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In this post, we’re going to cover how to get started playing Deuces Wild video poker. We’ll breakdown the basics, common pay tables, tips for winning real money, and more! Keep scrolling to find out everything you need to know about Deuces Wild.
Deuces Wild Is More Complicated than Jacks or Better
Deuces Wild is an example of the 2nd type of video poker game in our broad categorizations (non-wild card games and wild card games).
The strategy for Deuces Wild is more complicated than the strategy for Jacks or Better in multiple ways. For one thing, it’s harder to distinguish between paytables.
Egypt slot machine. Deuces Wild Expert Strategy Royal flush 4000 Four deuces 1000 Wild royal flush 125 Five of a kind 75 Straight flush 45 Four of a kind 25 Full house 15 Flush 10 Straight 10 Three of a kind 5 1. 3wRF wild wild wild A♠J♠ 2. 3w5K, A-T wild wild wild K♠K♥ 3. 3w wild wild wild XX 6♥6♣ 4. 2wRF wild wild A♠Q♠J♠ 5. 2w5K wild wild 9♥9. Get a Machine’s Full Pay Rate by Betting the Max Five Coins. This simple trick holds true across the. DEUCES WILD STRATEGY Deuces Wild strategy decisions are determined not only by the hand you’re dealt but also by how many deuces you’re holding. The chart below will show the ranking of hands to hold in descending order. If a particular hand isn’t on the list discard everything and draw five cards. Tens or Better optimal strategy can be complicated and is beyond the scope of this discussion. However, if you are not concerned with totally optimal play on every hand, there are some general guidelines to keep in mind that can help you have a better time. Deuces Wild: A Guide to Basic Rules and Strategy. Compared to the optimal strategy return of 100.76%, mistakes in the simple strategy will cost 0.05%, or one total bet every 1869 hands. You can play 1, 5, 10 or 25 hands on every round of this game, but make sure to keep an eye on how much you spend.
For another thing, the playing strategy changes dramatically because of the 4 wild cards in the deck.
But Deuces Wild can offer you something you can’t expect from Jacks or Better:
A positive expectation.
If you choose the right paytable and play with the appropriate strategy, you can achieve an edge over the casino with full pay Deuces Wild.
And, even I you can’t find full pay Deuces Wild, you can get close to a break-even game with “not so ugly” Deuces Wild.
Most of the rest of this post explains the differences between these two.
Common Deuces Wild Video Poker Pay Tables
Here are 2 examples of a Deuces Wild video poker tables, compared and contrasted:
Hand | Version 1 | Version 2 |
---|---|---|
Natural royal flush | 800 | 800 |
Four Deuces | 200 | 200 |
Wild royal flush | 25 | 25 |
Five of a kind | 15 | 17 |
Straight flush | 9 | 13 |
Four of a kind | 5 | 4 |
Full house | 3 | 3 |
Flush | 2 | 2 |
Straight | 2 | 2 |
Three of a kind | 1 | 1 |
It looks like version 2 is the game to go with, at least at first glance, right?
After all, you get 4 extra coins for a straight flush than you would on version 1, and all you’re giving up in exchange for that is a single coin payout on the 4 of a kind.
You’re also getting a couple of extra coins on the 5 of a kind.
But looks can be deceiving.
Version 1 is a “full pay” Deuces Wild video poker paytable. The payback percentage, if you play every hand optimally, is 100.76% on such a paytable.
Version 2 isn’t even close – it’s not even the so-called “not so ugly” version. The payback percentage for that paytable – even with perfect strategy – is only 97.08%.
What causes such a huge discrepancy?
It’s that single coin difference in payouts on the 4 of a kind.
If you’re not used to playing video poker with wild cards, you’ll think that a 4 of a kind is a really rare hand.
But in Deuces Wild, where you have 4 wild cards in the deck, you’ll wind up with 4 of a kind over 6% of the time – that’s once in every 15 hands or so.
In terms of expected return, the 5-coin payout accounts for almost 1/3 of the game’s payback.
In terms of expected return, the 5-coin payout accounts for almost 1/3 of the game’s payback.
The payout for version 2 reduces that amount to 1/4 of the game’s payback.
A straight flush and a 5 of a kind come up so much less often that the increased payout just doesn’t make that much of a difference.
A straight flush and a 5 of a kind come up so much less often that the increased payout just doesn’t make that much of a difference.
Not So Ugly Deuces Wild Pay Tables
Here’s a much more common Deuces Wild paytable that still offers an excellent expected return:
Hand | NSUD Payout |
---|---|
Natural royal flush | 800 |
Four deuces | 200 |
Wild royal flush | 25 |
Five of a kind | 16 |
Straight flush | 10 |
Four of a kind | 4 |
Full house | 4 |
Flush | 3 |
Straight | 2 |
Three of a kind | 1 |
You’ll notice lots of small differences in payouts – this is another reason that Deuces Wild is so much more complicated than Jacks or Better.
You get a single coin more on the 5 of a kind, but we’ve already talked about how that’s not such a big deal.
You also get another coin on the straight flush, but again, this isn’t such a big deal.
And that reduction to a 4-coin payout on a 4 of a kind is still a big deal.
But the increased payouts on some of the lower ranked hands are critical.
Increasing the payout from 3 to 4 for a full house is a big deal.
And increasing the payout from 2 to 3 for a flush is also a big deal.
When all is said and done, the expected return for not so ugly Deuces Wild (also often called NSUD) is 99.73%, which is about as close to a break-even game as you could ask for. In fact, if you factor in the comps and rebates from the slots club, you might still even have a positive return for this game.
How Do You Get this Expected Return for these Deuces Wild Games?
The payback percentage for any gambling machine is the total of the expected value of each outcome.
Expected value is just the product of the probability of getting a result multiplied by the amount you’ll win.
Here’s how that looks in full pay Deuces Wild:
The most likely result on any random hand is nothing, which happens about 54.7% of the time. Since that has a payout of $0, you’d multiply 54.7% by $0 to get the expected value – 0.
You’ll wind up with 3 of a kind often, too – 28.5% of the time. Since that pays out at even money, you multiply that 1 by 28.5% to get 28.5%.
A straight is far rarer – 5.6% of the time. But it pays off at 2 for 1, so you multiply 5.6% by 2 to get 11.2.
A flush is even rarer than a straight – you only see a flush once out of every 60 hands. That’s 1.7% of the time, and since it pays off at 2 for 1, the expected value for that payout is 2 multiplied by 1.7%. or 3.4%.
Palace chance no deposit coupon codes. A full house – in Deuces Wild – actually turns up slightly more often than a flush – 2.1% of the time.
And the payoff is more – 3 for 1.
3 multiplied by 2.1% is 6.3%,.
Now, though, you get to see the power of the 4 of a kind. That hand comes up 6.5% of the time, and it pays off at 5 for 1.
6.5% multiplied by 5 is 32.5%.
All the other hands – straight flush, 5 of a kind, wild royal flush, and 4 deuces – come up between 0.02% and 0.42% of the time, respectively. The only exception is the natural royal flush, which only turns up once in every 45,000 hands or so.
It’s 10 times less likely to come up than 4 deuces, but the payoff is 4 times greater, too.
When you add all these expectations together, you get the overall expectation for the game – in this case, 100.76%.
Deuces Wild Video Poker Strategy Tips
Here are some tips for how to get closer to the optimal strategy for playing each hand in Deuces Wild video poker. This won’t get you to the top payback percentage, but it will get you closer to that then just trying to guess which cards to hold and which cards to throw away.
- You’ll never hold on to a single card – unless it’s a deuce. In other video poker variations, you’ll sometimes hold onto a high card, like a jack or higher. You never do that in Deuces Wild because it doesn’t help you.
- You’ll always hold onto any deuces you have. No matter what the pay table looks like, you’ll never discard a deuce when playing Deuces Wild. Some novices might think it’s okay to discard a deuce to try to hit the natural royal flush. That’s a mistake. Don’t do it.
- If you have one deuce, you’ll never hold just one card with it. Again, there’s really no benefit to having a high card along with a single deuce. High cards just don’t matter much in Deuces Wild.
- You should always keep a pair if your alternative is a 4-card flush or straight.
- You should also NEVER hold 2 pair. Just discard either pair – doesn’t matter which one, since high cards don’t matter. Focus hard on the 4 of a kind. If you stay focused on those 4 of a kind hands, you’ll have a hard time making bad decisions in Deuces Wild.
Conclusion
Deuces Wild is a great game because it offers 4 wild cards on every hand, but this changes your strategy dramatically.
But it also has some versions with some of the highest expected returns in the casino. Even if you can’t find full pay Deuces Wild, you can sometimes find NSUD, or not-so-ugly Deuces.
Either way, it’s well worth learning how to play.
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Deuces Wild is one of the original variations of video poker. This has been around since bar-top and stand-alone cabinets first appeared in casinos and bars around the country. The idea is simple. Deuces (twos) are wild. They can replace any of the other cards to make poker hands.
You’ll have a single drawing round in this game. To win you need a minimum of 3 of a kind. There are extra payouts that don’t appear in other games. Get four deuces with an ace, 3, 4 or 5 kicker in some variants – and you could win as much as a Royal Flush.
Deuces Wild is now available online in the regulated states. You can find it in live casinos, including in the famous GameKing consoles. This page has everything you need to get started. Below you’ll find how to play, payouts and strategy for this fast-paced game. There is also a look at the new ‘Elite’ version which is found at a handful of real money casinos.
How to play Deuces Wild video poker
Before you start a hand, you need to decide how many coins you’ll bet and whether you’ll play for real money or free. There is an incentive to bet 5 coins per hand. The default minimum coin size for a single hand game in live casinos is 25c – or $1.25 per hand. $1 is common, and bigger bets are available. Online you’ll be able to bet much smaller amounts.
You should reduce your coin size to a level where you are happy to play 5 coins. This gives you the best possible return. The top prizes listed below will assume 5-coin bets.
When you hit the ‘Deal’ button, 5 cards appear. Any Deuces (twos) will have ‘Wild’ written on them. These can replace any other card. They should always be held. Depending on what other cards you have, you’ll hold anywhere between zero up to all 5 of your cards. A message will appear, usually over the top of each card, indicating that it is held.
The strategy for which cards to hold is different from other video poker games. This is covered in the ‘strategy’ section below.
Next, you hit the ’Draw’ button. This instantly replaces any non-held cards with new ones.
Your best poker hand, including the wilds, is then calculated and you are paid if you qualify with 3 of a kind or better.
Payouts: A typical pay table for Deuces Wild Poker
There are two ways to get a Royal Flush in Deuces Wild video poker. You can get this as a ‘natural’, with ten through ace of the same suit. You can also get it with one or more wild deuces. There is a big difference in the pay table between them. Another unusual entry is the 5 of a kind line.
Deuces Wild Pay Table:
- Royal Flush (no 2’s): 4000
- 4 Deuces: 1000
- Royal Flush (with 2’s): 125
- 5 of a Kind: 75
- Straight Flush: 50
- 4 of a Kind: 20
- Full House: 20
- Flush: 15
- Straight: 10
- 3 of a Kind: 5
Return to player of Deuces Wild
A good pay table like the one listed above gives a big RTP (return to player), this can be around 99.46% with optimal play. While compared to pay tables in other games, these returns seem small – it is significantly easier to create good hands with one or more wilds.
As you will see below, there are alternative pay tables which include much bigger prizes for hands involving multiple deuces. Naturally, these are at the expense of lower prizes for other more regular hands.
Standard video poker games vs. Deuces Wild strategy
In a regular game like Jacks or Better, you’ll hold high cards when they are unpaired (especially suited ones). In Deuces Wild the rank of your cards makes no difference. There is no advantage in holding cards based on their rank alone.
You’ll always hold deuces. You also always hold 3 of a kind (with or without a single deuce). 3 to a Royal Flush and 4 to a straight flush (inside or outside) with a deuce should also be held – along with 4 to either an outside straight or a flush.
If you don’t have a deuce, you are holding made hands (3 of a kind or better), plus the best draws to straights and flushes only.
Deuces Wild Elite
Legal US online casinos, you’ll find a variation called ‘Deuces Wild Elite’. The game play and strategy are the same as the regular game described above. What is different are the payouts awarded for different hands containing 4 deuces.
Here is the pay table for 5 coins:
Full Pay Deuces Wild Strategy
- Royal Flush (no 2’s): 4000
- 4 Deuces + Ace: 2000
- 4 Deuces: 1000
- 5 Aces: 400
- 5 3’s through to 5’s: 200
- Royal Flush (with a 2): 125
- 5 6’s through Kings: 100
- Straight Flush: 45
- 4 of a Kind: 20
- Full House: 20
- Flush: 15
- Straight: 5
- 3 of a Kind: 5
Deuces Wild Optimal Strategy
Compared to the regular (bar-top style) games of old, Deuces Wild Elite has a polished and modern look. You’ll find the game play fast and smooth and all the information/rules available at the click of a button. The RTP for the Elite version of the game is 99.45% with 5 coins and 97.22% with 1 to 4 coins.
Wrapping up: Will you go crazy for Deuces Wild?
Having four potentially wild cards in every hand makes it easier to create big poker hands in this video poker variant. To balance this, the prizes for those hands are smaller than in other games. Deuces Wild became one of the ‘standards’ for video poker fans thanks to this all-action format.
Deuces Wild Optimal Strategy Game
You can now enjoy this game online as well as in live casinos. Many states including NJ, PA, MI and WV are launching online casinos. This means you’ll be able to gamble online within state lines. Check out the many video poker titles from the comfort of your own home.