4 Deuces Poker

Posted on 3/22/2022 by admin

4 Deuces Poker Game
Four Deuces Poker

The highest paying hand is the Royal Flush which pays out as much as 4000 times the line bet followed by 4 deuces with a pay-out of 1000 times the bet. The 3 of a kind is the most common winning combination and it pays out up to 5 times your bet. Start Playing Deuces Wild Multi-Hand Video Poker at Casino.com ZA today. (4) Any other combination of 4 to a straight flush (5) Keep 3 to a Royal Flush (6) Keep 3 to a straight flush if the other two cards are connectors. If you have two deuces in your hand, you will discard the other three cards unless you have one of the following scenarios: (1) Keep any pat 4 of a kind or higher (2) Keep 4.

Few casino games are as coveted as Deuces Wild.

That’s because Deuces Wild offers over 100% pay back when you use perfect strategy on a full pay game.

The downside is that few casinos offer full pay Deuces Wild.

But when you do find one of these games, there’s no better choice thanks to the outstanding pay back.

What else is great about Deuces Wild?

Let’s look at 9 different reasons why Deuces Wild is the ultimate video poker variation. And if you follow along to the end, I’ll also cover everything you need to know about beating this game.

1 – Deuces Are Wild

The most-exciting aspect of Deuces Wild is that 2’s are wild. This does two important things:

It boosts the value of deuces.
It helps you form wins that might otherwise be losers or small payouts.

Some of the payouts are smaller than what you’ll see in other video poker games because of the wild deuces. But at the same time, it’s fun to form big hands with a greater frequency thanks to the wild card.

If you love getting big poker hands like royal flushes, straight flushes, and 4 of a kinds, then you’ll enjoy Deuces Wild.

2 – You Can Form Unique Poker Hands

Bonus payouts notwithstanding, most video poker games only allow you to form basic hands. But Deuces Wild is different in this regard because the wild card helps you form special hands.

These include 4 deuces, a wild royal flush, and 5 of a kind.

Of these hands, 4 deuces is the best because it pays you 1,000 coins on a 5-credit wager.

Here’s a full look at all the payouts:

Deuces Wild Paytable

Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Natural Royal Flush	300	600	900	1200	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	5	10	15	20	25
Full House	3	6	9	12	15
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
3 of a Kind	1	2	3	4	5

In order to illustrate my point about the simplicity of other video poker games, let’s check out a Jacks or Better paytable:

9/6 Jacks or Better Pay Table

Hand	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1,000	4,000
Straight flush	50	100	300	400	500
4 of a kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16
3 of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
2 pairs	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Beginners will appreciate this simple paytable because it makes learning the game easier. But if you’re an experienced video poker player, you’ll eventually want to try something new.

And Deuces Wild is a perfect contrast to Jacks or Better and other games thanks to its wild card and extra payouts.

3 – Deuces Wild Has the Best Pay Back in Casino Gaming

No house-banked casino game gives you as good of an opportunity to win as full pay Deuces Wild. When you use perfect strategy on the right game, you’ll achieve 100.76% pay back.

This means that you’ll theoretically earn a $7.60 profit for every $1,000 you bet on Deuces Wild.

Obviously this isn’t going to make you a millionaire any time soon. But this is also one of the few available gaming opportunities where the house doesn’t have an edge.

What’s also nice is that unlike blackjack card counting, the casino won’t kick you out for being an advantage Deuces Wild player.

But there’s one catch to the 100.76% pay back: you have to play on the paytable listed in the previous section.

No other Deuces Wild paytable offers a positive return on your bets.

To illustrate this point, let’s look at a Deuces Wild game nicknamed Not so Ugly Ducks, which offers 99.73% pay back:

Not So Ugly Ducks

Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Natural Royal Flush	300	600	900	1200	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

The Not so Ugly Ducks paytable contains some notable differences from full pay Deuces Wild.

First off, the 5 of a kind, straight flush, full house, and flush all pay 1 coin more in Not so Ugly Ducks.

You’d think thatNot so Ugly Ducks would have higher pay back thanks to all of these hands paying more. But the key difference is that it pays 1 coin less for a 4 of a kind.

Given that this hand occurs with far greater frequency than the other four hands, full pay Deuces Wild has higher pay back.

Even still, Not so Ugly Ducks and its 99.73% pay back are a suitable alternative if you can’t find the full pay variation.

If you do find full pay Deuces Wild, bet all 5 coins per hand because this qualifies you for the top pay back. When you bet 4 or fewer coins it results in a 99.70% pay back number.

4 – You Can Make a Living with Full Pay Deuces Wild

Given the fact that full pay Deuces Wild offers 100.76% pay back, you can theoretically make a living through this game.

I say theoretically because a number of conditions must come together for you to consistently make profits through Deuces Wild. These factors include:

Consistent access to full pay Deuces Wild games – Downtown and North Las Vegas are the only places to find these machines on a consistent basis.
Perfect strategy, or at least close to it – You can’t beat Deuces Wild when you constantly make mistakes.
Speed – You have to play fast enough to earn a decent hourly rate. Professionals often play over 1,000 hands per hour, which works out to 17 or more hands per minute.
A Solid Bankroll – Even with an edge over the house, video poker is a volatile game that sees you experience highs and lows. And given that you only win the royal flush jackpot around once every 40,000 hands, you can see why a large bankroll is needed.

My point isn’t to put a damper on what I see as a positive aspect overall. Instead, I just want to explain what aspects you should consider before trying to be a video poker pro.

5 – Comps & Promos Help You Win Even More Money

Comps and promotions are essential if you want to make serious profits from video poker. In fact, all pros rely on freebies to supplement their winnings and make a living.

Provided that you’ve signed up for a casino’s slots club, you’ll earn points on your play.

These points are often paid at a comp rate of 0.2% or 0.3%. This means that if you bet $1,000, you’ll earn an extra $2 to $3 in comps.

You’ll really begin seeing profits if you take advantage of promotions, which revolve around double and triple point promotions.

Here’s an example:

You visit the casino during a triple point promotion.
The slots club comp rate is 0.3%.
You wager $5,000 total during your session.
You earn an extra $45 through the promotion and comp rate (5000 x 0.03 x 3).

Assuming you also earn 100.76% pay back, you’ll collect $38 in profits from your session.

Combining this with the $45 in comp/promo money, you’ve booked an $83 profit, or $16.60 per hour.

Remember, I told you that video poker isn’t going to make you rich. But if you consistently earn $16.60 an hour, this is equivalent to wages at many normal jobs.

6 – This Game Has Interesting Strategy

Deuces Wild is unique in that its strategy is based on how many deuces you have in your hand.

I’ll discuss what exact moves you should make later in the strategy section. But if you’re used to playing games like Jacks or Better, Double Bonus, and Double Double Bonus, you’ll find that Deuces Wild is a refreshing break in terms of strategy.

The fewer deuces you have, the more options you must consider in order to improve your hand. Here’s an example:

You have 1 deuce.
One of your options is 3 cards to a royal flush.
The other option is 4 cards to a straight flush.

Which option do you choose in this case?

Deuces Wild strategy ranks 4 cards to a straight flush higher than 3 cards to a royal flush in this situation.

If you’re somebody who enjoys using strategy to improve your chances of winning in casinos games, then you’ll have a lot of fun with Deuces Wild.

7 – Strategy Is Widely Available

You won’t have to look far for Deuces Wild tips because they’re all over the internet.

You can find everything from strategy charts on full pay Deuces Wild to training software that helps you practice.

Successful video poker authors have dedicated large portions of books to Deuces Wild strategy because it’s a hot topic among video poker players.

Long story short, you have a number of avenues available when figuring out how to beat Deuces Wild. And again, I’ll offer some in-depth strategy on the subject later.

8 – You can Play for Progressive Jackpots

Every Deuces Wild player knows that they can play for royal flush jackpots, which are fixed 4,000-coin payouts.

But did you also know that casinos offer Deuces Wild progressive jackpotstoo?

I’ve noticed that progressive Deuces Wild machines in land-based casinos tend to offer jackpots ranging from 5,000 coins ($1,250) to 8,000 coins ($2,000). This isn’t to say that they can’t grow larger, but it’s just what I’ve witnessed.

Online Deuces Wild usually has larger progressive jackpots.

Microgaming’s progressive Deuces Wild has paid as much as $120,800. To win this jackpot, you need to get an all-diamonds natural royal flush.

Regardless of the jackpot’s size, it’s always fun to play for a progressive jackpot in Deuces Wild.

9 – Deuces Wild Offers Fun Variations

You’re probably well aware that Deuces Wild offers a number of different paytables, including the Not so Ugly Ducks game we covered before.

But Deuces Wild has a lot more to offer than just different paytables. I’ve played some fun Deuces Wild variations from IGT, which you can read about below:

Good Times Pay – You activate multipliers in this game when you bet 5 coins per hand. Good Times Pay is also offered in Triple Play format, meaning you can play up to 3 hands per round.
Hot Roller Video Poker – You activate a Hot Roller multiplier by betting up to 10 coins per hand. The Hot Roller feature sees dice roll across the screen in random rounds, and your payout is multiplied by the dice’s value (i.e. 2x to 12x).
Hyper Bonus Poker – This game also includes a 2x-12x multiplier. But the difference is that Hyper Bonus Poker doesn’t include the cool dice-rolling effect.
Multi-Strike Poker – You can play up to four hands in the game, which are stacked on top of each other. Every time you win, you’ll move to the next level (hand). Each level offers a multiplier, including 2x for the second level, 4x for the third level, and 8x for the fourth.
Multi-Strike Poker Super Times Pay – This variant is just like Multi-Strike, with the addition of a Super Times Pay feature when you bet 5 coins + 1 coin. Super Times Pay offers a random multiplier that’s worth up to 10x your win.
Peek and Play – Betting 5 coins + 2 coins activates the Peek an Play feature, where you see your first replacement card before making discards.
Pick and Pair Poker – You’re initially dealt four cards, including two on the right side and two on the left. You choose one card from the right side. The unchosen card disappears, and your 5-card hand is formed as follows: the chosen card from the right; 2 cards from the left; and 2 cards dealt after you’ve made your selection.
Super Times Pay Spin Poker – This game is a video poker/slots hybrid, played on a 5×3 set of reels. When you click Deal/Spin, the reels spin and reveal a 5-card hand in the middle reel. Once you make discards in this hand, all of the reels will spin and reveal your hand(s). You can play up to 9 hands per turn in this game.

How to Win at Deuces Wild

As I’ve stressed multiple times, Deuces Wild is great because it offers up to 100.76% pay back when you use perfect strategy.

Furthermore, you can earn serious profits when combining Deuces Wild winnings with comps and promotions.

But before any of this can happen, you need to know the proper Deuces Wild strategy. Let’s cover everything you should know, from strategy charts to video poker trainers.

Step #1: Find Full pay Deuces Wild

Earlier, I discussed the drop-off from full pay Deuces Wild to the Not so Ugly Ducks version.

The difference is 100.76% compared to 99.73%, which is a 1.03% gap.

In other words, you’ll theoretically win $13 more for every $1,000 wagered on full pay Deuces Wild.

The first thing to understand when looking for the full pay version is the paytable. Specifically, full pay Deuces Wild offers 15 coins for a five of a kind; 9 coins for a straight flush; 5 coins for a four of a kind; and 3 coins for a full house.

You also need to find a casino that has these machines. VPFree2.com is the best resource for doing so because they offer video poker information on casinos across the United States and Canada.

If you visit this site and do a search, you’ll notice that multiple Las Vegas casinos offer full pay Deuces Wild. Examples include: Aliante Casino, Boulder Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, Green Valley Ranch, Palace Station Hotel & Casino, and Palms.

Most Vegas casinos offering full pay Deuces Wild aren’t in the ritziest areas. But odds are that you won’t care if you’re mainly concerned with winning.

Step #2: Learn Simple Deuces Wild Strategy

When learning Deuces Wild strategy, I suggest starting out with a simple Deuces Wild strategy chart.

This will get you to 100.71% pay back on a full pay game, and you won’t have to remember as many hand situations.

Below you can see a simplified Deuces wild strategy chart, which shows what hands to prioritize in descending order:
4 Deuces

4 deuces

3 Deuces

Pat royal flush
3 deuces

2 Deuces

Pat 4 of a kind (or better)
4 cards to a royal flush
4 cards to a straight flush
2 deuces

1 Deuce

Pat royal flush, pat 4 of a kind
4 cards to a royal flush
Full house
3 of a kind, straight, flush
4 cards to a straight flush
3 cards to a royal flush
3 cards to a straight flush
1 deuce

0 Deuces

4-5 cards to a royal flush
Straight flush, 4 of a kind, 3 of a kind
4 cards to a straight flush
3 cards to a royal flush
Pair
4 cards to a flush
4 cards to an outside straight
3 cards to a straight flush
4 cards to an inside straight (unless you don’t have a deuce)
2 cards to a royal flush
Q high
J high
Discard everything

Step #3: Learn Advanced Deuces Wild Strategy

Some Deuces Wild players stick with the simple strategy chart because it involves less steps and gets you to 100.71% pay back.

But if you want that extra 0.05%, then you’ll need to master the advanced strategy chart.

Below you can see the full version of Deuces Wild strategy. As you’ll notice, this version features far more hands in the 1 deuce and 0 deuces categories:

4 Deuces

4 deuces

3 Deuces

Wild royal flush
3 deuces only – discard any non-pair
3 deuces only – discard any pair of 9s or less
5 of a kind
3 deuces only – discard any pair of 10s or less
4 cards to a royal flush
Straight flush or less

2 Deuces

Wild royal flush
5 of a kind
Straight flush
4 of a kind
4 cards to a royal flush
2 consecutive suited cards
2 deuces only
2 consecutive suited cards
Full house or less

4 Deuces Poker Game

1 Deuce

Wild royal flush
5 of a kind
Straight flush
4 of a kind
4 cards to a royal flush
Full house
3 consecutive suited cards
3 of a kind
Straight
Flush
4 cards to a straight flush
3 cards to a royal flush
2 consecutive suited cards
3 cards to a royal flush
Deuce only
3 cards to a royal flush
2 consecutive suited cards
4 cards to an outside straight

0 Deuces

Natural royal flush
4 cards to a royal flush
Straight flush
4 of a kind
Full house
3 of a kind
Straight, flush
4 cards to an outside straight flush
Suited T-J-Q
4 cards to an inside straight flush
3 cards to a royal flush
Pair
Two pair
4 cards to a flush
4 cards to an outside straight
3 cards to a straight flush
2 cards to a royal flush
4 cards to an inside straight (except when you have no deuces)
2 cards to a royal flush
Discard everything else

Step #4: Practice with a Video Poker Trainer

The above charts are helpful in the beginning, when you’re just starting to learn Deuces Wild strategy. But if you want to take your efforts to the next level, then I suggest practicing with a video poker trainer.

A trainer sees you play Deuces Wild like normal. Any time you make a mistake, the software will alert you and explain the correct play.

This is extremely helpful because, unlike the charts, you’re applying lessons in real time.

The only problem is that I can’t find a free video poker trainer for Deuces Wild.

I’ve found plenty of free programs for All American, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, and Joker Poker. But I’ve yet to see one that lets you train Deuces Wild for free.

This means you’ll have to purchase software if you wish to practice full pay Deuces Wild. I know this isn’t ideal, but you’ll make more than enough money back in the long run through successful play.

Step #5: Play Free Online Deuces Wild & Improve Your Speed

Once you’ve honed your skills through training, you should continue practicing at an online casino.

The two things I like about practicing at online casinos include the following:

You can play for free. This means that you can make mistakes without costing yourself money.
You can work on improving your speed without sacrificing any money.

The second point is important because Deuces Wild is a positive-expectation game (+EV). And the quicker you play with correct strategy, the more money you’ll win.

Let’s compare two different scenarios to illustrate this point:

Scenario 1 – You play 800 hands per hour at $1.25 per hand. This pace allows you to achieve perfect 100.76% pay back, and you earn $7.60 per hour (800 x 1.25 x 0.0076).
Scenario 2 – You play 1,100 hands per hour at $1.25 per hand. You make a few mistakes at this pace and achieve 100.70% pay back. This results in an hourly rate of $9.63 (1100 x 1.25 x 0.007).

Obviously it’s hard to keep a breakneck pace like 1,100 hourly hands and still reach 100.70% pay back.

But the point is that sometimes it’s worth making a few mistakes if you can improve your speed by hundreds of hands.

Step #6: Set a Bankroll Management Plan

Even though Deuces Wild is a +EV game, it’s also volatile due to the uneven payouts. This means there’ll be times where you struggle because luck isn’t going your way.

My advice is to set up a bankroll based on units and determine stop-loss and stop-win limits.

Here’s an example:

The Deuces Wild coin size is $0.25 in land-based casinos. Given that you need to bet all 5 coins to attain top pay back, your unit size/bet should be $1.25.
You have a $500 bankroll.
You break your bankroll down into 400 units (400 / 1.25).
You set a stop-loss limit of 100 units per session. You also set a stop-win limit of 200 units.

It’s not hard to lose 400 units in video poker when you’re on a major cold streak. If you have a small bankroll, then you might consider playing online Deuces Wild.

The downside to online video poker is that you won’t find full pay Deuces Wild. But if you’re just looking to have fun with real money video poker, then you can play the internet version for a lot less.

Here’s an example:

The lowest coin denomination at your online casino is $0.05, making a 5-coin bet worth $0.25 per hand.
Your bankroll is $100, and the unit size is $0.25.
You now have 400 units (100 / 25).

Thanks to the nickel coin denomination, you can get the same amount of units out of $100, versus the $500 needed for land-based casinos.

But again, the problem is that internet casinos don’t offer full pay Deuces Wild.

Step #7: Take Advantage of Promotions & Comps

As we covered before, comps and promotions are crucial if you want to make good profits with video poker.

The first thing you must do is join the slots club at a land-based casino with full pay Deuces Wild. Here are a few different options for how you can do this:

Sign up online.
Visit the casino and ask where you can join.
Call and either sign up through the phone, or ask how you can sign up.

Joining the slots club ensures that you collect rewards the entire time you’re playing. And if you sign up with a company that owns multiple casinos (i.e. Station Casinos), you can use the same slots card at all of their properties.

Promotions are the other facet to getting rewards through Deuces Wild play. Most promos involve double or triple comp points, which are significant when you’re playing 800 hands or more per hour.

The key is that you stay connected to casinos so that you can find out about these promos when they happen. Here are a few ways that casinos notify players about video poker/slots promotions:

Email newsletter
Social media channels (especially Facebook & Twitter)
Mail (you should receive this as a slots club member)
Contact casinos and inquire about upcoming promotions

Four Deuces Poker

It’s crucial that you show up early whenever a casino does run a video poker promo. The reason why is because full pay Deuces Wild machines fill up fast during these events.

Sometimes you’ll find tourists on these machines, and you can bribe them with a gift certificate or money. I suggest telling them it’s your lucky machine so they don’t think something is up.

In any case, you can make a lot more money when double and triple points are offered.

Conclusion

The top reason video poker player’s clamor over Deuces Wild is the high pay back percentage. You can gain a 0.76% edge on casinos, so it’s little wonder why full pay Deuces Wild is so popular.

I’ve read about obscure video poker variations that pay upwards of 103%. But these are so rare that I’ve never personally seen them in Las Vegas, nor do I know if these machines still exist.

That being said, full pay Deuces Wild remains your most realistic chance to win serious video poker profits.

Other reasons to like this game include the unique hands, stimulating strategy, and different variations.

Regarding the latter, I enjoy Hot Roll, Multi-Strike, Peek and Play, and Pick and Pair poker. These games will spice up your Deuces Wild experience and add new twists to the game.

But I’ll also settle for full pay Deuces Wild any day. After all, the main reason to play this game and learn the in-depth strategy is so that you can make a profit.

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.

Exploring a family of Deuces Wild games

By John Grochowski

When video poker rocketed to popularity in the 1980s a couple of things became apparent that still influence games today. For starters, players will flock to video games that give them frequent paybacks and a good shot to win. And second, players love the chance at a modest secondary jackpot that comes up fairly often, and will accept less in smaller pays to get it.

Deuces Wild came to the fore early as an enduring blend of those factors. In its original, full-pay, 100.8-percent return version — a rare treat in the few casinos that still have it — Deuces Wild pays off on 45.3 percent of hands. Slot players of the time were used to three-reel stepper slots with paybacks on about nine percent to 14 percent of spins, so that video poker hit frequency was an attraction in itself.

The primary jackpot remains 4,000 coins for a five-coin bet when you draw a royal flush with no wild cards. There’s an added attraction in a secondary jackpot of 1,000 coins for four deuces. On a quarter machine, that’s $250, enough to make a player on a modest budget feel as if they’ve had a nice day’s win. And it feels as if it’s attainable, coming up an average of about once per 4,909 hands.

Compare that to the first mega-popular video poker game, 9-Gjacks or Better with its 99.5 percent return with expert play. The only jackpot that tops $100 for a quarter player is the royal flush, and that’s a 1 in 40,391 shot — it feels like miracle time when you draw one. The next biggest payoff, on straight flushes, is only 250 coins, or $62.50 for a quarter player, and even that comes up only once per 9,148 hands.

That reasonably large, attainable jackpot on four 2s proved incredibly popular. International Game Technology adapted it to non-wild card games with secondary jackpots on four aces, such as Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, and many more.

Deuces Wild spawned its own family of games, with Double Pay Deuces, Triple Pay Deuces, Loose Deuces and others. The derived Deuces games build on the original concept with even bigger secondary jackpots. Instead of 1,000 coins, four 2s are worth 2,000 on Double Pay Deuces, 2,500 on Loose Deuces and 3,000 on Triple Pay Deuces.

Naturally enough, that leads to questions from players who wonder just how the games can afford to pay these jackpots. Are different games dealing 2s with different frequencies?

One reader wrote to ask, “l have long wondered how the deuces are controlled in video poker games where the payoffs are greater for four deuces. If deuce distribution wasn’t controlled, why then would there be different payoffs for the same hand?”

The games don’t deal cards differently. Every card has an equal chance of being dealt on every hand, and that if players charted the appearance of deuces very long time — hundreds of thousands of plays – he would see that they come up with the same frequency on all games.

Every card has an equal chance of being dealt on every hand.

Let’s look at the frequency of four-2 hands in four different Deuces games. We won’t use full-pay Deuces here because it’s so rare. Instead, let’s use a common Deuces version, the one sometimes called “Illinois” or “Airport” Deuces, which returns 98.9 percent with expert play. For comparison, equivalent games — a 99.2 percent version of Double Deuces, a 99.2 percent version of Loose Deuces and a 98.9 percent version of Triple Deuces.

Table 1 below lists the payoff per coin but assuming a five-coin bet. That’s to get the full natural royal payoff, which is only 250-for-1 if you bet less than the max but jumps to 800-for-1, or 4,000 total, for a five-coin wager.

Depending on which version you play, four 2s could bring you 1,000, 2,000, 2,500 or 3,000 coins per five coins wagered. The reader who raised the question wondered if that meant you drew the 2s less often on the bigger-jackpot game.

It doesn’t work that way. Assuming expert strategy, on this version of Deuces Wild, you’ll draw the 2s an average of once per 5,348 hands, while on the other games listed the come once per 4,764 hands on Double Deuces, 4,674 on Loose Deuces and 4,457 on Triple Deuces.

We draw four 2s MORE often, not less often, on the games with the bigger jackpots. That’s because expert strategy changes to chase the 2s more often when the jackpots are bigger. That particularly applies to straight flush hands with one or two 2s. For an example, let’s say you’re dealt two 2s along with 8-9 of diamonds and a king of clubs. In Triple Deuces, with the largest four-deuce jackpot and a reduced pay on straight flushes, your average return per five

coins wagered will be 19.7 coins if you hold the 2s and discard everything else, and only 13.5 if you also hold the two diamonds. In Loose Deuces, it’s a little closer call, at 18.9 for 2-2 and 15.2 for 2-2-8-9 and closer still on Double Deuces at 17.9 vs. 16.9.

But on this Deuces Wild version, with the smallest 2s jackpot and the 3-for-1 flush pay that’s cut above the other games, the situation flips. Average returns are 16.5 on the four-card straight flush and only 15.2 on the 2s by themselves.

Such strategy flips, chasing 2s more often when they pay more, are why four-2 hands come more often on the bigger jackpot games.

That still leaves the reader’s underlying question: If the bigger-jackpot games don’t deal fewer deuces, how are they able to offer the bigger payoffs?

The key, of course, lies in the rest of the pay tables, just as it does in other video poker games. It’s the same situation players are used to in other games, such as Double Bonus Poker vs. Bonus Poker. Four aces on Double Bonus pays 800 coins for a five-coin bet, but on Bonus Poker four aces pay only 400 coins.

The game doesn’t deal fewer aces on Double Bonus to make up the difference. The bigger payoff is offset by changes in the remainder of the pay table, mainly by two pairs paying 2-for-1 on Bonus, but only 1-for-1 on Double Bonus.

It’s the same deal on Deuces games. The jackpots are just offset by lower pays on hands that occur more often.

Note that in the pay tables above, the game with the lowest deuces jackpot also is the only game that pays 3-for-1 on flushes. That has a huge impact. In that Deuces version, flushes come up an average of once per 48.9 hands. Flushes come up more than 100 times as often as four 2s. Similarly, the lowest deuces jackpot game also is the only one with a 4-for-1 payoff on full houses. Those come up once per 38.2 hands, and you’ll get about 140 full houses for each time you draw four deuces.

Flushes and full houses come up less often on the other games as expert strategy changes to account for the pay table changes, but even so on Double Deuces, you’ll see about 72 flushes and 101 full houses per four-2 hand, while it’s 76 flushes and 99 full houses on Loose Deuces and 68 flushes and 95 full houses on Triple Deuces.

Reducing payoffs on those hands goes a long way toward funding bigger deuce jackpots on the other games. You also see reduced five of a kind and straight flush pays on Loose Deuces and Triple Deuces, and lower-paying wild royals on Triple Deuces.

The pay table shifts are plenty. There doesn’t have to be any reduction in the frequency of deuces The random number generator just keeps generating random results, and lets the pay table take care of the rest.