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Bob Dancer writes a video poker column for beginners to experts. He also writes a column with Jeffrey Compton, "Player's Edge", featuring information on promotions at various Las Vegas casinos. Player's Edge is published each Friday in the Neon section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click here to send Bob Dancer an e-mail.

Sept. 2, 2003

General Principles Versus Strategy Rules in Pick'Em Poker

There are a variety of ways to present video poker strategies. The most common, I suppose, is to list the rules in order, where the top rule is some version of "if you're dealt a royal flush keep it" and the bottom rule is often "if none of the above discard all five cards", and there is some sort of implicit or explicit understanding that if rule 6 and rule 7 both discuss a given combination, then rule 6 is the one to follow.

This can be done in symbols (where RF5 might represent a 5-card royal flush) or in words (Keep all paying hands except break a dealt flush or a dealt straight for a 4-card royal flush). Although the strategies from different authors usually instruct you to play most five-card hands in an identical manner to the strategies of the other authors, each author creates his own symbols and underlying assumptions to present his strategies. I don't mind being politically correct and saying "his or her" own symbols, except that all of the strategy card authors I'm familiar with are male.

In the Dancer/Daily Winner's Guide series (and their very similar strategy cards, which cover an overlapping yet slightly different set of games) we do indeed follow the above format. Also included in the Winner's Guides are General Principles and these are quite a bit different.

For example, consider the principle in Pick'Em Poker, "Prefer a straight flush option to a flush option or a straight option." How is this different from a strategy rule? Let me show you by example. Consider the following three hands: Th 9h / 6h / Ah; 9c 7c / 5c / Kc; and 6d 4d / 2d / Qd.

If you were going to look up the heart straight flush on any strategy list (including ours), you'd need to compare a straight flush with 2 high cards and 2 gaps against a flush with 3 high cards. The strategy list will say to hold the straight flush. The club combination compares a straight flush with 1 high card and 2 gaps against a flush with two high cards, and the diamond combination compares a straight flush with no high cards and 2 gaps to a flush with 1 high card. In these cases as well, the strategy says to prefer the straight flush. Notice that one General Principle covered three different types of hands. Once you know the General Principle, you do not need to identify exactly how many high cards gaps are in a straight flush or flush. If one of the combinations has cards close enough to be in a straight flush, and the other one is a flush where the cards are NOT close enough to be in a straight flush, going for the straight flush is ALWAYS the preferred play.

The strategy list is SPECIFIC to particular hand types. Most General Principles are truths that cover MORE THAN ONE hand type. Players who learn both the strategy lists and the general principles usually find they can remember the strategies better because they have a better understanding of the overall structure of the game.

Below I list some of the features of Pick'Em Poker. Most players already know the easy part, but many aren't sure of the rules for the difficult part. If you play this game and cannot identify the exceptions alluded to in the last section, perhaps you need to consider investing in the Winner's Guide.

The easy part:

Royal options are ALWAYS more valuable than other non-paying options.

Straight flush options are ALWAYS more valuable than flush options or straight options.

Flush options are ALWAYS more valuable than high card options.

Low pairs are ALWAYS more valuable than straight options.

The not-too-difficult part:

Royal options with no ace are more valuable than high pairs, which are more valuable than any other non-paying option (including a royal option with an ace).

The difficult part:

Flush options are normally (but not always) more valuable than straight options.

Straight options are normally (but not always) more valuable than high card options.

Straight flush options are normally (but not always) more valuable than low pairs.

Low pairs are normally (but not always) more valuable than flush options.