Video Poker Forum

The only time I might hole a kicker is with 3OAK.  That said, the wife just about alwaysholds a kicker with a pair of 2,3,4 or Aces.On our last trip to Laughlin, we had an hour or so to klll before heading to the airport.We play .25 DDB.  No long after starting. she help a pair of aces and a 2.  She caught the other two aces and cashed out.  I was playing the same game on another machine.As she was watching over my shoulder, I held a pair of aces and discarded a kicker, anddrew the other 2 aces for 4OAK. I play fast so she didn't have time to tell me to hold the kicker,  but she did whack me upside the head for  losing $300!!!Ray

Just tell her she's probably lost a lot more than $300 by holding kickers with a pair. If you have a comfortable couch.

Don't let your wife convince you to play badly. Really you should be trying to convince her to play better. On a 9/6 DDB quarter machine she is lighting 40 cents on fire every time she does it on average. 40 cents!!! Aces with a low kicker probably comes up a lot too.

On DDB you are NEVER supposed to hold a kicker. On Triple Double Bonus, then you should hold a kicker with AAA-444

In "Go for quads IIb" I point out that for a pair of Aces with a kicker to be a better hold than Aces by themselves, quads with a kicker must pay off six times more than quads without. I don't recall seeing any games like that but if you know of any post their locations here please...

Ray, Are wife do rule its still making me laugh. Good story! Trust me I get mine. (lol) Sam

In "Go for quads IIb" I point out that for a pair of Aces with a kicker to be a better hold than Aces by themselves, quads with a kicker must pay off six times more than quads without. I don't recall seeing any games like that but if you know of any post their locations here please...

Well, this isn't referring to a pair of Aces, but "Triple Triple Bonus" on WMS "My Poker" machines offers the following.

Four 2,3,4s: 400
Four 2,3,4s w/2,3,4: 800
Four 2,3,4s w/an Ace: 4000

I would assume the correct play would be 22A, 33A, and 44A here. It's also possible that A2, A3, A4 would be correct but I definitely don't know that for sure.

Although it isn't covered by your formula, in Bonus Deuces Wild, holding 22A is superior than deuces only.

In Double Bonus Deuces Wild, even 2A is better than deuce only.

You're correct that in that game holding a pair of 2s, 3s or 4s with an Ace is better than the pair alone, mostly because the quads with a kicker pay off 10x more than the quads without. However it doesn't seem to be correct to hold just one "kicker" card and an Ace, or a low pair with a low kicker. In both those cases the correct play seems to be holding the Ace or low pair alone.

Both the Wizard of Odds and WinPoker 6 agree that Triple Triple Bonus is a little better than 96.5 percent expected value btw.

What pay schedule returns 96.5%? Thanks. Never mind. I saw that it is 7/5. Never saw this game though. (WMS I mean)

   What pay schedule returns 96.5%? Thanks. Never mind. I saw that it is 7/5. Never saw this game though. (WMS I mean)

Yeah, I was made aware of this game when I found the play money version of "Winning Streak Poker" (which is sadly buggy). It is on certain "My Poker" units. Not all casinos bother to offer Triple Triple Bonus. The play money site also offered it with a 10/6 paytable, which theoretically pays 100.8%. Offering 6 on a flush boosts payback a bit more (holding 3 to a flush is best sometimes, I'm sure). But the best I have seen in an actual casino so far though is 8/5 (97.55%).

Don't let your wife convince you to play badly. Really you should be trying to convince her to play better. On a 9/6 DDB quarter machine she is lighting 40 cents on fire every time she does it on average. 40 cents!!! Aces with a low kicker probably comes up a lot too.

On DDB you are NEVER supposed to hold a kicker. On Triple Double Bonus, then you should hold a kicker with AAA-444
  Oh, boys, boys, boys..don't you know by now that it is never the right thing to ignore what a wife says under any circumstances? I have been married 47 years, and it still has to be reminded to my husband that if he had listened to my "suggestions" in the first place, things would not go wrong. It is also a fact that we NEVER gamble any closer together than a half a room away. Women have intuition..men have math. Women also can harp on things for months..take your pick.