One word that assures a
happy marriage
6 April 2007
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark: I'm hoping you can settle an on going
discussion (argument) my wife and I have. When
playing a video poker machine that pays even
money for both a high pair and any two pair, she
will keep both pair and draw one card. Her
reasoning is she is looking to draw a full
house. I maintain that if at least one pair is
high, you should keep only one high pair and
draw three cards increasing your chances of
catching three of a kind or possibly an even
better hand. You already got your money back and
a three-card draw gives you a better chance of
improving your hand than a one-card full house
draw. Of course, we will both keep two low pair
or any two pair when playing a machine that pays
2:1 for two pair. We have nothing riding on this
except a smug "I told you so!" and a strategy
change for one of us. Ron E.
Unfortunately, Ron, your question is missing
some imperative meat-and-potato information, in
particular, the rest of the pay table. So the
answer is shall we say "circumspect." I know how
painful it is to have this one word whispered
into one's ear.
Astute video poker players understand the
difference between full-pay and partial-pay
machines. The full-payers shell out the maximum
for each winning hand; the partials don't. For
instance, if you can find a full-pay Jacks or
Better machine that pays 9 coins for a full
house, 6 for a flush, and 2 for two pair, you
can expect a return rate of approximately 99.5%,
making it an attractive machine to be playing.
In your example, Ron, the machine may return
9-for-1 on a Full House, and 6-for-1 for a
Flush, but it probably is considered a
partial-pay machine because the
full-versus-partial equation usually changes
when the machine pays only 1-for-1 for two
pairs. Odds-on, your pay table was that of some
kind of hybrid Bonus Poker machine.
If the pay table on the machine you were playing
looks anything like this, Royal flush 250-for-1;
Straight Flush 50-for-1; four Aces 80-for-1;
four 2s, 3s or 4s 40-for-1; four 5s through
Kings 25-for-1; Full House 9-for-1; Flush
6-for-1; Straight 4-for-1; Three-of-a-Kind
3-for-1; two Pair 1-for-1; pair of Jacks or
Better 1-for-1, you could be giving the house an
extra five-plus percent on your play. Reducing
the return on two-pair hands penalizes the
player, even with the increased payoffs on
Four-of-a Kinds.
Again, Ron, without knowing the complete pay
table, I cannot give you an unequivocal answer,
but I'll still take a shot at settling your
squabble, that being drawing either three cards
or one when paid even money with two pairs,
using one of my all-time favorite machines, an
All American 8/8 Jacks or Better Draw Poker as
an example.
The lower end of the pay table looks like this:
Four of a kind 40-for-1; Full House 8-for-1;
Flush 8-for-1; Straight 8-for-1; Three-of-a-Kind
3-for-1; two pair 1-for-1; pair of Jacks or
Better 1-for-1. Find this beauty and you can
expect a return of 100.7% payback.
The correct strategy based on the average value
of all attainable wins after the discards are
replaced for two pairs would be, drawing just
one card with this exception: three cards to a
royal. That scenario would be a pair of Jacks
with a Jack of spades, a pair of 10's with a 10
of spades, and a Queen of spades kicker. You
would keep the 10, Jack and Queen of spades and
throw away the other 10 and Jack.
Of course there is a darn good chance you won't
find this doozy at the casino you play at, so
I'd recommend you look for and start playing
Full Pay 9/6 machines where you are paid 2-for-1
for two pair, and pooh-pooh any machine whose
paytable remotely resembles the one I first
described above.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Lady Luck favors
the backbone, not the wishbone." Doyle Brunson
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