How to Play Pairs and Straights in Video Poker

Holding a pair in video poker offers a significant advantage because it immediately puts you in a position to improve to a stronger hand on the draw potentially. At a minimum, you are guaranteed to receive your initial wager back with a pair of Jacks or higher in many standard pay tables. More importantly, discarding the other three cards gives you multiple opportunities to complete three-of-a-kind, a full house, or even four-of-a-kind, all offering substantially higher payouts than just the pair itself. This inherent potential for improvement makes holding a pair a cornerstone of many video poker strategies, balancing the guarantee of a small return with the possibility of a much larger one.

The decision to break a low pair, such as twos through tens, in pursuit of a straight or flush draw is a complex one that depends heavily on the specific pay table of the video poker game you are playing. Generally, it is more often correct to hold onto a low pair than to chase a four-card straight or a four-card flush. This is because the probability of completing the straight or flush on the draw is less than the probability of improving your low pair to three-of-a-kind or better. However, in specific advantageous pay tables, particularly those with generous payouts for straights and flushes, or when you are just one card away from a high straight (like J-Q-K-A) with a low pair, the potential reward might outweigh the risk of losing the guaranteed return of the pair. It's crucial to consult a strategy chart specific to the video poker variation you are playing to make a mathematically sound decision in these scenarios.

Playing a four-card straight draw involves assessing the potential payout of a completed straight versus the value of any other potential hands you might draw to. An open-ended straight draw, meaning you have four consecutive cards with a gap at either end (like 7-8-9-10), is generally a stronger holding than an inside straight draw, where the missing card is in the middle (like 7-8-10-J). This is because an open-ended draw has twice as many potential completing cards. In most common pay tables, drawing to a four-card open-ended straight is usually correct, discarding the fifth card. However, if you also hold a high pair along with the four-card straight draw, it is almost always better to keep the high pair due to its immediate payout and potential for further improvement to three or four of a kind. The specific cards in the straight draw also matter; for instance, a four-card straight with high cards like Jack, Queen, King, and Ace might be valued slightly higher due to the possibility of also drawing a high pair.

The presence of one or more high cards (Jack, Queen, King, or Ace) within a four-card straight draw can slightly influence your decision, but generally, it doesn't change the fundamental strategy of drawing to an open-ended straight. The primary value of the draw lies in the potential to complete the straight, and the addition of a high card offers a secondary, albeit less likely, chance of pairing that high card on the draw. However, as mentioned before, if you already hold a high pair and also have a four-card straight draw, you would typically prioritize keeping the guaranteed payout and potential improvement of the high pair over the lower probability of completing the straight. The pay table also plays a role here; in games with higher payouts for straights, the presence of a high card in the draw might make it a slightly more attractive option when the decision is close.

Breaking a completed straight in video poker is almost never the correct play in standard video poker variations and pay tables. A straight is a paying hand, and the odds of drawing a higher-paying hand by discarding one or more cards are statistically very low. The only extremely rare exceptions might occur in very specific and unusual pay tables where the payout for a straight is exceptionally low compared to the payouts for hands like a flush or a full house, and you are holding a straight with cards that could also contribute to a four-card flush or a four-card full house draw with high-ranking cards. However, for the vast majority of video poker games, once you have a straight, you should always hold all five cards to secure the payout.