Video Poker Quiz: Two-card Royal Flush, Four-card Inside Straight, or Three-Card Flush?

6 January 2024

By Jerry Stickman

This article contains a video poker strategy quiz. The game is full-pay (9/6 – 9-for-1 full house, 6-for-1 flush) jacks or better.

The quiz assumes the maximum five credits is played.

The maximum bet produces the highest long-term return because the royal flush pays 800-for-1 (4,000-for-5) rather than 250-for-1 when less than the maximum is bet.

Look at the dealt-hand below and decide which card or cards you would hold. Then read on to see if you are right.

Note: The statistics shown are from “Video Poker for Winners.”

These quizzes will be posted periodically and will feature hands that have hold choices that produce either very close results or are played wrong due to missing the obvious.

Here is today’s dealt hand: Ts, 4h, Kh, Ad, Jh.

10 of Spades – (Ts)
4 of hearts – (4h)
King if hearts – (Kh)
Ace of diamonds – (Ad)
Jack of hearts – (Jh)

Checking the possibilities.

Three obvious possible holds are:

Ts, Kh, Ad, Jh – (Four-card inside straight – three high cards)
4h, Kh, Jh – (Three-card flush)
Kh, Jh – (Two-card royal flush)

Choice 1 (Ts, Kh, Ad, Jh) – Out of 47 possible outcomes, this four-card inside straight with three high cards can produce four straights, and nine high pairs.

Choice 2 (4h, Kh, Jh) – Out of 1,081 possible outcomes, this three-card flush can produce 45 flushes, nine three-of-a-kinds, 27 hands with two pairs, and 237 high pairs.

Choice 3 (Kh, Jh) – Out of 16,215 possible outcomes this two-card royal flush can produce one royal flush, one straight flush, two four-of-a-kinds, 18 full houses, 118 flushes, 82 straights, 281 three-of-a-kinds, 711 hands with two pairs, and 4,914 high pairs.

Examining the returns from each hold.

Hold 1 (Ts, Kh, Ad, Jh) – returns 2.6596 credits on average for the 5 credits bet.

Hold 2 (4h, Kh, Jh) – returns 2.7197 credits on average for the 5 credits bet.

Hold 3 (Kh, Jh) – returns 2.8606 credits on average for the 5 credits bet.

We have a winner!

Hold 3 (Kh, Jh) is the proper hold – by a moderate margin. The possible royal flush, straight flush, four-of-a-kinds, and full houses make it the overall winner over the other two holds.

Did you play this hand correctly?

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

Jerry “Stickman”

Jerry “Stickman” is an expert in craps, blackjack, video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. 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