DJ Wild

10 April 2023

By John Grochowski

In markets such as New Jersey, where online casinos are legal, table games with small niches get a fresh chance at a broader audience.

One that's currently getting online play is DJ Wild, a five-card stud poker-based game that has been around some larger live casinos since the mid 2010s.

DJ Wild uses a 53-card deck. A joker and the four 2s are wild. Two bets -- an ante and a blind -- are required. A Trips side bet is optional.

As in many poker-based games, the ante and a follow-up play bet are wagers your hand will beat the dealer. Blind and Trips are paid according to pay tables, but to win the blind, you must beat the dealer.

After your ante, blind and, if desired, Trips bets, players and the dealer each receive five cards.
After you've seen your cards, you must either make a play bet of twice your ante or fold. If your hand beats the dealer, the ante and play bets are paid at even money while the blind is paid according to the following pay table: Five wilds, 1000-1; royal flush 50-1; five of a kind, 10-1; straight flush 9-1; four of a kind 4-1; full house 3-1; flush 3-1; straight 1-1; three of a kind or less, push.

The house has an edge of 3.4 percent of the ante, or 1.73 percent of the ante-blind combination. The edge is due to the house collecting ante, play and blind bets if you lose, while you're paid only on ante and play if you win with less than a straight.

According to Michael Shackleford at wizardofodds.com, optimal strategy is to make the play bet with a pair of 4s or better. Exception: fold the hand if your pair of 4s is accompanied by a single 3 among your other cards.

The reason for the exception? The presence of a 3 in your hand decreases the possibility the dealer hand will be two 3s that would lose to your 4s.

Fold one-pair hands if the pairs are 2s or 3s, and fold any hands with no pairs or better.
If you fold, you lose the ante and blind bets, but won't risk the larger play bet.

The Trips side bet has four known pay tables. It's up to the casino to decide which to offer. All are divided into payoffs for natural hands and payoffs for hands with wild cards.

The best pay table for players, and the rarest, looks like this. Natural hands: Royal flush 1,000-1; straight flush 200-1; four of a kind 90-1; full house 40-1; flush 25-1; straight 20-1; three of a kind 7-1. Wild hands: Five wilds 2,000-1; royal flush or five of a kind 100-1; straight flush 30-1; four of a kind 6-1; full house 5-1; flush 4-1; straight 3-1, three of a kind 1-1.
The house edge is low at 0.48 percent.

The highest house edge pay table, at 6.05 percent, drops natural hand payoffs to 60-1 on four of a kind, 30-1 on a full house and 6-1 on three of a kind. Wild hand pays drop to 90-1 on royals, 70-1 on five of a kind, and 25-1 on straight flushes.

There also are 1.06-percent and 3.06 percent tables that are the same as the best version on wild hands. The major natural hand difference is a drop to 6-1 on three of a kind. The second-best version makes up for part of that drop by raising natural flushes to 30-1.

I'd take a pass on the worst of the Trips options and would be wary of the third best. Let the buyer beware.