Full House Versus 4 of a Kind

[cardinalfreak93]

Hey all!

I've been faced with an interesting situation several times when I play video poker at a casino. When being dealt a full house on normal poker, how many of you take the full house and how many keep the three of a kind to go for a 4 of a kind? I have decided that if a dealt full house includes 3 aces, I'll go for the 4 aces. But that's the only time I don't keep the full house. What do you all do??

[alpax]

Welcome cardinalfreak93 and a good question, but it is more of an open one since you will hear it all the time that it depends on the game as well as its paytable.

Obviously I am guessing you are normally playing Double Double Bonus. Always break a full house and go for the quad when it is aces full (a.k.a trip aces with a pair). Hold onto all other full houses, even the 2s, 3s, 4s.

For Bonus Poker, you keep the dealt full house except for when full house pays 6 for 1 (you should avoid this paytable at Caesars Vegas properties), you hold the aces full and go for quad.

Also there are games where quads pay 120 for 1. For those games if a full house pays 8 for 1, you go for the quads.

White Hot Aces: 4 2s, 3s, 4s pay 120 for 1
Triple Bonus Plus: 4 2s, 3s, 4s pay 120 for 1
Super Double Bonus: 4 Jacks, Queens, and Kings pays 120 for 1

Any quad that pays 160 for 1, you almost toss the full house every time to go for the quad.

[BobDancer]

           Alpax is generally correct. The correct play is mathematically determinable and not "how you feel" about it. There are some exceptions to the numbers he cites. It's not only the value of the quads that count, but also the value of trips and full houses.           in Super Double Bonus, if FH pays 9 for 1, hold all five cards from KKK33, etc.           in Triple Double Bonus, with a hand like 33322, the correct play is to hold four cards, not three or five.           in Quick Quads, depending on the game variety, there are a number of combinations where you break a FH and hold four cards, such as 4443 or 444A but not 4442. (Actually, 4442 is eligible to be held, but if you're dealt 44422 you hold all five cards because that's a Quick Quad).           there are some deuces wild variations where you hold 222KK but only the deuces from 22255. Other variations you hold all five cards twice --- or three cards twice. These are not full houses, of course, but 5-of-a-kinds. Still, they LOOK LIKE full houses, sort of.

[daily_double]

The 6/5 version of Super Double Double Bonus also has numerous full houses that should be broken. Making the same breaks in the 7/5 or 8/5 versions of the game would be costly mistakes