VIDEO POKER

Examples of Jacks or Better General Principles

When I wrote the reports I was a relatively new player. The reports represented the limit of my video poker knowledge. Since then I've picked up regular writing gigs and have had to continue to study video poker in order to be able to come up with new things to write about. This is especially true for this column, which archives hundreds of older columns so I don't have an option of running a column that I ran 15 months ago and hope that nobody notices. For that reason, I know a LOT more about video poker than I did five years ago.

I decided early last year that it was time to rewrite the reports and I drew up drafts for the same games as before, plus "NSU Deuces Wild" and "Pick'em Poker." I showed the drafts to Liam W. Daily, my co-author on strategy cards, and asked him if he'd like to participate in the project. I expected him to make a few adjustments but basically leave the structure alone. I was wrong.

He decided (and convinced me) that the reports needed an entirely new structure. We decided on the name "Winner's Guides" for these new and improved reports. The new structure starts from General Principles, which are easier to remember than a pay table. What is a General Principle? Let me give you a few examples from "Jacks or Better":

• Prefer a 4-card flush, a low pair and a consecutive 4-card straight (except A234) to any 3-card straight flush, three unsuited high cards or any two high cards suited or not.

This one principle covers dozens of specific types of hands including such diverse hands as Kh Qs Jd 4s 4d (hold 44), Jh Th 9h 8c 4d (hold JT98) and Jc Tc 9c 5s 3c (hold JT93).

• Always extend 2-card royal flushes and single high cards into 3-card or 4-card straight flushes when possible.

This principle covers a lot of separate cases. It says, for example, that JT7 is always better than JT, as is JT8 and JT9. It also says that QJ8 is always better than QJ, as is QJ9. It also says that A45 is always better than a single A. These are several different cases, but the General Principle always holds.

In addition to the General Principles, we provide four different strategies, from Beginner to Advanced, which is exactly the same structure we use on our strategy cards. We provide hundreds of separate examples in the "Winner's Guides" and explain exactly which General Principle(s) and/or which strategy rule(s) applies and why.

Winning video poker starts with the mastery of the games. There's a lot more to it (slot clubs, promotions, living through the inevitable losing streaks, putting up with less-than-perfect working conditions) and I regularly address these subjects in this column, but winning players MUST find a way to get good at the games themselves. We suggest the "Winner's Guide" series is a good place to start.

So far, only "Volume 1: Jacks or Better" and "Volume 2: Double Bonus" are available at www.bobdancer.com, Huntington Press and both gambling bookstores in Las Vegas. We expect "Volume 3: Full Pay Deuces Wild" to be available by mid-March and "Volume 4: 16/10 NSU Deuces Wild" to be available by May.