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Video Poker
When playing Video Poker it is important that you know the probabilities of improving your
hand. The probabilities are important to help you decide which cards to hold. For instance:
is it smart to break a pair and go for a flush or a straight? Is it smart to hold a kicker (an
extra card) in addition to a pair?
The popup table below shows you the probabilities of improving different hands. We haven't taken into
account your knowledge of the cards you discard.
* Dependent of the card you hold. Highest if an Ace - Lowest if a Jack.
** Jacks or better. (For the four-flush it is assumed that exactly one card is a Jack or better).
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Explanation:
Open-ended straight:
A hand of four cards where one of the 'ends' are missing.
E.g. 9 , 8 , 7 , 6 (if all of same suit it is an open-ended straight flush).
Open-one-ended straight:
A hand of four cards where one card is missing in one end.
E.g: Ace , K , Q , J (if all of same suit it is an open-one-ended straight flush).
Inside straight:
A hand of four cards where one card is missing inside.
E.g: Q , J , 9 , 8 (if all of same suit it is an inside straight flush).
The collective name for a hand containing either an open-ended straight, an
open-one-ended straight or an inside straight is a Four-straight.
Generally:
In Video Poker you don't play against an opponents hand and therefore the ranking of hands
of the same type doesn't matter. Two pairs of 6's and 7's is just as good as two pairs of Aces and
Kings. From the table below you see that your chance of improving your hand is decreased if you
hold a kicker with a pair or three of a kind. Therefore you should always 'minimize' your hand
such that it only contains the pair or the three of a kind.
When you talk about Video Poker strategies you split them into two parts:
Basic strategy: When you try to optimize your hand from the cards you hold.
If you only look at the probabilities it is obvious what to do. But when you want to maximize
your expected profit the probabilities have to be combined with the odds for each
possible hand.
1. A Pair against Four-flush?
Always keep a Pair against a Four-flush.
2. A Pair against Four-straight:
As the chances of winning with a Four-straight is less than with a Four-flush and the odds are
lower the answer is the same here:
Always keep a Pair against all Four-straight's.
3. A Pair against Four-straight flush
Always break a pair against every Four-straight flush.
4. One card (Jack or better) against 5 new cards
Always keep one card if it's a Jack or better.
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