VIDEO POKER

Comparing the Strategy of NSU and Ugly Ducks Deuces Wild --- In Progress

The first question, I suppose, is why would you want to do this? After all, NSU returns 99.73% and Ugly Ducks returns 98.91%. No one in his or her right mind would choose the latter when the former was available. True enough, but in many parts of the country Ugly Ducks is the best game offered in a casino. I can easily conceive of a situation where the slot club and promotions would make playing this game interesting. Another reason is that this game is sometimes found with a progressive. A progressive will change "royal potential" hands, such as Ah Th 3s 4s 5s, but most hands in the game itself are not affected by the progressive. The size of the progressive doesn't affect, for example, how you play W 4d 6d 8d 8s (where W indicates a wild card --- namely a deuce.)

There are only two strategy changes that less-than-expert players need to know about. One is a 1-deuce 4-card straight flush with two insides compared to 3-of-a-kind. The change in games affects the 3-of-a-kind by about a half-cent for dollar players but affects the value of the straight flush draw by 11¢. In NSU, go for the straight flush and in Ugly Ducks, go for the 3-of-a-kind. That is, letting parentheses indicate suited cards, W (468) 8, hold W(468) in NSU and W88 in Ugly Ducks.

The other major change is in the value of no-deuce 3-card A-low straight flush combinations, which are reduced by 4.6¢ in value when you go from NSU to Ugly Ducks. In NSU, these hands are preferred to any 4-card inside straight not containing a 3 and any 2-card K-high royal flush. In Ugly Ducks, the A-low combinations are less valuable than either of these.

Another not-too-complicated change in strategy deals with no-deuce 3-card open-ended straight flush draws from 567 through 9TJ compared to a pair. In NSU, all of these SF3 combinations are better than any pair. In Ugly Ducks, we look at a specific kind of straight interference.

With (567) 95 in Ugly Ducks we hold (567) but with (567)85, we hold 55. Although both the 8 and the 9 affect the possibility of a 56789 straight equally, the 8 also affects the chances for a 45678 straight and a 9 doesn't. If both cards of the straight provide straight interference, whether adjacent or not, hold the pair. That is, from (678) TT hold the tens but with (678) JJ, hold (678).

Tied hands are rare and always interesting. In NSU, the tied hands are mainly limited to two different inside straights in the same hand --- like mostly unsuited 89TQK. In this hand it doesn't matter whether you hold 89TQ or 9TQK. In games where you get your money back for a pair of jacks or better, the latter inside straight would be better as you have extra high-pair chances, but in all forms of deuces wild, you need 3-of-a-kind to get your money back.

In Ugly Ducks there are several of these ties. One that comes to mind is WW (JT)T. It doesn't matter whether we go for the 4-of-a-kind or the 4-card royal. In NSU, we ALWAYS go for the 4-of-a-kind. This rule works well for Ugly Ducks too, since it doesn't matter which option we hold on the hand in question and for all the other RF4 combinations (which have fewer straight flush possibilities), holding the 4-of-a-kind is clearly superior.

All of the other changes between the games are "appendix level". What this means is that there are LOTS of exceptions to every rule and, for the most part, they don't amount to much money. Examples of these rules are when to hold W(45) and when to hold just the deuce, when to hold suited KQ, KJ, and KT combinations and when to draw five new cards, and when to hold a suited 67 through 9T when straight interference exists. Later this year, Liam W. Daily and I are planning to produce a series of Winner's Guides for several games, including NSU Deuces Wild (which will include Ugly Ducks) that will include such appendixes.