Would You Play These Hands Correctly?

15 January 2022

By Jerry Stickman

Time for a little exercise in video poker strategy. Periodically, sample video poker hands will be presented to test your mastery of video poker strategy.

Today’s hands are for a full-pay (9/6 or 9-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush) Jacks or Better. They also assume that the maximum five credits are bet.

Hand number one: Kh Jh 9h Ac Tc

How would you play it?

This hand has the following possibilities:

Two cards of two different royal flushes (Ac Tc) and (Kh Jh).

Three cards of an inside straight flush with two gaps (Kh Jh 9h).

Four of an inside straight with three high cards (Kh Jh Ac Tc).

Returns are as follows:

Holding a suited ace/10 is never recommended. On average, this hold returns
2.20 credits for five played.

The suited king/jack is quite a bit better and returns an average of 2.83 credits per 5 credits wagered.

Holding the three cards of an inside straight (king / jack / nine of hearts) returns 3.13 credits for five credits bet, on average.

Finally holding the four cards of an inside straight that has three high cards (king, jack ace 10) returns only 2.66 credits on average.

Therefore, the correct play is to hold the king, jack and 9 of hearts.

Now for the second hand: Ah 7c Qs 4c 5c

This hand contains:

Two unsuited high cards (Ah and Qs),

A three-card inside straight flush with one gap (7c 4c 5c).

Here are the returns:

Two separate high cards:

On average, holding the lone ace (Ah) returns 2.31 credits from five credits bet.

Holding the lone queen (Qs) returns 2.35 credits on average. The higher return for the queen is because there are more ways to make straights and straight flushes with the queen.

Holding both of the high cards returns 2.39 credits on average.

As you probably (correctly) expected, holding the three-card inside straight flush (7c 4c 5c) is the best play. This hold returns 2.67 credits on average for the five credits wagered.
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Would you have played these hands properly?

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 and 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