Dream Card Deuces Wild Bonus Hold Strategy

[trumm]

Can someone please explain this to me like I'm 5 years old...

When playing Dream Card 10 play Deuces Wild Bonus video poker, when dealt 5D 3S 8C JH AH, why does the Pro training tutor tell you to hold the JH & AH when in another hand I was dealt 10H KS AS 6C 4H I was told the proper hold was to discard all cards for a fresh 5 card draw? I tried ChatGPT but it was useless.

Thank you!

[onemoretry]

My guess is that the 10H in the second hand is a straight penalty, reducing the value of the KS AS hold slightly, so that a complete redraw is a higher value option.

[trumm]

I guess I need to read up on this a lot more than I thought. Any suggestions? Thank you for the insight!

[atomic2025]

The Dream Card feature uses the exact same strategy as the base game, so nothing changes there. You didn’t mention which pay table you’re using, but one thing to note is that in Deuces Wild you occasionally hold suited A‑T. The EV gain from doing so is extremely small, which is why most strategy charts don’t explicitly include that play. It’s technically correct in a few fringe situations, but the cost of ignoring it is negligible.

[onemoretry]

I guess I need to read up on this a lot more than I thought. Any suggestions? Thank you for the insight!

There is a lot of information available on the Wizard of Odds website (wizardofodds.com). I do find, however, that while it often tells you "what", it doesn't usually tell you "why". Still, you can analyze hands and holds, print strategies, etc. It's definitely worth looking at.

Some of the older Bob Dancer publications are pretty good, as well.

[New2vp]

Here is a Bob Dancer column, speaking particularly about Deuces Wild strategy, that does provide some explanation:

https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gamblin ... -the-pack/

An interesting excerpt: "I don’t expect any recreational player to concern himself very much with these factors. Most professional players don’t either. But I do ..."

[onemoretry]

Here is a Bob Dancer column, speaking particularly about Deuces Wild strategy, that does provide some explanation:

Yikes - a "bit"more complicated than I thought!

[New2vp]

Yes OMT, as you noted, there is a difference in the two hands between the AJ hold and the AK hold, with the Ten reducing the value of the AK hold. You nailed the major difference between holding one and not the other.

But there is also, albeit much smaller, a difference between the value of drawing 5 new cards when discarding AJ*8*5*3 vs. that when discarding AK*T4*6. If anyone wants to understand every single optimal hold in this game, they have to delve into some minutiae. Most decide to avoid this level of detail.

Above, I used asterisks to divide the dealt hands into suits. There is even a difference in the values of drawing 5 new cards when discarding AK*T4*6 and a very similar hand with 4 suits instead of 3 suits, AK*T*4*6.