Page 25 - December 2011 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
CIomparing Two Hands
nstead of dealing with a particular game this month, I would like to discuss some basic concepts that apply to a number of games. I will use speci c numbers derived from 9-6 Jacks or Better played for dollars to discuss these concepts, but the concepts apply equally to most other Jacks
or Better varieties as well (i.e., Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, etc.).
How do you play A♥ J♣ 9♣ Q♥ T♣? is one appears tricky. After all, we have a 2-card royal (‘AQ’), a 3-card straight ush (‘JT9’) and even a 4-card inside straight with three high cards (AQJT). Most people will choose one of these plays, and the more knowledgeable players will know that the straight ush draw is preferred to the 2-card royal, which is preferred to the inside straight.
But a better play yet is available. e 4-card open-ended straight with two high cards (QJT9) is superior to any of the above plays. Did you see it? For some reason, people concentrate on either the clubs or the hearts. With the clubs, they focus on how many high cards are there (in this case one), and how many gaps (or insides) are there (in this case zero). Once they have that determined, they then consider how many high cards are in the 4-card straight (in this case 2). Once they have all of that, they need to search their memory or look up on some strategy chart to gure it out. Quite time consuming.
An easier way to deal with this is simply to remember that every 4-card open-ended straight is higher than every 3-card straight ush and every 4-card inside straight that appears in the same ve cards. Once you have learned this simple rule, you don’t need to concern yourself with the number of high cards or the number of gaps on hands like these. And this general principle is true for most varieties of Jacks or Better, but there are other games where it is not true.
Now consider A♥ Q♠ J♠ T♠ 9♥— the same cards, butthesuitsarerearrangedabit.Againwehaveatypeofa
3-card straight ush (in this case ‘QJT’) and a 4-card open- ended straight (again QJT9). But now we go for ‘QJT’.
What’s the di erence?
‘QJT’ is actually a 3-card royal ush, in addition to
being a 3-card straight ush. In live poker, the distinction
between a royal ush and a straight ush is largely meaningless. In a fair game, either hand will win any given pot every time. If your straight ush loses to my royal ush something very shy is going on. Now, we could be playing Texas Hold’em and have a suited KQJT as the up cards, but that only happens in the movies.
But in video poker, a royal ush is worth 4,000 coins, and in most games, a straight ush is only worth 250 coins. Both sizable jackpots, to be sure, but the royal ush is 16 times as valuable as the straight ush. Not too surprisingly, then, three cards to a royal ush is worth a lot more than three cards to a straight ush.
It might appear that if a royal ush were worth 16 times as much as a straight ush, then a 3-card royal ush would be worth 16 times as much as a 3-card straight ush. Actually, it doesn’t work that way. e royal is just one possibility you can get starting from ‘QJT’. Even though ‘QJT’ is said to be a 3-card royal, you are twice as likely to end up with a straight ush starting from those cards as you are to end up with a royal ush! And high pair, two pair, three of a kind, straights and ushes all add to the value of the combination.
Let’s give a value to the hands. In both of our problems, the QJT9 combination is worth about $4.04 when we play for dollars and are betting ve coins at a time. e suited‘JT9’ in the rst problem is worth about $3.50, and the suited ‘QJT’ in the second problem is worth about $7.41. And the inside straight with three high cards (AQJT) is worth $2.66 in either hand.
So, selecting the wrong answer in the rst hand was worth at least 54¢. e wrong answer in the second hand was worth at least $3.37. ese are very large errors. Dollar players making any errors as large as 5¢ are giving
up a tremendous amount to the casino because they play several hundred hands per hour.
Studying beforehand (especially using a computer) pays handsome dividends once you are in the casino. But study is time-consuming, and many people consider it boring. Part of the decision to study or not comes down to whether you have more time or more money. If you have very little time to study and money dripping out of all pockets, go ahead and play however you choose. But as for me, I will never have more money than time, at least when it comes to playing video poker. Even though I am currently blessed with an enviable bankroll position, one of the ways I got it was by always insisting that I had mastered the strategy behind any gamble before I entered into it.
Listen to Bob’s radio show Gambling With An Edge, on Thursday evenings 7 to 8 p.m. Pacific Time on radio station 1230 AM in Las Vegas online at klav1230am.com. Dancer’s products may be ordered at bobdancer.com or at 1-800-244-2224 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
DECEMBER 2011
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
PAGE 25