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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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Dec. 25, 2007

Why Kings or Better Joker Wild strategy is so strange

Every game has its strategy idiosyncrasies, but KBJW has more than its share. The primary reason for this is a feature described by Liam W. Daily as "redundant high pairs." What this means is that you also have a high pair and a straight, or a high pair and a flush, or a high pair and a straight flush in the same five cards. When this happens, you get paid for the higher-paying combination only.

For this to happen, you need the following two features:
a. One or more wild cards in the game.
b. High pairs in the game --- where "high pairs" are defined to be pairs where you get your money back.

Deuces Wild games, for example, definitely meet the wild card requirement, but do not meet the high pair requirement. In Deuces Wild games you need 3-of-a-kinds to get your money back, so a pair of aces and a pair of fives have exactly the same value.

While redundant high pairs affect the strategy of every KBJW game, I'm limiting my discussion to the 20-7-5 version with a 4,000-coin royal.

One of the necessary concepts to discuss in this area is "mid-range." A mid-range straight flush combination is one that contains one or more of the following cards: 6, 7, 8. Any 2-card, 3-card, or 4-card straight flush that contains such card(s) is more valuable than the otherwise-similar straight flush that doesn't contain such a card.

For example, for the 5-coin dollar player, W'56' is worth 13.3¢ more than W'45'. The reason for this is that W'45' can end up as a straight containing an ace (namely as W453A and W452A), and when that happens you get paid for the straight, but not the high pair. W'56' cannot become a straight containing an A or K, so every time one of these high cards ends up in the hand, you get paid for the high pair.

The following list includes the types of hands affected by redundant high pairs. In some cases, the exact strategy rule will require a longer explanation than is present today.

Hands including a Joker

J1: Mid-range straight flushes --- mid-range 3-card straight flushes with an inside with neither straight penalty nor flush penalty are superior to WA and WK. Non-mid-range 3-card straight flushes with an inside are not. That is, from W'8T'A2, hold W'8T', but from W'9J'A2, hold WA.
J2: Choice between 3-card straight flushes with equal insides --- There are a number of cases where you need to choose between two separate 3-card straight flushes with an equal number of insides. Examples are W'45' "89" (where there are no insides), W'35' "8T" (where there is one inside) or W'25' "8J" (where there are two insides.) In every case, choosing the one that includes one or more mid-range cards is 13.3¢ superior than the one without a mid-range card. It is possible that both 3-card straight flushes are in the same suit, such as W '69Q' 2. Here W '69' is superior to W '69Q' by 6.2¢ and W '9Q' by 13.3¢.
J3: 4-card straights --- You NEVER hold WTJQ in this game, and the value of W9TJ and W345 is less than the mid-range straights W456-W89T.
J4: Joker mid-cards --- Assuming equal flush and straight penalties, {W6, W7, W8} > WT > {W5, W9}. If we were just considering redundant high pairs, then WT would be at the bottom of this list, but since WT is the only combination in this group that can become a joker royal, which pays twice as much as a joker straight flush, that moves it up a bit.

Hands not including a joker
NJ1: Low pair versus perfect 3-card straight flushes --- Generally speaking, perfect 3-card straight flushes (i.e. '345'-'9TJ') with no straight penalty are superior to low pairs. The only exceptions to this come from the only two perfect straight flushes that are not in the mid-range --- namely '345' + K and '9TJ' + A.
NJ2: 2-card straight flushes --- Perfect 2-card straight flushes with neither straight penalty nor flush penalty are always eligible to be held. The mid-range ones, however, are also held when there is a straight penalty at the limit. The non-mid-range ones are not. That is, from '45'8JQ draw five new cards but from '56'9JQ, hold '56'.
Although no other author to my knowledge discusses redundant high pairs or even acknowledges the concept of mid-range cards in this game, it is impossible to play KBJW well without taking these factors into consideration. Most other KBJW strategies, for example, tell you to hold WQJT in preference to a joker mid-card. This is bad advice, costing between 42¢ and 60¢. If you're playing this game and using one of these strategies, you're taking the worst of it.