VIDEO POKER

The Right General Principle

Liam W. Daily and I have used General Principles as a starting point to understanding video poker strategy in our Winner's Guide series. Using General Principles is a powerful way to go, but also fraught with the potential to make mistakes. Consider the following General Principle in 10/7 Double Bonus:

When a 4-card inside straight has two or three high cards, prefer the inside straight to the high cards except when all the high cards are of the same suit.

This principle gives the correct play for the following hands.

a. Qh Js Tc 8s 4h --- hold QJT8
b. Qh Jh Tc 8s 4h --- hold QJ
c. Qh Jh 9s Kd 5c --- hold QJ9K
d. Qh Jh 9s Kh 5c --- hold QJK

Having the principle as backup makes it intellectually easier to understand the ranking in the strategy chart:

STi 3 hi (We actually abbreviate this as AHHT, KQJT)
Two suited high cards
STi 2 hi
Two unsuited high cards

When the four strategy rules are listed this way, they aren't too difficult. The problem comes when the "two suited high cards" get broken down into three different categories, as do "two unsuited high cards" because whether suited or not, QJ is treated differently in this game than KQ or KJ, which in turn are treated differently than AK, AQ, and AJ.

When we expand the strategy to handle the different ways the various high card combinations are held, and add certain 3-card straight flush combinations into the mix, it is harder to keep it all straight. But having the general principle "cuts to the chase" and identifies the important items when we are considering whether to hold high cards or an inside straight.

We were happy with the general principle until we came across the following hand:

e. Ah Qs Js 9d 8c --- QJ is the correct play

Does the general principle handle this correctly or not? The question comes down to how you treat the following phrase: "all the high cards are of the same suit." We MEANT the high cards included in the inside straight, so since the Q and J are both spades, the principle should apply. But the ace is also a high card, and it's not a spade. Although Daily and I both knew that the suit of the ace was irrelevant (because we checked it out on WinPoker), it would be easy for somebody to misapply the principle. So we added the words "in the inside straight" and now the principle reads " When a 4-card inside straight has two or three high cards, prefer the inside straight to the high cards except when all the high cards in the inside straight are of the same suit." We now think the principle is perfectly accurate.

Another general principle for the same game was: Prefer a consecutive 3-card straight flush to two suited high cards, to any combination of unsuited high cards, or to any inside straight. This general principle correctly handled such hands as:

f. Qh Jh 5s 6s 7s --- hold 567 over QJ
g. Jh Th 9h Kd Ad --- hold JT9 over AKJT
h. Ts 9s 8s Kd Qd --- hold T98 over KQ or KQT9

A useful principle, and it covers many hands that are confusing to some players, until you consider the suited combinations 234 and A23. These 3-card straight flushes have insides because there are not two spaces above and below to extend them. But they are consecutive, so they have to be specifically excluded from the principle. We therefore have: Prefer a consecutive 3-card straight flush (except 234 and A23) to two suited high cards, to any combination of unsuited high cards, or to any inside straight.