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STICKMAN’S STANCE: PLAYING SHORT-PAY DEUCES WILD

VIDEO POKER

by Jerry "Stickman"

Jerry "Stickman" is an expert in craps, blackjack, video poker and advantage slot machine play. Jerry "Stickman’s" new book is "Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker." He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. In addition, Jerry "Stickman" along with his partner, #1 best-selling gaming author, Frank Scoblete give private lessons in dice control. You can contact Jerry "Stickman" at stickmanjerry@aol.com .

 

Last month, I reviewed full-pay video poker games. Of all wild card video poker games, the deuces wild category is by far the largest. Countless variations of pay tables provide a nearly limitless selection of deuces wild games for the video poker player. Helping to add to the popularity of deuces wild games are dozens of different cool sounding names such as Loose Deuces, Downtown Deuces, Big Split Poker Deuces Wild, Colorado Deuces, Airport Deuces, and Illinois Deuces. Even the term deuce is given the colloquial moniker of "duck". Rather than just call a short-pay schedule "a short-pay schedule" they have been given catchy nicknames; Not So Ugly Ducks and Ugly Ducks are examples.

Short-Pay Deuces Wild – Not So Ugly Deuces -or- Not So Ugly Ducks (NSUD)

The first short-pay version of Deuces Wild Poker that we will look at is commonly referred to as Not So Ugly Deuces or sometimes as Not So Ugly Ducks. While not a full-pay game, it is close to 100 percent return, at 99.73 percent.

The short-cut way to label this game is 25/16/10. The full-pay game is a 25/15/9/5. Notice that on the short-pay schedule, the pays for both the 5-of-a-kind and straight flush are one higher than the full-pay version. This shows how much of a game’s return is tied up in lower paying hands. Here is the complete pay table information for Not So Ugly Deuces.

Deuces Wild Poker (25/16/10) Short-Pay (NSUD) – Payback: 99.73 Percent, Variance: 25.8

Hand

1 Coin

2 Coins

3 Coins

4 Coins

5 Coins

ROYAL FLUSH no 2s.

250

500

750

1000

4000

4 DEUCES……………

200

400

600

800

1000

WILD ROYAL FLUSH.

25

50

75

100

125

5 OF A KIND…………

16

32

48

64

80

STRAIGHT FLUSH….

10

20

30

40

50

4 OF A KIND…………

4

8

12

16

20

FULL HOUSE………..

4

8

12

16

20

FLUSH………………..

3

6

9

12

15

STRAIGHT…………...

2

4

6

8

10

3 OF A KIND………...

1

2

3

4

5

Hand

Pay 5 Coins

Occurs Every

% Return

ROYAL FLUSH no 2s.

4000

43,436.3

1.84

4 DEUCES……………

1000

5,355.9

3.73

WILD ROYAL FLUSH.

125

524.5

4.77

5 OF A KIND…………

80

321.7

4.97

STRAIGHT FLUSH….

50

194.7

5.14

4 OF A KIND…………

20

16.4

24.42

FULL HOUSE………..

20

38.3

10.45

FLUSH…………….....

15

48.2

6.23

STRAIGHT…………...

10

17.4

11.47

3 OF A KIND…………

5

3.7

26.72

NO WIN

0

1.8

0

In addition to the 5-of-a-kind and straight flush pays increasing by 1, so are the pays for a full house and a flush. In fact, the only pay lowered from the full-pay version is the 4-of-a-kind to 4-for-1 from 5-for-1. Lowering that one pay counteracts the other four increases and reduces the return by just over one percent. Logic doesn’t really help in trying to determine the return of some games. You really need to have some software or a good reference to know what to expect.

The strategy doesn’t change much for hands initially containing two or more wild cards. However, because of all the changes farther down the pay table, there are several changes if dealt zero or one wild cards on the initial hand. Here is the strategy chart for Not So Ugly Deuces Poker.

Strategy For 25/16/10 (Short-Pay) Not So Ugly Deuces Wild Poker

Four Deuces Dealt

All 4 Deuces

Three Deuces Dealt

5-of-a-Kind or Better

3 Deuces

Two Deuces Dealt

4-of-a-Kind or Better

4-card Wild Royal Flush

Any 4-card Straight Flush – 67-9T, 45-56, 57-9J

2 Deuces

One Deuce Dealt

Full House or Better

4-card Wild Royal Flush

Flush

Any 4-card Straight Flush, 0-1 Gaps – 567-9TJ, 345-456, 457-9JQ

Straight

Any 4-card Straight Flush Except A Low – 346, 356, 347-9QK

3-of a Kind

Any 4-card Straight Flush, A Low – A34, A45

Any 3-card Royal Flush Except A High

3-card Open Straight Flush – 67-9T

3-card Royal Flush, A High

Any 3-card Straight Flush – 57-9J, 45, 56

Any 4-card Open Straight – 789-TJQ

1 Deuce

No Deuce Dealt

Royal Flush

4 Cards of a Royal Flush

Any Paying Hand – 3-of-a-Kind or Better

Any 4-card Straight Flush

Any 3-card Royal Flush

4-card Flush

Two Pair

3-card Open Straight Flush – 567-9TJ

One Pair

4-card Open Straight – 4567-TJQK

Any 3-card Inside Straight Flush Except A Low

Suited QJ, QT, JT

4-card Inside Straight – 3456, 3567

3-card Inside Straight Flush A Low – A34, A35, A45

4-card Inside Straight – 4568-TQKA, JQKA

Suited KQ, KJ, KT

Draw 5 New Cards

Again, because the strategy for Deuces Wild Poker is broken into groups based on the number of wild cards initially dealt, it is fairly easy to learn. The variance of Not So Ugly Deuces is the same as full-pay and the return is a very good 99.73 percent – even more than full-pay Jacks or Better. While Not So Ugly Deuces is not as readily available as it once was, it is still available, but you will have to look around for it. Your search could pay decent dividends.

Short-Pay Deuces Wild Poker – Ugly Deuces

The last Deuces Wild game to be reviewed is a 25/15/9/4/4/3 version sometimes called Ugly Deuces or Ugly Ducks. This game starts with the Not So Ugly Deuces pay table and reduces the pays for 5-of-a-kind and straight flush by one each to the level they are paid in the full-pay version. The remainder of the pay table remains the same as in Not So Ugly Deuces. This reduces the return to 98.91 percent. This is still almost 99 percent – better than probably 60 to 95 percent of the returns in any given casino’s inventory of video poker games. The variance is also slightly less than Not So Ugly Deuces at 25.6. This makes Ugly Deuces – the lowest paying Deuces Wild Game being reviewed here – a decent game to play.

Here is the complete pay table information for Ugly Deuces Poker.

Deuces Wild Poker (25/15/9/4/4/3) Short-Pay (UD) – Payback: 98.91 Percent, Variance: 25.8

Hand

1 Coin

2 Coins

3 Coins

4 Coins

5 Coins

ROYAL FLUSH no 2s.

250

500

750

1000

4000

4 DEUCES……………

200

400

600

800

1000

WILD ROYAL FLUSH.

25

50

75

100

125

5 OF A KIND…………

15

30

45

60

75

STRAIGHT FLUSH….

9

18

27

36

45

4 OF A KIND…………

4

8

12

16

20

FULL HOUSE………..

4

8

12

16

20

FLUSH………………..

3

6

9

12

15

STRAIGHT…………...

2

4

6

8

10

3 OF A KIND………...

1

2

3

4

5

Hand

Pay 5 Coins

Occurs Every

% Return

ROYAL FLUSH no 2s.

4000

43,410.0

1.84

4 DEUCES……………

1000

5,348.0

3.74

WILD ROYAL FLUSH.

125

523.7

4.77

5 OF A KIND…………

75

320.2

4.68

STRAIGHT FLUSH….

45

202.7

4.44

4 OF A KIND…………

20

16.3

24.53

FULL HOUSE………..

20

38.2

10.48

FLUSH…………….....

15

48.9

6.13

STRAIGHT…………...

10

17.4

11.49

3 OF A KIND…………

5

3.7

26.80

NO WIN

0

1.8

0

The strategy for Ugly Deuces is similar to Not So Ugly Deuces, but there are a few changes. Here is the simplified strategy.

Strategy For 25/15/9/4/4/3 (Short-Pay) Ugly Deuces Wild Poker

Four Deuces Dealt

All 4 Deuces

Three Deuces Dealt

5-of-a-Kind or Better

3 Deuces

Two Deuces Dealt

Straight Flush or Better

4-card Wild Royal Flush – JT Only

4-of-a-Kind

4-card Wild Royal Flush

Any 4-card Straight Flush – 67-9T, 45-56, 57-9J

2 Deuces

One Deuce Dealt

Full House or Better

4-card Wild Royal Flush

Flush

Any 4-card Straight Flush, 0-1 Gaps – 567-9TJ, 345-456, 457-9JQ

Straight

3-of a Kind

Any 4-card Straight Flush

Any 3-card Royal Flush Except A High

3-card Open Straight Flush – 67-9T

3-card Royal Flush, A High

Any 3-card Straight Flush – 57-9J, 56

Any 4-card Open Straight – 567-TJQ

1 Deuce

No Deuce Dealt

Royal Flush

4 Cards of a Royal Flush

Any Paying Hand – 3-of-a-Kind or Better

Any 4-card Straight Flush

Any 3-card Royal Flush

4-card Flush

Two Pair

3-card Open Straight Flush – 567-9TJ

One Pair

4-card Open Straight – 4567-TJQK

Any 3-card Inside Straight Flush Except A Low

Suited QJ, QT, JT

4-card Inside Straight – 3456, 3457-TQKA. JQKA

Suited KQ, KJ, KT

3-card Inside Straight Flush A Low – A34, A35, A45

Draw 5 New Cards

Summary

As stated in the previously, there are dozens of different pay tables for Deuces Wild Poker. All three versions explored in this newsletter (both last month and here) are decent versions to play. They have decent returns, fairly low variance, and the strategy is straight-forward. When searching for a Deuces Wild game you must look at virtually the entire pay table as changes can – and usually are – made to almost all of the pays. Some versions may have a high return but also a high variance if the concentrate the returns in a few very high paying hands. Just be careful that you select a proper game to play and make sure you have the strategy for the game you select. Deuces Wild Poker can be a lot of fun and profitable if done right.

Next month I will look at some other wild card games.

Until next time….

All the best in your casino and life endeavors.

Jerry "Stickman"

Editor’s Note: More detailed information on Deuces Wild as well as dozens of additional video poker games is available in Jerry "Stickman’s" new book "Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker." It is available on Amazon.

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