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Video Poker Hand Plays

The game is 10/7 Double Bonus, so the full house dealt to us is worth 50 coins. Should you discard the nines in order to go for 4 eights which pays 250 coins? There are 1014 different hands which can result if we do that; 46 of them are 4 eights and the rest are full houses or three-of-a-kind. Thus, it's about a 1 in 22 chance of getting 4K. The total expected return of drawing to the 3 eights is 27.1693, much less than the 50.0000 we get by holding the full house, so we stand pat. But, if the eights were Aces, we'd break up the full house, because 4 Aces pay 800 coins and the total return on the play is more than 50 coins. Drawing to three Aces is the only time you should EVER break up a full house in the Double Bonus game.

I've been dealt 3 straight flushes in my VP career and this one was the most recent. Quite a dilemma, isn't it? Do I keep it or throw away the 9 and go for a royal? Well, the answer lies in the mathematics of the hand. Of the 47 cards which are left to play, only one makes the royal. So, my odds are 46 to 1 against. The straight flush pays 250 coins ($62.50 at a quarter machine), so the royal must be at 46 X $62.50 or $2875 for me to break it up. That's an approximate number because I could get some other minor payouts like straights, etc. But it's close enough for our purposes here.

What did I do? Luckily, this was at an All American machine which pays $250 for a straight flush, so I naturally held them all and collected.

Video Poker Review #1

To start things off, let's review the proper play of some hands for a basic 9/6 Jacks or Better game. This game - the 'Grandaddy' of video poker - provides the basic format for almost all the non-wild card games: Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, All-American, etc. It's important to know how to play a hand properly, but even more important to understand WHY it's played that way. The number which follows each possible play is the expected value or return on a 5-coin wager. The play offering the highest return is the one you should make.

#1 A two-card Royal or ???

Hold Q, K, J, A 2.9787
Hold J, K 2.9106
Hold Q, A 2.8390

Go for the inside straight here. (It's 'inside' because only one card - the 10 - works.) You might get a straight, but more likely you'll match a high card and at least get your money back. The J, K 2-card Royal is worth more than the Q, A because it will make more straights.

#2 Go for the straight flush?

Hold 3 clubs 2.6272
Hold A, J 2.3913
Hold A, 2, 3, 5 2.0213

A lot of players forget that the Ace works both as a high card and a low card in straights. Here, the straight flush draw is better than just drawing to two unsuited high cards. Forget the inside straight; not enough high cards.

#3 A two-card Royal with a 10.

Hold J, Q 2.4900
Hold J, 10 2.4841

This is tough to do; ignore a 2-card Royal for a draw to 2 unsuited high cards. But, that's the correct play, though not by much. Remember that a pair of 10s pays nothing, so that's why we dump it.

#4 Break a high pair for a flush or a 3-card Royal?

Hold J, J 7.6827
Hold J, Q, A > 6.7114
Hold 4 spades 6.5957

The correct play is to always hold the high pair, regardless of the 3-card Royal.

#5 Break a low pair for a flush?

Hold 4 spades 6.3830
Hold 7, 7 4.1184

The answer is yes. This flush draw is especially valuable because of the 2 high cards in it; you might match one and get your money back.

#6 Four-card flush or a three-card straight flush?

Hold 4 clubs 6.0638
Hold 7, 10, J 2.3913
Hold 10, J > 2.3404

The 4-card flush draw wins hands down.

#7 Which 2-card Royal?

Hold 10, J 2.3380
Hold Q, K 2.9291
Hold 10, J, Q, K 4.3317

Bit of a trick question. Don't let the lust for a Royal blind you to the fact that this is actually a 4-card straight.

#8 Two-card Royal or ???

Hold 8, 10, Q 2.6411
Hold 10, Q 2.3350
Hold 8, 9, 10, Q 2.0213

Most people forget about the straight flush play here. You should memorize the 'bottom' cards of straights involving high cards. For a King, the lowest card which will fill a straight is a 9; for the Queen it's an 8 and for the Jack, it's a 7. Knowing those will increase your return on straight flushes.

#9 Three-card flush or inside straight?

Hold 3 diamonds 1.7345
Hold 5, 7, 8, 9 1.7021
Discard all 1.8041

Another trick question. Neither the flush nor the straight pay enough to keep any cards. But, in All-American and Double Bonus, the hand is playable.

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