Should You Break a Straight to Go for a Royal Flush?
Dealt: K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥ A♣
Best play: Hold K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥.
Same logic as breaking a flush: a straight pays 4, while four to a royal is worth almost 20 times your bet. Throw the off-suit card.
Every hold that matters, exactly
Expected return per coin bet on 9/6 Jacks or Better, averaged over every possible draw. A return of 1.000 gets your bet back on average.
| Hold | Return | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥ | 19.5957 | best |
| K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥ A♣ | 4.0000 | 15.5957 |
| K♥ Q♥ J♥ | 0.6716 | 18.9241 |
| Q♥ J♥ 10♥ | 0.6651 | 18.9306 |
| K♥ Q♥ 10♥ | 0.5689 | 19.0268 |
| K♥ J♥ 10♥ | 0.5689 | 19.0268 |
Getting this hand wrong costs 15.5957 coins per coin bet, or 1559.6% of your wager on this hand. Over thousands of hands, mistakes like this are what separate a 99.5% game from a 97% one.
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Casino Trainer deals you real video poker hands, solves every one of the 32 possible holds, and shows exactly what each mistake cost. It's the same calculation as on this page.
More hands: Every Jacks or Better hold decision · Video poker strategy · The 9/6 paytable
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