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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.

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Sep 25, 2007

Learning Better 9/6 Jacks or Better

A friend of mine is trying to learn 9/6 Jacks or Better. He has the strategy card and the Winner's Guide down pretty well, but he doesn't have the warm fuzzy feeling that he has the game mastered. He asked for help. I decided to give him a bunch of questions that tested his knowledge.

The "normal" kind of question in this situation would be to give him all five cards and ask him how to play the hands, such as do you play the hearts or the spades from Jh Th 5s 8s 9s? I decided to ask him questions in a slightly different format. Once he could get these questions down, he would have a much better understanding of the game. (Answer to question: Neither. Hold JT98)

I'm repeating the questions below, with the answers. The first five questions do not involve penalty cards while the latter five do. Penalty cards are easy in this game and anyone who is playing for "serious" money should consider learning them, but if you want to skip them, be my guest. They are not worth a lot of money. I believe, however, that players who have made the decision to ignore penalty cards will also miss some of the first five questions as well.

Q1: When is a 4-card flush preferred to a 3-card straight flush in the same hand?

Q2: When is a 4-card straight preferred to a 3-card straight flush in the same hand?

Q3: When is a 2-card royal flush preferred to a 3-card straight flush in the same hand?

Q4: When is a 4-card straight preferred to a pair in the same hand?

Q5: List all 4-card inside straights that are ever held in this game.

Q6: List every case where a 3-card straight flush (1 high card and 2 insides) is in the same hand as a 4-card inside straight with three high cards. (Hint: there are eight of these hands) On each of these eight hands, what is the preferred play?

Q7: When is a 4-card flush preferred to a 3-card royal flush in the same hand?

Q8: When would you hold only two cards only when you are dealt AKQJ and another card?

Q9: When do you prefer holding a king by itself over a suited king ten?

Q10: From the following list, tell when you always hold the high-card ten combination, when you always hold the two high cards, and when does it depend on something else? (The quote marks mean the cards are suited with each other.)

a. 'JT' with an offsuit A
b. 'JT' with an offsuit K
c. 'JT' with an offsuit Q
d. 'QT' with an offsuit A
e. 'QT' with an offsuit K
f. 'QT' with an offsuit J
g. 'KT' with an offsuit A
h. 'KT' with an offsuit Q
i. 'KT' with an offsuit J

I strongly suggest you work out the answers to these questions before you read the answers. While this is an easy game, I suspect less than one player in 20 can answer these questions completely and accurately. Are you good enough to do so?

A1: A 3-card straight flush is NEVER preferred to a 4-card flush in the same hand.
A2: A 3-card straight flush is NEVER preferred to a consecutive 4-card straight in the same hand (other than A234) and is ALWAYS preferred to a 4-card inside straight, except for the four cases listed in A6.
A3. A 3-card straight flush is ALWAYS preferred to a 2-card royal flush in the same suit. When the suits are different, a 2-card royal not including a ten is preferred to all 3-card straight flushes with no high cards and one inside, or with one high card and two insides --- all of which are preferred to a 2-card royal flush including a ten. All 2-card royal flushes including a ten are preferred to 3-card straight flushes with no high cards and two insides.
A4: You always prefer the pair except for the hand of KQJTT, where you prefer KQJT to TT.
A5: AKQJ, AKQT, AKJT, AQJT, and KQJ9.
A6: The eight hands are as follows:

AK'JT7' --- hold the straight flush
AQ'JT7' --- hold the straight flush
AK'QT8' --- hold the straight flush
KQ'J97' --- hold the straight flush
AJ'QT8' --- hold the inside straight
AQ'KT9' --- hold the inside straight
AJ'KT9' --- hold the inside straight
KJ'Q98' --- hold the inside straight
A7: The 3-card royal flush must contain both an ace and a ten. The unsuited card in the hand must be another ten or an unpaired K, Q, or J.
A8: One time you should hold two cards is when they are specifically a 'QJ' and the low card in the hand is neither suited with the 'QJ' and is in the range of 2-8. The other time you hold two cards is when the fifth card is another A, K, Q, or J and you hold the high pair.
A9: You hold the king over 'KT' when there is a 9 in the hand and a low card suited with the 'KT'
A10: You ALWAYS hold 'JT' over AJ.

You hold 'QT' over AQ and 'JT' over KJ only when there is no card suited with the high-card-ten.

In all other cases you hold the two unsuited high cards over the high-card-ten.

So how'd you do? Since this is such an easy game, these questions weren't very difficult, at least for serious players. For casual players they were hopeless hard.

For games other than 9/6 Jacks or Better, the list of questions would both be longer and more difficult. Some games (like 10/7 Double Bonus) have somewhat more difficult tests; some games (like 8/5 Bonus) have MUCH more difficult tests; and some games (like any Deuces Wild or Joker Wild variation) have enough exceptions to the rules that virtually nobody can play the game perfectly. We can, however, get very close. Depending on the reaction I get to this article, I may or may not decide to produce similar quizzes for other games. I have heard some people argue that 8/5 Bonus is an easier game to learn than 10/7 Double Bonus. That is only true if you're willing to accept "close," such as within 0.01%. If you insist on getting the games perfectly, 10/7 Double Bonus is much easier.

It is my belief that players who are serious about winning should study the games until they can ace tests like these. If you are not so serious, that's fine too, but games are getting harder to find and less advantageous so you need to find something to differentiate yourself from other players. I choose to do this by playing better. You may use a different technique.