This lesson asks 5 Video Poker
Questions about
Jacks+.
Recognizing a strong game and pay table is half the
battle--- you will do better in the long run on a 9-6 Jacks or better
game,
paying 9-for-1 on full houses and 6-for-1 on flushes, than you will on
an 8-5 game, with
reduced full house and flush payoffs.
But once you’ve chosen your game, whether online or in a
brick and mortar casino, you still have to know when to hold ‘em and
know when
to fold ‘em.
The place to start is Jacks or
better.
You can always move
to flashier games, more volatile games and adjust to their quirkier
strategies
later. But first, the basics.
Let’s try five video poker questions with sample hands
for 9-6 Jacks or better.
For each hand below, choose the best play in 9-6 Jacks or
Better:
Q. 1)
You're dealt Queen of spades, 8 of hearts, 6 of diamonds, 3 of spades
and 3 of
clubs:
A. Hold the
pair of3s.
B. Hold
theQueen.
A. 1) A. Most
inexperienced video poker players undervalue low pairs. Match one card
on the
draw, and you have three of a kind.
A low pair is a good
start toward two pair,
even full houses and four of a kind. The expected value, or EV, of the
low pair
here is 4.1, meaning that in the long run; making this play will bring
us an
average of 4.1 coins in return for every five coins we wager.
That's
far better
than the 2.4 EV on holding the Queen.
Holding the Queen by
itself gives you
four shots at a high pair for a 1-for-1 payback, but most of your
winners will
be those single pairs.
You'll get more multiple-coin winners
by holding the low
pair instead.
Q. 2)
You're dealt Queen of spades, 6 of hearts, 5 of clubs, 4 of diamonds
and 3 of
spades:
A. Hold the
four-card straight.
B. Hold the
King.
A. 2) A. The
EV on a four-card straight is 3.4, not quite as good as a low pair, but
still
better than the 2.4 on a Queen.
Q. 3)
You're dealt Queen of diamonds, Jack of spades, 9 of hearts, 6 of clubs
and 2
of diamonds:
A. Hold the
Jack.
B. Hold the
Queen
C. Hold Queen
and Jack. A. 3) C. With
two high cards at the start, you have a better chance of pairing one of
them
for paying hand, and there still are possibilities for two pair, three
of a
kind, full houses, four of a kind, even straights. Two high cards
aren't a
great start, but with an EV of a little less than 2.6, they're better
than
those of between 2.3 and 2.4 for single high cards.
Q. 4)
You're dealt Ace of diamonds, Queen of spades, Jack of hearts, 5 of
hearts and
2 of clubs:
A. Hold
Ace-Queen-Jack.
B. Hold
Queen-Jack.
C. Hold the
Ace.
D. Hold the
Queen.
E. Hold the
Jack.
A. 4) B. Aces
get in the way of straights. When you hold an Ace with other high
cards, the
only possible straights are Ace high. We hold an Ace with one other
high card,
but discard it with two other high cards of mixed suits. Here, the EV
of
Queen-Jack is 2.5, while all the other options are 2.3 or lower.
Q. 5)
You're dealt King-Queen-Jack-10 of clubs and Ace of hearts:
A. Hold the
straight.
B. Hold the
four diamonds.
A. 5) B. We
have to take our 1-in-47 shot at the big Royal Flush jackpot, usually
4,000
coins for five played. We break up the straight, giving away a sure
20-coin
winner, for the possibility of much more. The EV is 98.0 for the
four-card
royal, much better than the 20-coin win we'd claim by keeping the
straight.
For more video poker questions, see lesson Video Poker FAQ.
