Page 8 - October 2002 • Southern California Gaming Guide
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Common Errors at Jacks or Better by Bob Dancer
Jacks or Better is one of the simplest of all video poker games. Although the phrase “Jacks or Better” is found on many games to indicate you get your money back for a high pair, when we are talking about the game “Jacks or Better” we mean a game where you get double your money for two pair, and a constant amount of money (usually 25 per coin bet) for all 4-of-a-kinds.
There are many pay schedules for this game, but the errors described today are errors in any of the pay schedules. The amount of the error will vary depending on how much you receive for a full house or a ush, but not the fact that it is an error. The amounts listed will assume you are playing dollar 9/6 Jacks for ve coins at a time.
1. A♥ Q♠ J♦ 5♠ 4♥ versus K♥ Q♠ J♦ 5♠ 4♥
Q-J is best in the rst hand by 16¢ and K-Q-J is better in the second hand by
10¢. Beginners treat these hands as the same, but they’re not. A-Q-J and K-Q- J have the exact same potential to end up with a high pair, two pair, or 3 of a kind. But K-Q-J has twice the potential for ending up with a straight as A-Q-J. This extra straight potential is worth about 26¢ to the dollar player, and it so happens that the value of holding Q-J by itself lies smack dab in the middle.
2. Q♥J♥T♥9♥8♠
If you were dealt Q♥ J♥ T♥ 9♥ 7♠, it would be common to hold the hearts quickly and feel your blood move a bit faster. After all, a straight ush pays 250 coins and you have two chances at it. Plus, even if you don’t connect on the straight ush, there are chances for regular straights, regular ushes and even a high pair. All in all, pretty good! But as good as the 4-card straight ush is, an ordinary dealt straight is better. Holding all ve cards is worth an extra $2.13.
3. K♣Q♣J♣J♥5♠
Holding the high pair over a 3-card royal ush is the better play by 24¢. Or more! With A♦ J♦ T♦ J♠ 5♦, the high pair is worth a full $1.48 more than the 3-card royal. The 1-in-1,081 chance for the $4,000 royal ush is worth $3.70 all by itself plus you have chances for many other good things to happen (although well over half the time you end up with nothing at all). The high pair is a worth a guaranteed $5, plus it has signi cant chances for improve- ment, too. It is hard to see all the possibilities because there are 16,215 differ- ent draws you can make to a pair of jacks, and nobody this side of Rainman can do those calculations without a computer.
4. Q♦Q♠T♦9♦8♦
Here the Q-T-9-8 straight ush draw is worth $4.23 more than the queens, even with their guaranteed $5! Four-card straight ushes, even those with a gap, are powerful. Of the players who miss this, at least half of them
didn’t recognize that Q-T-9-8 had straight ush potential. Had they practiced on a computer, they wouldn’t be making this mistake, because whenever they did, the computer would announce, “MAJOR ERROR”. Most of us only take a few such announcements to learn the lesson.
5. 2♠ 3♠ 4♠ A♦ 9♣ versus 2♠ 3♠ 4♠ 5♦ 9♣
In the rst hand, hold 2-3-4 by 24¢ and in the second prefer 2-3-4-5 by 86¢. Always in Jacks or Better, an open-ended 4-card straight is better than any 3-card straight ush appearing in the same ve cards. But A-2-3-4 isn’t open-ended, because A-low is as low as you can go. It is an inside straight with one high card, and that isn’t hold- able in Jacks or Better.
6. A♣ K♣ 4♦ 5♦ 6♦versus A♠ K♣ 3♦ 5♦ 6♦
Prefer 4-5-6 in the rst hand by 21¢ and 3-5-6 in the second by 28¢. Three-card straight ushes are the most confusing hand in video poker. The rules are different for every variation of the game — and sometimes even for different pay schedules for the same game. In Jacks or Better, 3-card straight ushes with no high cards and no gaps are better than any two suited high cards, and 3-card straight ushes with no high cards and one gap are better than any two unsuited high cards.
7. K♥ Q♠ J♦ 9♣ 5♦ versus K♥ Q♠ T♦ 9♣ 5♦
In the rst hand K-Q-J-9 is the better play by 16¢ and in the second, K-Q is the better play by 14¢. In Jacks or Better, inside straights (i.e., 4-card straights with a gap) are holdable only if they have at least three high cards. In the rst hand, in addi- tion to having the four cards available for the straight, there were nine cards in the deck available to make a high pair. In the second hand, there were only six cards in the deck available for a high pair. And this reduction in three possible high pair out of the 47 possible draws is worth more than 30¢.
How did you do? In truth, this test was simple for anyone who has studied the game at all. Anybody who missed any of these and still plays in the casino is going into battle with one hand tied behind their back. You don’t have to practice on a computer or study a strategy card, but you’ll get a lot more bang for your gambling dollar if you do.
“Bob Dancer” is the nom de plume of the top video poker writer in the country. In addition to playing video poker frequently in high-roller rooms across the country, he writes about what he does. He has a monthly video poker column in Casino Player, and is the video poker editor for Strictly Slots.
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Page 8 October 2002
Column: Video Poker with Bob Dancer