Suited Ace-King in Jacks or Better: Hold Both or Just One?
Dealt: A♥ K♥ 7♣ 4♦ 2♠
Best play: Hold A♥ K♥.
Two suited high cards keep a royal flush possible as well as a paying pair, so hold both.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A♥ K♥ | 0.5880 | best |
| K♥ | 0.4549 | 0.1331 |
| A♥ | 0.4524 | 0.1356 |
| A♥ 4♦ | 0.3402 | 0.2479 |
| A♥ 2♠ | 0.3402 | 0.2479 |
| A♥ 7♣ | 0.3283 | 0.2597 |
Getting this hand wrong costs 0.1331 coins per coin bet, or 13.3% 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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More hands: Every Jacks or Better hold decision · Video poker strategy · The 9/6 paytable
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