Video poker strategy: which cards to hold
Every deal gives you 32 ways to hold your cards, and one of them is mathematically best. The list below gets you within a few hundredths of a percent of perfect play on 9/6 Jacks or Better. Other variants need their own chart.
How to use it: start at the top and stop at the first line that describes your five cards.
Holds, from best to worst
- 1
Royal flush, straight flush or four of a kind
Keep the made hand.
- 2
Four to a royal flush
Hold the four, even if it breaks a flush or a straight.
- 3
Three of a kind, straight, flush or full house
Keep it. With trips, draw two.
- 4
Four to a straight flush
Hold the four, even over a high pair.
- 5
Two pair
Keep both pairs, draw one.
- 6
High pair (jacks or better)
Keep the pair, draw three.
- 7
Three to a royal flush
Hold the three, draw two.
- 8
Four to a flush
Hold the four suited cards.
- 9
Low pair (2s to 10s)
Keep the pair, draw three.
- 10
Four to an outside straight
For example 6-7-8-9: two ways to complete it.
- 11
Two suited high cards
Such as K♥ Q♥.
- 12
Three to a straight flush
Hold the three suited cards in sequence.
- 13
Two unsuited high cards
If you have three, keep the two lowest.
- 14
Ten with a suited J, Q or K
Keep both.
- 15
One high card
Keep it, draw four.
- 16
Nothing
Discard all five and draw.
Mistakes that cost the most
- Breaking a high pair for a straight draw. J♠ J♥ 10♦ 9♣ 8♠: keep the jacks. The pair already pays and improves often.
- Keeping a kicker. With 8♣ 8♦ A♠, hold only the eights. The ace makes trips and full houses less likely.
- Holding a low pair over four to a flush. They look close; the flush draw is worth more.
- Playing fewer than five credits. The royal flush then pays 250 instead of 800 for 1.
- Switching to gut feeling after a bad run. The deck has no memory. The list does not change.