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Dancer's Answers We publish a brand-new video poker article from Bob Dancer every Thursday in this section. These columns are called "Dancer's Answers". Click on any of the links below for more Dancer's Answers: Bob Dancer Articles - Main Page Vicksburg Video Poker - May 8, 2008 Vicksburg, MS Video Poker - Part 2 - May 15, 2008 Vicksburg Casino Video Poker - Part 3 - May 22, 2008 Common Deuces Wild Mistakes – Juan or the Other – May 29, 2008 Figuring Out Quick Quads - June 5, 2008 Breaking Full Houses in Quick Quads - June 12, 2008 A Quick Quads Puzzler - June 19, 2008 Let's Go Scouting - June 26, 2008 When You're Not Sure of the Game - July 3, 2008 Can it be Right to Play Hunches - July 10, 2008 Good Hearted Woman in Love With a Good Timin’ Man - July 17, 2008 One-Way Versus Two-Way Straight Penalties - July 24, 2008 Effectual versus Ineffectual Straight Penalties - July 31, 2008 Unusual Dealt Royals - August 7, 2008 Learning from a Horse Handicapper - August 14, 2008 When Bad Is Good - August 21, 2008 I Live For These Moments - August 28, 2008 Las Vegas Do It Different - September 4, 2008 Figuring the worth when there are Multiple Progressives - September 11, 2008 Which is the Better Play? - September 18, 2008 How Much is Too Much? - September 25, 2008 Evaluating a Promotion - October 2, 2008 Sometimes the Jack, Sometimes Ace-Jack, Never the Ace by Itself - October 9, 2008 Why I Don't Play Poker - October 16, 2008 What is a Royal Flush Cycle? - October 23, 2008 A Logical Puzzler - October 30, 2008 Another Look at Changing Machines - November 6, 2008 Testing Matters - November 13, 2008 An Easy Yet Important Quick Quad Puzzler - November 20, 2008 Some Quick Quad Mathematics - November 27, 2008 Barona Improves its Video Poker - December 4, 2008 An Interesting Quick Quads Puzzle - December 11, 2008 Shirley Plays Suduku - December 18, 2008 How Often Does One Time in 360 Occur? - December 25, 2008 Earning a Free Cruise - January 1, 2008 Next Dancer's Answers column coming on January 8, 2009! |
A Logical PuzzlerToday's puzzle is from a game that few of you play, namely Deuces Bonus Multi Strike. The fact that you don't play it shouldn't matter. If you are knowledgeable about ANY version of Deuces Wild, you should be able to figure out the puzzle on logical grounds.
First the pay schedule:
Although I play this game at Green Valley Ranch for high stakes (on 5x and higher point days only), I don't recommend it for most players. The variance is sky high, and the median loss on the $2 game to play $250,000 a month to maintain Chairman status is around $10,000 - $15,000. (When you hit a big one, though, it all comes back --- if you can survive the swings.) Today's puzzler comes from Level 1 of this game --- in the "no deuces" section of the strategy. Usually in this game at this level, pairs are better than any 3-card royal flush. There are two exceptions to this. The puzzle for you, which I believe smart players will be able to figure out, is to figure out these two exceptions. Let me simplify it slightly. There are ten different 3-card royal flushes, namely 'AKQ', 'AKJ', 'AKT', 'AQJ', 'AQT', 'AJT', 'KQJ', 'KQT', 'KJT', 'QJT'. Excluding deuces, there are twelve different possible pairs, namely AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, 99, 88, 77, 66, 55, 44, and 33. When you mix-and-match each of the 3-card royal flushes with each of the pairs, usually the pairs come out as the better play. Except in two different cases. What are they? I suggest you quit reading now and go off and figure it out for yourself. I'll be right here when you get back. I don't mind waiting for you. Let's first look at the 3-card royal flushes. In terms of value, the ranking is:
The reason for this ranking is simply the number of straights and straight flushes possible. This ranking holds in ALL Deuces Wild games and should be common knowledge of competent players. Now let's look at the pairs. The ranking here is
This ranking is only valid in Deuces Bonus and Deuces Double Bonus games and the reason for the ranking is the amount you receive for 5-of-a-kinds. If you don't play one of these games you're not used to this ranking, but a quick glance at the pay schedule should have given you this information. While it doesn't HAVE to work out this way, if I were trying to figure out this puzzle I would take the highest-ranking 3-card royal flush, namely 'QJT', and check out what happens when I match it with the lowest-ranking pairs --- which is a group of eight combinations from 66 to KK. Since we know the correct answer is "only two combinations," is there something special about two of these that makes them worth less or 'QJT' worth more? The answer has to do with straight interference. 88, for example, hurts the chances for a QJT98 straight. However hard it is to get this straight when all four 8s are still in the pack of 47 cards we'll be drawing from, it's much harder when two of the eights have been discarded before the draw. 99 and KK (along with AA, which was already excluded because it is worth so much already) have a similar problem. The problem with QQ, for example, is that it makes ending up with 3-of-a-kind queens more difficult when you remove these cards from the deck. JJ and TT have the same problem. The only pairs from the lowest group that haven't been excluded because of straight penalties or 3-of-a-kind penalties are 66 and 77. Since we were looking for exactly two cases, we've found them. Even in these two cases, however, we have another caveat. Both cards of the pair must be unsuited with the 'QJT' --- otherwise we have a flush penalty which is actually quite a bit stronger than a straight penalty. Did you get it right? It wasn't that hard if you have a good foundation in any Deuces Wild game. If you missed this and you play any form of Deuces Wild, I strongly suggest you study the Winner's Guide for whichever game you play. Understanding video poker is a lot more than memorizing strategies. The Winner's Guides will give you some depth of knowledge that will teach you WHY many hands are played the way they are. Bob Dancer is America's best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of "how to play better video poker" products, including the software "Video Poker for Winners," Winner's Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer's products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com or by telephone at 1-800-244-2224 M-F 9-5 Pacific Time.
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Classic Dancer We republish a classic Bob Dancer article every Sunday - often these articles are updated with new insights from Bob Dancer, the master of video poker writing. Video Poker Questions and Answers - May 4, 2008 More Answers to Questions About Video Poker Machines - May 11, 2008 Losing is a Major Part of Winning at Video Poker - May 18, 2008 Video Poker VS Blackjack - May 25, 2008 The Art of Tipping Slot Personnel - Part 1 - June 1, 2008 The Art of Tipping Slot Personnel - Part 2 - June 8, 2008 Putting Your Ducks In a Row - June 15, 2008 Luck and Skill in Video Poker - June 22, 2008 Strategy Adjustments in Video Poker - June 29, 2008 One Coin vs Five Coin - July 6, 2008 Video Poker Progressives - July 13, 2008 High Pairs versus Three Cards to a Rolal in Kings or Better Joker Wild - July 20, 2008 The Double Up Feature - Does It Ever Make Sense? - Part 1 - July 27, 2008 Doubling Up - Does it Ever Make Sense? - Part 2 - August 3, 2008 Did I Quit at the Right Time? - August 10, 2008 Money Management: What Does and Doesn't Work - August 17, 2008 "I'm Playing The Wrong Game" and Other Video Poker Fallacies - August 24, 2008 You Use To Be Such a Cheapskate - August 31, 2008 Is This a Good Promotion? Part 1 - September 7, 2008 Is This a Good Video Poker Promotion? Part 2 - September 14, 2008 More Video Poker Fallacies - September 21, 2008 Not All Proposals Should be Accepted - September 28, 2008 An Opportunity Too Good to Pass Up Part 1 of 2 - October 5, 2008 An Opportunity Too Good to Pass Up Part 2 - October 12, 2008 Predicting Your Future Results at Video Poker - Part 1 of 2 - October 19, 2008 Predicting Future Video Poker Reulsts - Part 2 of 2 - October 26, 2008 Moving Up in Denomination - Part 1 of 2 - November 2, 2008 Moving Up in Video Poker Denomination - Part 2 of 2 - November 9, 2008 A Letter from a Non-Believer - Part 1 of 2 - November 16, 2008 A Letter Froma VP Non-Believer - Part 2 of 2 - November 23, 2008 If You're Going to Steal From Me... - November 30, 2008 A General Look at Progressives - Part 1 of 2 - December 7, 2008 A General Look at Progressives - Part 2 of 2 - December 14, 2008 Would You Rather Be Lucky or Good? - Part 1 of 2 - December 21, 2008 Would You Rather Be Lucky or Good? - Part 2 of 2 - December 28, 2008 Shirley Wins a Cruise - January 4, 2009 More Classic Dancer coming Sunday January 11, 2009. |
