 18 hands still leaves you with several hundred different tough hands to struggle with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      As it happens, until some casinos change their inventory, I\u2019ll be playing NSU Deuces Wild more, dollar-wise, than all the other video poker games I play. So even though each of these distinctions are worth fractions of a penny if you play for quarters, I\u2019m playing enough hands for large enough stakes that it makes sense, to me anyway, if I spend time mastering them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      I could have an exact list of hands in a PDF that I could carry with me on my smart phone. In addition to it being illegal in Nevada and some other states to use cell phones to help you make gambling decisions in a casino, I find this tedious. I\u2019m playing games where I have the advantage, everything considered, and taking 15 seconds to make sure I have the correct play by a tenth of a penny makes no financial sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      It may surprise you, but I would not have aced the test I presented today. In question 5, I would have drawn five new cards both times, in question 6 I would have held KT <\/em><\/strong>both times, and in question 7, I would have drawn five new cards both times. The other six hands I would have aced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      So, what gives? Why would I play these hands incorrectly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      I have worked out a strategy that is \u201cgood enough.\u201d I have the Level 4 strategy completely memorized, and for the appendix material, I use the shortcuts provided there. These shortcuts are relatively easy to memorize and get me close enough. I don\u2019t have the tools to accurately measure how accurate my \u201csimplified\u201d strategy is, but I suspect it\u2019s well over 99.99% of what is possible. And I can play it relatively fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      It’s a far bigger risk to make mistakes by oversight. I know the right play, but maybe I don\u2019t see it, or maybe I get momentarily confused. This happens to me more as a senior citizen than it did a few decades ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      I\u2019ve been playing NSU Deuces Wild for more than 20 years. It\u2019s a simple game to play at the 99% accuracy level. It\u2019s easier than most other video poker games to play at the 99.9% accuracy level. But it\u2019s virtually impossible to play 100% accurately. The appendices to the Dancer\/Daily Winners Guide to NSU Deuces […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15763,"featured_media":843442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[601,557],"tags":[561,585],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/spinach-2.png?fit=500%2C300&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865689"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865689"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865690,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865689\/revisions\/865690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}