Page 14 - March 2008 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
AIVariation on “Chicken versus Gambler”
n several of my video poker classes I present the hand ‘KQJT9’, where the quote marks indicate that all of the cards are suited with each other—in this case making a straight ush. I then say something like the following:“Chickens keep all ve cards. Gamblers toss the nine
away, say a prayer, and go for the royal ush. Are you a chicken or a gambler?”
e “correct” answer mathematically is to be a gambler in all games related to Deuces Wild (including Deuces Bonus, Deuces Double Bonus and Deuces Super Bonus) and to be a chicken in all other games. e reason why things are di erent is the pay schedule.
In Deuces Wild variations, straight ushes don’t pay much—typically between 40 and 70 coins, while the
hold ‘QJT9’. ere are games with a progressive on the straight and some people may like to know where the break point comes from being a chicken and holding the straight and being a gambler and going for the straight ush. While not a di cult problem, that’s a problem for another day. And the value of the ush will a ect your answer. A ush worth 25 causes you to be a chicken for longer than
of video poker knowledge and experience to even be concerned with the cards still remaining in the deck. Most beginning players have enough trouble guring out how to classify the cards in front of them, never mind considering the ones still in the deck.
is, however, was the wrong answer to the question posed.Whenwearedrawingonecardto‘QJT9’,the only cards that give us anything are a king and eight (which will give us either a straight or straight ush depending on the suit), the seven remaining cards of the same suit which will give us a ush, and nally three queens and three jacks that will give us a high pair. Ending up with a pair of kings simply isn’t going to happen. We’re only drawing one card and aren’t saving a king to draw to. So the correct answer to the question is that it doesn’t matter whether we throw away the king or the eight in this particular hand.
is was a tricky question, at least according to my student. Perhaps he’s right. But that’s okay.
Video poker has hundreds of tricky questions and continuing to try to gure them out is a good thing.
Beginners need to concentrate on the basics. But once you get beyond the basics, I believe the players who continue to study and try to gure out things will have better results than those who don’t.
Bob Dancer is America’s best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of “how to play better video poker” products, including Winner’s Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer’s products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com.
4-card royal ush is worth between 90 and 100 coins. Simple choice: go for the one that pays more. In most other video poker games, straight ushes return 200 or more coins, while the 4-card royal is still worth between 90 and 100. Again this is a simple choice: go for the one that pays more.
“There are games with a progressive on the straight and some people may like to know where the break point comes from being a chicken and holding the straight and being a gambler and going for the straight flush. While not a difficult problem, that’s a problem for another day. And the value of the flush will affect your answer. A flush worth 25 causes
a ush worth 30 or 35. Now we get to the
more interesting question, at least to me. Assume you are playing a game with a straight ush of 400 or higher—perhaps Super Double Bonus, perhaps White Hot Aces, or perhaps Triple Bonus Poker Plus. In these games, you going to be holding ‘QJT9’ if you know what you’re doing. Is it better for you to originally start with K’QJT9’ or ‘QJT9’8?
Now let’s change the
problem somewhat and
compare two similar
hands. We’ll start
with a 4-card straight
ush ‘QJT9’ and add
one additional o -suit
card that will give us a
straight—i.e., one time
we’ll add a king and the other time we’ll add an 8.
you to be a chicken for longer than at’s the key question today.
a flush worth 30 or 35 does.”
Page 14
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
March 2008
And we’ll limit ourselves to games without wild cards where we get our money back for a pair of jacks, queens, kings, and aces.
First the easy part: How do you play the hands? In games where straight ushes return 250 or less, we hold the straight, whether it’s KQJT9 or QJT98. In games where straight ushes return 400 or more,
I posed this to one of my students. He quickly responded that it would be better to have started with the 8. I asked him why. He said, “Because that leaves you with all of the kings still in the deck. Since
getting a pair of kings gives you your money back, it’s better to have all four kings still available to be drawn than to have only three.”
Does this answer make sense to you? is is not the answer from a beginner. It takes a certain amount
Video Poker with Bob Dancer