Video Poker Forum

Here is a similar thread with some answers to the hold a single card with joker question:

https://www.videopoker.com/forum/viewto ... f=2&t=1728

I would still like to see the technical andwer as well. I know that holding the joker with say a 5 is sometimes the correct play, but if the cost is so minimal? Anyway, who knows. Might get me to change my mind on the single joker hold.

tech58 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 09, 2019 5:42 pm

When your own one-sided discipline has led to a 50% reduction in site activity since 08/05/19 you might want to do a little soul-searching!

Not having to sift through the long-winded repetitious posts that would likely comprise most of that 50% reduction is hardly a catastrophe.

Valid point OMT.

New2vp,

Thanks for the old post link. I don't play JW but did learn about AC JW.

De nada, Waiting. I thought that was preferable to weighing in on some of the more tangential directions that this thread was taking.

Generally, the short answer to why one makes any hold is that the expected value paid out is better than competing holds. However, it certainly helps to remember the correct hold if you have some intuition about that hold.

Joker games generally pay for 5 of a kind. In AC Joker Wild, it pays off handsomely. When you compare holding ONLY the joker vs. holding the joker with a single card that was dealt, ask yourself, "Would I rather have a Joker and an unknown card from the stock of remaining cards or would I be better off looking through the four dealt cards and picking the best one to accompany the joker?"

If you discard all four dealt cards, you can get one of the ranks that you discarded on your first drawn card. That happens 12 out of 47 times (26%). On those times, you canNOT get five of a kind. So certainly your chances at Five of a Kind are better when you hold a single card along with the Joker rather than leaving your fate to the 2nd card in your hand being some unknown undealt card from the stock.

And when picking which single card to hold, you want to pick one that gets you the best chances at combinations of a straight, a straight flush, a flush, and sometimes a wild royal flush.

It sometimes is a bit more difficult to pick which card is better in regards to straights and flushes, but it should be simple to remember that your chances at five of a kind are better when you hold one of the dealt cards along with the joker.

There are some exceptions when all the dealt cards are relatively lousy at making straights and flushes, but that is for another lesson.

Alright quit fighting, picking the joker....lol

olds442jetaway wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 10, 2019 7:21 am

I would still like to see the technical andwer as well. I know that holding the joker with say a 5 is sometimes the correct play, but if the cost is so minimal? Anyway, who knows. Might get me to change my mind on the single joker hold.

The closer the rank is to the middle of the deck (e.g. Joker-8) the more straights and straight flushes that can be made. With Joker-8 for example you can pick up: 456, 457, 467, 567, 569, 579, 679, 67T, 69T, 79T, 79J, 9TJ, 9TQ, 9JQ, TJQ

Vman96 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 30, 2019 7:26 pm

The closer the rank is to the middle of the deck (e.g. Joker-8) the more straights and straight flushes that can be made. With Joker-8 for example you can pick up: 456, 457, 467, 567, 569, 579, 679, 67T, 69T, 79T, 79J, 9TJ, 9TQ, 9JQ, TJQ

I'm sure you meant to add in 7TJ to above. If 15 Straight Flushes are good, 16 are better.

I only play JP while knocking of UX mults, and don't get very many plays, but I've yet to score anything higher than a 4 of a kind.