Having analyzed hundreds of thousands of hands, our program has collected a lot of valuable information. As our program continues to collect data, we see some mistakes being made more than others. Here are the most common mistakes being made in the typical Jacks or Better game (with the 9/6 payout table).
First of all, you have to play for max coins, in our case this is 5. If you’re not doing that, then you are not playing the ideal strategy and allowing yourself the best possible payouts.
Most Common Video Poker Mistakes with Jacks or Better
1. Throwing away 4 to a royal flush.
Dealt: A
, K, Q
, J, T
Correct Hold: A, K, J, T
Wrong Hold: A, K, Q, J, T
Some people keep the ace high straight instead of discarding the Q and going for the royal flush.
This is a huge mistake!
You have to get rid of that Q and go for the royal flush!
2. Throwing away 3 to a royal flush.
It is almost impossible to have a better draw than 3 to a royal flush. It is better than 4 to a flush, 4 to a straight or 3 to an open ended straight flush. The only draw that beats it is 4 to a straight flush and that comes up very rarely. Made hands are a different story, high pairs and up have this draw beat.
Dealt: A, J, T, 9, 2
Hold: A, J, T
Wrong Hold 1: A, J, T, 9
Wrong Hold 2: J, T, 9
Dealt: A, K, Q, T, 4
Hold: K, Q, T
Wrong Hold 1: A, K, Q
Wrong Hold 2: A, K, Q, T
Exception (high pair):
Dealt: A, K, T, A, 2
Hold: A, A
Wrong Hold: A, K, T
Exception (4 to a straight flush):
Dealt: Q, J, T, 9, 7
Hold: Q, J, T, 9
Wrong Hold: Q, J, T
3. Overplaying 2 to a royal flush.
There is a big difference between 3 to a royal flush and 2 to a royal. By the time we get down to 2 to a royal, marginal hands like low pairs and 4 to an outside straight have this beat. Also, when you have suited TA it is best to break it up and just keep the A.
Dealt: J, T, 7, 7, 6
Hold: 7, 7
Wrong Hold: J, T
Dealt: Q, J, T, 9, 4
Hold: Q, J, T, 9
Wrong Hold: Q, J
4. Misplaying 4 unsuited broadway cards.
T,J,Q,K is a powerful hand. It loses to high pairs but it beats low pairs and two suited high cards.
The other broadway hands are weaker. They usually lose to two suited high cards (not always) but they do beat two unsuited high along with suited TJ, TQ and TK.
Dealt: T, J, Q, K, J
Hold: J, J
Wrong Hold: T, J, Q, K
Dealt: T, J, Q, K, T
Hold: T, J, Q, K
Wrong Hold: T, T
Example of four broadway beating two high suited:
Dealt: J, Q, K, A, 4
Hold: J, Q, K, A
Wrong Hold: K, A
Example of two high suited beating four broadway:
Dealt: T, J, Q, A, 2
Hold: J, Q
Wrong Hold: T, J, Q, A
Dealt: T, J, K, A, 2
Hold: T, J, K, A
Wrong Holds: T, J and J, K
5. Forgetting that low pairs are worse than 4 to a flush but better than 4 to an open ended straight (T,J,Q,K straight draw is an exception).
Dealt: 2, 5, 6, 9, 9
Hold: 2, 5, 6, 9
Wrong Hold: 9, 9
Dealt: Q, J, T, 9, 9
Hold: 9, 9
Wrong Hold: Q, J, T, 9
Exception (high straight draw where 3/4 cards are job):
Dealt: K, Q, J, T, T
Hold: K, Q, J, T
Wrong Hold: T, T
6. Misplaying 3 to a straight flush.
This type of hand is very tricky! If we have something like 2, 5, 6 suited then we can only make a straight flush one way because we must get the 3, 4 of the same suit. Something like 3, 4, 6 suited is stronger because we can make the straight flush 2 ways (2, 5 suited or 5, 7 suited). Something like 9, T, J suited is stronger still because we can make the straight flush 3 ways (7, 8 suited, 8, Q suited or Q, K suited) and 1 of our cards is high. As such, it is hard to generalize the value of 3 to a straight flush because there are so many factors.
Don’t think about all 3 card straight flushes as being equal. Categorize them into 1 way, 2 way and 3 way possibilities. Obviously the 3 way draws are much stronger than the 1 way draws.
1 way draw:
Sometimes just one high card is better than 3 to a straight flush:
Dealt: 2, 3, 6, 7, A
Hold: A
Wrong Hold: 6, 3, 2
3 way draw:
Sometimes 3 to a straight flush beats 2 high cards to a royal:
Dealt: 7, 6, 5, Q, J
Hold: 7, 6, 5
Wrong Hold: Q, J
As you can see, 3 to a straight flush is all over the map. Good luck making decisions with this hand, you’ll need it!
7. Making the wrong choice with 3 high rainbow cards.
You want to get down to 2 high cards by dumping the ace. If you have no ace then keep all 3 high cards.
Dealt: A, Q, J, 7, 2
Hold: Q, J
Wrong Hold: A, Q, J
Dealt: A, K, J, 7, 2
Hold: K, J
Wrong Hold: A, K, J
Dealt: A, K, Q, 7, 2
Hold: K, Q
Wrong Hold: A, K, Q
Dealt: K, Q, J, 7, 2
Hold: K, Q, J
Wrong Hold: Q, J
8. Making the wrong choice with two unsuited high cards vs suited TJ, TQ or TK.
Typically two unsuited high cards win but we have some exceptions here:
Dealt: T, J, A, 6, 2
Hold: T, J
Wrong Hold: J, A
Dealt: T, J, K, 6, 2
Hold: T, J
Wrong Hold: J, K
Dealt: T, Q, A, 6, 2
Hold: T, Q
Wrong Hold: Q, A
These examples are from max coins on 9/6 Jacks or Better but the same types of mistakes are made in other games.
Very informative , gave me new insight on learning how to play hands , versus wizard of odds, chart heirachy. (which I refer to often!)
your advice matches his, but it puts it in different form ! Lets my brain review and analyze the hands and how to play them in a different perspective.
Helped me much.
What are “rainbow cards” and “broadway cards”?
The term ‘job’ as used here: ‘Exception (high straight draw where 3/4 cards are job)’ means what exactly?
I really enjoyed this article and will put to use. Thank you so much!
1) Rainbow Cards are cards that are not of the same suit. In other words, Ace of clubs, King of spades, Jack of diamonds, etc.
2) Broadway Cards are cards that have a value of Jacks or higher. This means any Ace, King, Queen, or Jack.
3) JOB stands for Jacks or Better. The quote you mentioned means a straight draw where 3 of the 4 cards have a value of Jacks or higher (which would be TJQK.)
Glad you enjoyed the article!