Chapter 6: Jacks or Better

            Jacks or Better (JB) is the original video poker game.  While it offers a slightly negative financial reward (-0.456% with expert strategy), JB has less volatility than Double Bonus or Deuces Wild. For those who prefer less risk, this may be an attractive choice.

            The full-pay version of this game is widely available in Las Vegas and  Atlantic City (for exact locations in Las Vegas, see Best Video Poker Links section).  This full-pay version is often referred to as 9/6 Jacks because the full house pays 9 and the flush pays 6.  Short-pay versions usually pay a little less for the full house and the flush.  For example,  “8/5 Jacks” pays 8 bets for the full house and 5 bets for the flush, but pays all the other hands with the same pay schedule as the 9/6 version.

 

Here is the full-pay payout table.

 

Hand                                         Payout (bets)

--------                                        -----------------

Royal Straight Flush                   800

Straight Flush                            50        

Four-of-a-kind                            25

Full House                                 9

Flush                                        6

Straight                                     4

Three-of-a-kind                           3

Two Pair                                    2

Pair of jacks or higher                 1

 

            There are many other short-pay versions of this game. Figure 22 shows the most common variations and the total overall return.

 

Figure 22

            As figure 22 shows, the full-pay version (9/6) has a reward of -0.46% (with expert strategy),  although there are some versions of 9/6 which pay $1175 for the royal (instead of $1000). These 9/6 versions with the $1175 royal have a reward of -0.1%. 8/5 has a reward of -2.8%.  8/5 is a terrible game, even with good food and room comps, you will still be playing at a disadvantage.

            “8/5 Bonus”  refers to machines which are labeled as “Four-of-a-kind Bonus Poker”. These machines pay 8 bets for the full house and 5 coins for the flush, but certain four-of-a-kinds pay extra.  Specifically, the payouts are

 

            4 Aces                          pays                 100 bets

            4 (2,3, or 4’s)                 pays                 50 bets

            4 (5 through king)           pays                 25 bets (same as normal 9/6)

 

            These extra bonuses on certain four-of-a-kinds bring the reward to -0.84%. With good room and food comps, this game can be a reasonable choice. One advantage of this game has over 9/6 is that the bonus four-of-a-kinds add to the psychological reward of the game. Hitting 4 aces for $100 can be pretty exciting.

            If you grab your “Jacks or Better” card, we’ll look at some examples that will show you how to use the strategy.

            Consider the following hand:

                               

 

Since we have a pair of jacks, then we start at the “Pair” box and see if we can improve upon the hand. As it turns out, we also have four to the straight flush. Since there is a red line from the “J-A” part of the pair box to 4 SF/Royal, then we hold the four to the straight flush and throw away the jack. This 4 card straight flush is somewhat rare, you will usually hold a pair of jacks.

 

Consider the following hand:

                               

 

Since we have a pair of jacks, then we start at the “Pair” box and see if we can improve upon the hand. As it turns out, we can’t improve upon our pair, so we are done and hold the pair of jacks.

Of course, if you have two-pair, three of a kind, a full house or four-of-a-kind, then you would hold those because they all have connections from the pair box.

 

Let’s consider another hand:

 

                                 

 

We have a low pair, but we also have three to the royal. Since there is a connection from pair “2-10” to the “3 Royal”, then we hold 3 royal and throw away the pair.

 

            If we don’t have a pair, the next box we check is the “Flush box”.  When we are dealt a flush, we almost always keep all five cards. The one very important exception is the connection from the flush up to the “Four-to-the Royal” hand. Why is this hand so valuable? Because there is a 1 in 47 chance of picking up the royal which will yield 800 bets. So part of the expected value is 800/47,which is about 17.  In addition, there is an 8 in 47 chance in getting another flush and also a chance to pick up a straight. This expected value of 18 is much higher than the expected value of a flush (6). So if we are dealt the following:

 

                   

Then we toss the 3 of clubs and go for the royal. We also toss a 5-card straight if we are dealt four-to-the-royal (see the connection from the 5str up to the 4 Royal in the 4-flush section).

 

The only situation in which we do not hold four to the royal is if we are dealt a straight flush like this one (see the connection from the “4 Royal” hand up to the “5 Str. Fl.”):

                   

 

The next box is the straight box. We hold 5 to the straight and four to the straight with 0 gaps (i.e. an outside straight).

 

The next box is the “3 to the straight flush” box. Let’s look at an example.

 

                      

 The 7-8-10 is a 1-gap straight flush. But we also have Ace Queen of clubs (which is a two-card royal) which has a connection from the “1 Gap” part of the “3 to the Straight Flush” box – therefore we hold the Ace-Queen of clubs and throw away the 3 spades. If we had a 7,8, and 9 of spades, then we would have 0 gaps -- which would mean that we would not hold the Ace-Queen, but would hold the 7,8,9 straight flush combination.

 

            If none of the rules on Side 1 are satisfied, then we determine the number of high cards and find the best hand based upon the number of high cards. This makes the strategy a lot easier to use than strategies where the expected values are just listed because the strategy presented here highlights which hands we need to check.

            We can have from 0 to 4 high cards. Let’s look at each high card section of the strategy card (i.e. Side 2).

 

            Four high cards always make an inside straight (listed as 4str1) because four high cards can only mean jack, queen, king and ace. The only hand that is better than this is a jack and queen in the same suit (for example, Ace of spades, King of diamonds, Queen of clubs, Jack of Clubs).

 

Let’s look at some 3 high card examples:

                                   

 

Here we have 3 high cards and one is an ace, so we would satisfy the AHH rule (at the left part of the section. However, we also have 4 to the inside straight with 3 high cards, which is above the AHH box. But we are not done yet because we also have two high cards in the same suit (the King and Queen of Diamonds). A pair of suited cards is the highest hand in the 3-card section, so that is what we should hold.

Here’s another 3-card example.

                  

In this case, we’ve got the King, Queen, and Jack combination, but we also have 4 to the inside straight with 3 high cards so we hold the inside straight. Importantly, the inside straight must contain 3 high cards. For example, let’s look at the following hand.

                  

In this case, we have the AHH combination, which means that we hold the two cards that are not the ace (i.e. the queen and the jack). We do NOT hold the 4 to the inside straight (8-9-J-Q) because this holds only two of the 3 high cards.

 

The suited 2 section refers to two-card combinations that are in the same suit. With no other high cards, simply hold the two suited cards.

 

Let’s look at some 2 high card examples:

                 

 

Here, we’ve got a King and a Jack, but we also have a jack-ten in the same suit. Since there is a connection from K-J to suited jack-ten, then we hold the suited jack-ten.

Let’s look at another example.

                  

Here, we have a queen and a jack. Looking at the 2–card section, we see that nothing is above the queen-jack, so we are done and just hold the queen and the jack.

 

Let’s look at some 1 high card examples:

                  

 

Here, we have a king, but we also have a king-ten in the same suit, so we hold the king-ten.

Let’s look at another example.

                  

Here, we just hold the ace because there’s no connection from the solo ace to anything in the 1 high card section.

 

With 0 high cards, we only hold 3 cards to the straight flush (any number of gaps) – otherwise we toss all five cards.

           

            That’s it. Using the strategy will be somewhat difficult at first, but with practice will become automatic to the point where it requires very little effort. The hierarchical and graphical nature of the card will facilitate your learning. Of course, you will need to consult your strategy card many times when you are beginning to learn, but in time you will need it less and less.

            With this strategy, you will be playing near-expert strategy which will give you a reward of about -0.46%.  Again, with good food and room comps, you will be ahead.

            The only way to learn this strategy is to practice playing it. If you're serious about getting better, see the links section for a link to Winpoker, which is cheap software that allows you to practice a huge range of video poker games.

            The strategy for 9/6 jacks can also be used for 8/5 Four-of-a-kind Bonus Poker without modification. This strategy will return  about -0.84%.