A Primer On Deuces Wild Optimum Strategy

• Published: September 21, 2018
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Online casino players like video poker games with wild cards and Deuces Wild is one of the most popular of such games. You will find it in the portfolio of all leading games suppliers like Microgaming and Playtech. Deuces Wild video poker offers an average return to player of about 99%. But in order to achieve this return you have to play using optimum strategy. The first part is simple. You always play Deuces Wild with five coins. The second part tells you which cards to hold from your dealt hand. This is the subject of this article.

If you are dealt four deuces, there is nothing better that you can do so you stay with your hand. With three deuces in the dealt hand it is not that difficult to work out the options. The tricky part is when two and only two of the five initial cards are deuces. A four step strategy for such hands is described below.

The first step is to check whether you hold a hand ranking of four of a kind or higher. If you hold a straight flush (using the two deuces as wild cards) or a wild royal flush then you hold all your cards. You may hold four of a kind as follows: 10H, 10S, 2D, 2S and 9C. This gives you four 10s. The optimum strategy here is to discard the 9C in the hope of getting another 2 or a 10 and reaching the higher ranking 5 of a kind hand.

If your cards do not fit into the above scenario then the second step of the Deuces Wild optimum strategy gets activated. If you hold four cards to a wild royal flush, then discard the fifth card. This may require you to break winning combinations that are lower ranked than four of a kind. For example, you hold a straight with the following cards: 2D, 2H, 9S, 10C and JC. The correct video poker play is not to retain the straight. You discard 9S in an attempt to end up with a wild royal flush. This decision will pay dividends in the long run because it has a mathematical basis following from the payouts and probabilities involved.

The third step is to hold cards that make a straight flush with the lowest card being a six. Lower ranked straight flushes use the wild deuce as a two. The fourth step comes into play if none of the above options are possible. You hold only the two wild deuces and replace the remaining three cards.