Open and inside straights in Jacks or Better

18 October 2025

By Jerry Stickman

Open and inside straights and straight flushes were the topics of a recent article, with a following article having a quiz on inside and open straights on a jacks or better game.

Now how about looking at some hands on a NSUD game? NSUD stands for Not So Ugly Deuces (or Ducks). This is a great game to play – if you can find it. It returns 99.7 percent with proper play.

The pay table looks like this for five credits played:

Royal Flush (no wild cards)/4000
4 Deuces/1000
Wild Royal Flush/125
5 Of a Kind/80
Straight Flush/50
4 Of a Kind/20
Full House/20
Flush/15
Straight/10
3 Of a Kind/5

First hand:

5c6c7c2hQd
This hand contains:
- a wild card (2h)
- a two-card royal flush (2hQd).
- a four-card open straight flush (5c6c7c2h)

The returns are:
- Holding the lone wild card returns 5.0323 credits on average.
- Holding the two-card royal flush returns just 4.5430 credits.
- Holding the four-card open straight flush returns 12.5532 credits.

The obvious hold – the four-card open straight flush.

Now let’s look at a slightly different hand. Let’s change the 6c to a 6h. This new hand is:

5c6h7c2hQd
In this case we no longer have a four-card open straight flush. Instead, we have:
- a four-card open straight (5c6h7c2h)
- a three-card inside straight flush (5c7c2h)
- a two-card royal flush (2hQd)
- a lone wild card (2h).

The returns are:
- Holding the four-card open straight returns 5.000 credits.
- Holding the three-card inside straight flush returns 5.2128 credits.
- Holding the two card royal flush returns 4.5430 credits.
- Holding the lone wild card returns 5.0146 credits.

The three-card inside straight flush is the best hold for this hand.

Now, let’s slightly change the hand one more time by making the 5c a 5h, and making the 6h a 6c. The modified hand is:

5h6c7c2hQd
This hand now contains:
- a four-card open straight (5h6c7c2h)
- a three-card open straight flush (6c7c2h)
- a two-card royal flush (2hQd)
- a lone wild card (2h).

Does this change matter?

The returns are:
- Holding the four-card open straight still returns 5.000 credits.
- Holding the two-card royal flush still returns 4.5430 credits.
- Holding the lone wild card returns 5.0154 credits.
- However, holding the three-card open straight flush now returns 5.6938 credits, making it the preferred hold.

Let’s look at one final hand for NSUD.

4d5d6c8dQh
This hand contains only two viable holds:
- a four-card inside straight (4d5d6c8d)
- a three-card inside straight flush (4d5d8d)

The returns are:
- the four-card inside straight returns 1.7021 credits.
- The three-card inside straight flush returns 2.0629 credits.

Holding the three-card inside straight flush is the proper hold.

Is that the way you would have played these hands?

As always, may all your wins be swift and large, and your losses be slow and tiny.

Jerry “Stickman”
Jerry “Stickman” is an expert in craps, blackjack and video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines and 888casino.com. He authored the video poker section of Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Pai Gow Poker! You can contact Jerry “Stickman” at stickmanjerryg@gmail.com