Two High Card of Different Suits in Video Poker

23 October 2022

By John Grochowski

Imagine you're playing video poker and the deal brings two high cards of different suits. Do you pick one to hold or hold both?

The decisions are among the most frequent players have to make. The answer usually is to hold multiple high cards, though there are some strategy differences between games and pay tables.

That would have surprised a video-poker playing acquaintance I met early in my career.

"If I'm dealt a Jack of clubs and King of hearts, I pick just one to hold," he said as a veteran explaining what to him was obvious. "If I hold both, I can't draw a royal flush."

Turns out, his strategy was costing him money.

Let's do a strategy check on multi-high card hands, using the popular 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker.

• TWO HIGH CARDS: Let's start with King of hearts, Jack of clubs, 9 of diamonds, 6 of spades and 3 of hearts, incorporating the hand my old acquaintance described.

If you hold either the Jack or the King and discard the other four cards, there are 178,365 possible draws. Only one brings a royal flush. You'll finish with a high pair on 43,389 draws, or 24.3 percent of hands.

Jacks can be included in more straights than Kings, and holding the King means discarding the 3 of hearts, which limits flushes. With that in mind, winners are 32.2 percent of draws if you hold the King, but a bit more at 32.5 percent if you hold the Jack.

If you hold King-Jack, there's no royal among 16,215 possible draws, but 31.1 percent bring high pairs. Including other winners, 37.6 percent are paying hands.

Much more frequent small winners outweigh the scant chance at a royal, so average returns with five coins wagered are 2.25 coins if you hold King-Jack, 2.15 if you hold just the Jack and 2.08 with the King.

Numbers vary with other high cards, but the strategy remains the same. Hold both Queen-Jack or King-Queen instead of just one high card.

In most games, that applies when one of the high cards is an Ace. Double Double Bonus requires a strategy switch because of its 2,000-coin jackpot on four Aces with a 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth card. If you had Ace-Jack instead of King-Jack, average payouts would be 2.22 coins on Ace-Jack, but higher at 2.29 when holding the Ace alone.

• THREE HIGH CARDS: Assume the deal brings King of hearts, Queen of spades, Jack of hearts, 8 of diamonds and 4 of diamonds.

In 9-6 Double Double Bonus, the average return per five coins wagered is 2.45 coins if you hold King-Queen-Jack. One-card holds bring lower returns, with 2.08 on the Jack, 2.06 on the Queen or 2.04 on the King.

When Aces are involved, Double Double Bonus is complicated. With Ace-Queen-Jack unsuited, the best play is to hold Queen-Jack and discard the Ace to maximize straight possibilities. Average return of 2.27 on Queen-Jack nudges the next best play, 2.26 on the lone Ace.

But with Ace-King-Queen or Ace-King-Jack, the best play is holding the Ace by itself. Average returns are 2.26 when holding the Ace vs. 2.21 either King-Queen or King-Jack.

Other games aren't as rewarding to lone Aces. In 9-6 Jacks or Better, dealt unsuited Ace-King-Queen, Ace-King-Jack or Ace-Queen-Jack, the best play is to discard the Ace and hold King-Queen, King-Jack or Queen-Jack.

But it takes supersized four-Ace bonus to make single high card the best play. Most of the time when there are no pairs and flush or straight possibilities are not in play, holding multiple high cards is the way to go.