When I first thought about this article, I was going to call it "Pick 'Em Revisited", because I could swear I had done a piece on it before, but my search through the archives shows I didn't and I'm really surprised, because Pick 'Em is a GREAT game. What makes it great? First, it's easy to learn how to play properly, it has a decent long-term payback, and it doesn't take a huge bankroll to play. The catch here? With perfect play, the game returns just under 100%, so you'll need the cushion provided by a good slot club to make any $$$. And while you won't make a lot, Pick 'Em is a much better choice than almost any slot machine out there. With a slot club that pays .25% cash back, your total long-term return is about 100.2% at this game. As I'll explain in a bit, Pick 'Em can be played fairly quickly; certainly 800 hands/hour once you've got the playing strategy down pat, so at a quarter machine you'll be betting $1000 an hour (with 5 coins in) and .2% of that is $2 an hour. Obviously that's not very exciting, but it sure beats losing $18 an hour or more at some quarter slot. (That figure comes from playing a slot with a 95% return at a rate of 800 spins/hour while betting 50 cents per spin. I figured in a .25% slot club rebate.) It's a $20/hour swing in your, or your Aunt Minnie's, favor!

Pick 'Em Poker is easy to learn, easy to play and easy to play quickly. If you haven't seen it, the game starts with the machine dealing two cards that you must keep. There are two other cards shown and you pick one, then the final two cards of the hand which you cannot see are dealt to complete the play. So, your only action is to pick one of two cards which requires you to hit just one button. That's why you can play so quickly and, because you have so few choices, why the pay schedule is so good. The only pay schedule I've seen for Pick 'Em looks like this:

When you play each hand properly, this schedule offers a 99.95% payback. The bad news is that Royals are VERY scarce and the Straight Flush is really the 'jackpot' here. But that doesn't hurt you much, because most of the pay back is loaded in the more common hands and hitting a 4K or two at $150 per on a quarter machine makes for a good session. We describe this game as having a low 'variance' which essentially means that you don't need a gigantic bankroll to keep playing. Don't get me wrong; with what is basically a break-even payback, you can lose some $$$ at Pick 'Em, but it's still a lot better than playing most slots and there will be fewer losing sessions versus playing a 9/6 Jacks or Better game.

The proper playing strategy for the game is simple and strategy cards are available from several vendors on the Web, notably Jazbo (www.jazbo.com), but the 'non-fanatical' player will find that the proper play is fairly intuitive. I was showing a friend how to play the game recently and she wasn't interested in 'expected value' and other stuff like that; she just wanted to know which card to pick. Let me share with you a bit of what I told her. (Thanks for the idea; you know who you are.)

First, most strategy cards that I've seen for the game treat everything like a three-card hand - the two you're dealt and the one card you should pick. I find it easier to consider the two 'keepers' first, then pick. (Let's call the two you must keep, "keepers" and the two choices you have, "pickers", okay? And let's call 9s or higher, "high" cards and everything else "low" cards, while keeping in mind that Aces are high, but they can be used in the 'low' straight which goes up to 5.) For example, if the keepers are a pair, and either picker matches it, always hold the Trips. If neither of the pickers match that keeper pair, it doesn't matter which card you choose to complete the hand. Pick 'Em pays for a pair of 9s or better, so your keepers could be a pair of 3s, let's say, and you might think that it would be better to pick a Queen than a 5, but it's all the same. Any other pair, high or low, makes two-pair and you get paid. Remembering that will allow you to play quicker.

So, that sets our first rule: always hold Three-of-a-Kind. If the keepers are two cards of the Royal Flush and there's a third card to the Royal in the pickers and the other will make a pair, go with the Royal, EXCEPT when one of the cards in the Royal draw is an Ace. Here's what I mean:

With an Ace in the Royal Flush draw, we're limited in the number of non-Royal Straights we'll get, so its value is lowered. Don't forget that in this game, 10s are 'high' cards, so they have the same value as Jacks, Queens and Kings.

But, if you get something like this:

Of course, without a high pair, but still with the Ace, we go for the Royal. Believe me, if you forget this, it won't make a huge difference, so we could say, "Hold any 3-card Royal" for our second rule. Ranked below the 3-card Royal is a High Pair, whether they're on the keeper side or not.

Now it gets a bit more complicated when we don't have a pair on the keeper side, so let's look at a few examples

This is a lot like 'regular' Video Poker; don't break a high pair to draw to a three-card Straight Flush. Got it?

Because the Straight Flush pays so much ($299.75 on a quarter machine and $1199 on a dollar machine), you're better off going for it, over holding a low pair. But remember, we don't break a high pair for this; only a low pair, except the one here:

There are too many gaps to make the Straight Flush draw worthwhile. Here I go with a bit of math (sorry, Darlin'), but I want you to understand straights, inside straights and double-inside straights. If all 3 cards are in sequence (5,6,7, etc.), that's a 3-card straight 'draw' (and, if they're suited, they're a 3-card straight flush 'draw'); if there's one gap, it's an 'inside' straight draw (5,6,8, etc.) and if there are two gaps, it's a double-inside straight draw (4,6,8, etc.) Now in the case of the 5,6,7 there are 48 ways to make a straight, for the 5,6,8 there are 32 ways to get a straight and with a 4,6,8, there are only 15 ways to make a straight. So, the 'tighter' the straight, the more valuable it is, and you need to recognize the various types even when the cards aren't in order. A tip: Learn what makes the 'bottom' of various straights; a 9 is the bottom of a King straight, a 7 is the bottom of a Jack straight, etc. For the other cards, the bottom is always 4 away: 5 for 9, 6 for 10 and so forth. Here are a couple of hands to help you get the idea:

This is an inside straight flush draw.

I hate it when this happens, but it does. Either 'pick' fits in a straight flush, but the 9 is a high card and it's the better play; we probably won't get the SF, but we might get another 9. Another tip: In hands where it doesn't make a difference which card is chosen, (like when you have a pair in the keepers), get into the habit of choosing the high card anyway. I say that because as your speed at the game builds, you'll make some mistakes and automatically choosing the high card is the lesser of two evils.

Okay, let's get back on track. Break any low pair for any straight flush draw, except one with two gaps and no high cards, like Hand #6 above. Now let's look at flushes which rank below a low pair:

With me on this? Hold low pairs over flush draws.

Like most video poker games, flush draws outrank straight draws. Always go for the flush over a straight. If the Ace was any other suit, we would go for the straight.

But wait! There's more. (Kinda like a Ginsu knife ad, isn't it?) We're not done yet.

Look at these two:

Both pickers are part of the straight draw, but the Queen is a high card, and it barely outweighs the Straight possibilities of picking the 8. Three high cards hold considerable value.

This is not easy to remember, because the 7 plays as a straight draw, but the Ace is a high card, as are the two keepers. There's too many gaps for the straight draw, so three high cards is the better play.

Try this one:

Now the double-inside straight draw is valid, since there's only two high cards.

Up to now, I've shown a lot of hands which are 'workable'. Most, in reality, are pretty scattered and a lot are basically junk, but you need to give yourself the best shot. Ponder this little gem:

Here all you're doing is going with two high cards. No, prayer doesn't work.

Here's a hand I seem to get a lot:

This is a double-inside straight draw with one high card (A,2,4) and it's just a smidgen better than the double-inside straight draw with no high cards (2,4,6). See what I mean about going with the high card, when in doubt?

A lot of the hands are pretty obvious in how they should be played, once Straight Flushes. High Pairs and Royals are excluded. Hell, you're only picking 1 card, remember. Generally, you want to hold as many high cards as possible and keep suits together and keep your straight-draws 'tight'. Just don't forget that the Ace plays on both ends of the spectrum in Straights.

These are some examples of what you might see:

You have a flush draw here, but go with the King, because it's a high card.

If you play a lot of 'regular' Video Poker, your immediate reaction will likely be to hold the King. But the 9 is part of a straight draw and it's also a high card.

So, go get a strategy card from Jazbo and then go to a web site put up by a very nice guy who has a Pick 'Em game you can get for your practice. His name is Barry Shiffrin, he plays a lot in Atlantic City and you may download his version of the game at no cost. Guys like Barry make the Internet a fun place to play. Just go here: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Portal/4572/ to get it and, when you're done, please e-mail Barry and thank him. Thanks, Barry!

One more advantage to Pick 'Em is that you give up very little when you play with less than the maximum bet, because the Royal is so infrequent. Aunt Minnie can blow an afternoon at the game for a roll or two of tokens, if she'll play a quarter a pop. Not a bad deal.

See you here next time.