VIDEO POKER

A Puzzle From Double Down Stud

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of the game, in DDS you make your initial bet and receive four-out-of-five cards. When you see those cards, you get the choice of keeping your initial bet or doubling it. Then, whether you've doubled your bet or not, you receive the fifth card. You are paid if the five cards result in a paying hand and the game is over.

This is a stud game, which means no draw. The strategy is relatively simple, although not trivial. You double on paying hands, 4-card royals and straight flushes, and sometimes 4-card flushes and straights depending on the pay schedule and the number of high cards. In some versions of the game, even the KIND of high card is important because sometimes a pair of 6s through 10s gives you your money back and a pair of jacks or better returns double your money.

The DDS game I want to discuss today is Deuces Wild DDS. Unlike the draw version that requires 3-of-a-kind to be paid, this is a kings-or-better game. That is, you get your money back for a pair of kings or aces, even money for two pair, and double your money for 3-of-a-kind. The amount you receive for straights and higher varies depending on the pay schedule.

Letting a W stand for a wild card, i.e. a deuce, consider the hand W9TJ rainbow. By "rainbow" I mean the cards contain at least two suits so a flush or straight flush is out of the question. Assume that for a specific pay schedule, the return on a straight is high enough that it makes mathematical sense to double down on this hand. What that means is that, on average, this hand is a moneymaker so increasing your bet is a wise investment.

Now lets consider the hand WTJQ rainbow. Pay attention, 'cause here's the puzzle referred to in the title. The returns for W9TJ and WTJQ, both rainbow, are NOT THE SAME. Your job, should you decide to accept it, is to explain how this is possible. The easy part of the puzzle is to explain which combination is worth more. What makes this easy is a totally blind guess yields the correct answer half the time. The tougher part of the puzzle is the "why?" because a blind guess wonąt help you much here.

I encourage you to take the time and think this through. You definitely have enough information to be able to figure it out. Your understanding of video poker increases every time you struggle with these puzzlers. Don't worry about me. I'll be right here when you've thought about this all you are going to.

If you need a hint, Liam W. Daily (the co-author on my strategy cards and an upcoming series of "Winners Guides" that will be published later this year) coined the term "redundant high pairs" to describe a similar type of hand in Kings or Better Joker Wild. Does that help you any?

Time's up. Let's look at the answer. In both combination, any deuce yields a straight and any ace combines with the existing deuce to yield a high pair. With W9TJ, you have four 7s, four 8s, four Qs, and four Ks to yield a straight and with WTJQ you have four 8s, four 9s, four Ks, and four As to yield a straight. If this was all you got paid for, both combinations would have identical values.

But with W9TQ, you also get paid for a high pair when you draw one of the four As, because the WA combination gets you your money back. Why don't you also get this for WTJQ? Because if you draw an A, you get paid for a straight. This is one of the few games that a high pair and a straight can co-exist in the same hand, and you only get credit for one of them.

In summary, both combinations pay you for 3 deuces and sixteen cards to complete the straight. One of them has an additional 4 cards to yield a high pair. And that's what makes W9TJ more valuable than WTJQ. If this is too tough, the good news is that in all Deuces Wild DDS versions worth playing, you should double on ALL open-ended straights with a deuce, even if they aren't all worth the same amount .