double double 2,3 and 4s keep??

[ricosmama]

If I pull 2 pair with two of the cards being 2s, 3s or 4s, should I just keep the 2s, 3s or 4s and not even try for the full house since the payout for 4 of a kind on these is so much better (especially with the kicker)? 

[tontonwink@comcast.n]

IMO, keep the two pair. I suggest getting Dancer's Video Poker pro and check it out. Busting up two pair is seldom a good idea except in full pay deuces wild. Specifically (I just looked it up), keeping both pairs gives an EV of 8.298 and keeping either pair gives an EV of 4.0148. I suggest buying the program and using it to practice if you are at all serious about Video Poker.cheers,tontonwink

[MikeA]

IMO, keep the two pair. I suggest getting Dancer's Video Poker pro and check it out. Busting up two pair is seldom a good idea except in full pay deuces wild. Specifically (I just looked it up), keeping both pairs gives an EV of 8.298 and keeping either pair gives an EV of 4.0148. I suggest buying the program and using it to practice if you are at all serious about Video Poker.cheers,tontonwink
Tontonwinkic is correct on both counts...the correct play and the advice to get one of the reputable analysis programs (Winpoker, VPoker or Video Poker for Winners.  It amazes me how many people go to casinos and play video poker and yet have no idea what a pay table even is or whether the one they are looking at is indicating a good or bad game!  I'm not insinuating that this describes YOU, only that I run into this type VP player every time I go to a casino.  Compared to what making incorrect plays when so much information is available will cost you, one loss on trip will far more than pay for the analysis program.  It isn't even a close call with two pair.  It gets closer with DDB when dealt a full house with 3 aces and a small pair or 3 Aces with two low cards unpaired.  In that case, you might be tempted to either hold the full house, throw away the low pair and draw two to the quad or maybe even holding one of the low cards as a kicker.The correct play in that case (AAA22) is to hold AAA (ER=61.36) versus AAA22 (ER=45.0) versus AAA2 (ER=58.51)It is about the same when dealt AAA23.  You still hold just the AAA.

[EDC1977]

It's a smart play to keep the 2pair and to get a VP trainer! Mikes also 100% correct on the trip A's except he left out the part about a gambler might hold the trip A's with a kicker and the smart player will hold just the A's. Oh, once in 10,000 or so tries might yield you a winner but will all those trashed FH's be worth it? NO WAY! Trip A's first with Mikes example and 2pair with your example. Have Eduardo give you more exact mathematical details!

[marie meijer]

The best thing that happened to me during the contest was awak for 4000. I was dealt a full house with three aces and tossed the pair. I have had that same full house in casinos and unfortunately nothing great happened. I figure that was my one shot in this lifetime.

[MikeA]

The best thing that happened to me during the contest was awak for 4000. I was dealt a full house with three aces and tossed the pair. I have had that same full house in casinos and unfortunately nothing great happened. I figure that was my one shot in this lifetime.LOL......there is quite a difference in tournament strategy and cash play strategy!  I'd have to look it up for TDB (which was what most of us were playing in the QQ contest) on the Aces-Over Full house.  With the 4,000 bonus for AWAK it might be better to just hold the 3 Aces in that game.I thought that might be the case.  AAA has ER of 75.38.  AAA22 has 45.  AAA2 has 96.38.From that you can see that holding the trip aces WITH a kicker is far better than a pat full house.  But that's for Triple Double Bonus.  Not the same for DDB.But since I was going ONLY for quads, my hold on a AAA22 hand would be AA22 and that has an ER of only 7.55 <LOL>  My final totals bore out the math of that ER too!

[scorpio2]

heah mike a,see you in a lot of lottery,poker forums,blogs.i read somewhere if you're playing in a contest,one should always play optimum play
?

[MikeA]

heah mike a,see you in a lot of lottery,poker forums,blogs.i read somewhere if you're playing in a contest,one should always play optimum play
?You will get better scores playing optimum strategy, but in a contest, when you KNOW what the mark to beat is and nothing but a Royal or Quad Aces will push you over that mark, then it doesn't make a lot of sense to try for Straights and Flushes.It's that way in Blackjack Tournaments too.  When you get down to the end and you are dealt a hard 19 and have all your money pushed in because the only way you are going to either win or get into the money is to double up, you have no choice to double down on an almost sure losing hand no matter what the dealer has.  In the QQ contest, with 26,000 set as the mark that had to be beat, there were only a very few ways to hit it.  Either be dealt multiple Jackpot hands, or hit a lot of them on the draw.I didn't think my chances of doing either one were very good so I elected to try to top the highest number of QQs in one 200 hand round.  It just seemed more conceivable that that mark was more attainable than the highest total credit mark.But to do that, I had to hit a LOT of them and since total score was not my goal, I held every hand in such a way that a QQ was possible.  That meant throwing away high pairs and high cards...even Royal Flushes since they couldn't produce a QQ...but I never got a RF to throw away <LOL>Obviouslly when you have a very slim chance to hit a QQ, it takes some determination to throw away a pair of high counting cards in order to hole three cards that with the right two additional cards could produce a QQ.  But slim is better than none.  I came up empty 99.9% of the time, but usually, once every three or 4 roundw, I would hit one that I wouldn't have hit had I been playing correct scoring strategy.  Not good strategy, but, it gave me a little bit more chance of hitting QQs than just playing sensible strategy.It didn't pay off in the end, but I did get more than the average number of QQs per round.  I'm sure others got higher than the average too by playing straight strategy...I guess that's why it's called an "average" isn't it <LOL>

[scorpio2]

perhaps i was confusing a tournament with a contest?

[ricosmama]

Thank you for your help.  I'm going to Laughlin tommorrow and will be practicing up~~