A BIRD IN THE HAND

Sometimes it Pays to Discard a Winning Hand in Video Poker

By Henry Tamburin

This is a true story that happened to my father-in-law, Pete. I’ve written about him before and his love of video poker. At age 90 he is in fact one tough player. Quarter jacks-or-better is his game and he learned how to play correctly by practicing on video poker training software on my computer (he practices often). He also always brings a strategy card with him when he plays just in case.

Peter and my mother in law Helen visited us in Las Vegas. Knowing that he loves his jacks-or-better, I took him to a local casino that offers the highest paying jacks-or-better pay schedule (so called 9/6 jacks-or-better, where the full house pays 9 coins and the flush 6 coins per coin played). But as luck would have it, Pete wasn’t doing well the first week he played. He had already endured a half dozen losing session and he wasn’t happy about it. It wasn’t because he wasn’t playing accurately; he just wasn’t getting the cards. And this short-term blip in his bankroll is normal for the game albeit it can be frustating. Then it happened.

One evening out of the blue Pete asked me about a hand that he had played earlier in the day that bothered him. He was dealt the 6, 10, jack, king and ace in clubs, meaning he was dealt a winning five-card flush that paid 30 coins. He also realized at the last second that he also had a four-card royal in the same hand, but because he had been on such a prolonged, week-long losing streak, he decided to take the sure paying flush. Keeping that tempting paying flush, however, was a mistake and he should have thrown the 6 of clubs away and drew to the four-card royal. Even though the four-card flush paid 30 coins the expected value for drawing to a four-card royal is almost 92 coins meaning holding the four-card royal is by far the more profitable play to make in the long run than holding the sure 30-coin paying flush. Pete knew better and, of course, after he reviewed his strategy card he realized what a big mistake he made. The strategy card clearly states "break a FLUSH or STRAIGHT for a four-card royal flush," so he should have discarded the 6 of clubs and draw one card. He was beside himself that he forgot such a critical play and made the wrong play. I told him to forget about, the hand is history, just learn from your mistake and never keep a paying flush (or straight) if you also have a four-card royal flush in the same hand.

Fast forward two days. I went to watch some friends play in a Blackjack Tournament and Pete came along. He quickly got antsy and wanted to play some video poker. Fortunately, I found a 9/6 jacks-or-better machine in the sports bar, so after getting him settled, I left him to play video poker while I went to watch the blackjack tournament.

A short while later I saw him out of the corner of my eye sitting next to a slot machine. I couldn’t imagine why he was there and not playing video poker so I approached him to find out if there was a problem. He was all smiles when he pulled his TITO ticket out of his pocket and flashed it front of me ...it was for slightly more than a grand. I said, "Don’t tell me you hit the royal?" His response was, "Yep, and you wouldn’t believe what happened? " I couldn’t imagine what he was referring to until he starting to explain.

It turned he was dealt ... would you believe ... the same hand he got a few days earlier except in spades. It was a 6 of spades and also the 10, jack, king and ace of spades. This time, however, he discarded the 6 and the sure paying 30 coin flush and instead held the four-card royal. He needed to draw a queen of spades, a one in 47 shot, and he nearly died when it popped up on the screen for a $1,000 royal flush.

The moral of this story is that when you play video poker a bird in the hand is not always worth more than two in the bush. You agree, Pete?

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Henry Tamburin is the editor of Blackjack Insider Newsletter (www.bjinsider.com), Lead Instructor for the Golden Touch Blackjack Course (www.goldentouchblackjack.com), and host of www.smartgaming.com. For a FREE three-month subscription to his blackjack newsletter, go to www.bjinsider.com/free. To receive his FREE Casino Gambling Catalog, call 1-888-353-3234 or visit www.smartgaming.com.