Penalty Card resource

[Ferret80]

Is there somewhere that explains penalty cards in Video Poker, specifically Double Double Bonus and Triple Bonus Plus. For instance, sometimes its right to hold the KJ off suit over the A and sometimes its correct to hold the A over the KJ. I believe its similar with QJ off suit.

[New2vp]

Google "video poker hand analysis tools" and experiment with what you find there. You will find out that you also need to specify the pay schedule for the game in question. E.g., for DDB, most of the time you have QJ offsuit > A > KJ offsuit, not counting the penalty exceptions.

If the pay schedule pays 45 coins for a full house and 30 coins for a flush (called 9-6) and you are dealt QJA8x, the Ace is better unless the 5th card ("x") is 2 thru 5 or if either the 8 or x (or both) is suited with the ace. If you are dealt QJA9x, the Ace is better unless the unless either the 9 or x (or both) is suited with the ace.

If instead a flush only pays 25 coins (9-5 DDB), holding the Ace is not as strong. Only the QJA9x hand indicates that the Ace should be held, unless x is 2 thru 4 of the 9 or x (or both) is suited with the ace.

Similarly, you will find that the "penalty" exceptions differ by pay schedule when looking for the rules between Ace and KJ.

Some people may ignore analyzing these situations and instead are satisfied to play suboptimally, I guess because they think expending the additional brain power isn't worth the extra expected value to them.

[dinghy]

Some people may ignore analyzing these situations and instead are satisfied to play suboptimally, I guess because they think expending the additional brain power isn't worth the extra expected value to them.

According to the Wizard's strategy maker, 9/6 DDB basic strategy is 98.9792%.

Perfect (including penalty cards) strategy is 98.9808%.

If you play $1,000,000 coin-in (equivalent of 250 hours on a dollar machine), your expected loss is:

$10,208 basic strategy

$10,192 perfect strategy

[treeson]

I really like bob dancers book about double double and it explains everything really well

[Jstark]

"Blockers", as used in live poker, is an easier term than "Penalty Cards".