Before happily landing at Flip the Switch, I covered New England Casinos and video poker for nearly 20 years. One topic that drew some mixed responses was “penalty cards in video poker.” Penalty Cards are definitely for higher-level players.
How important are your hold decisions to you? Video poker players re-evaluate the relationship between pushing the buttons and deciding which cards to hold. For most recreational players, understanding basic strategy is a sufficient strategy. After all, recreational gambling should be fun and not work, right? But recognizing penalty cards can enhance higher-level decision-making.
What Is a Penalty Card?
Understanding and managing penalty cards is crucial if you want to optimize advanced strategy and maximize expected value (EV) in gameplay.
A penalty card is dealt with the first five cards that is typically kept or discarded in basic strategy. Recognizing penalty cards will cause a small change from basic strategy because of the way it affects the remaining deck’s combinations. A card is not a penalty card in isolation. It is a penalty to a normal-looking first five-card draw.
Penalty Cards Slightly Change Optimal Strategy
A discarded card can reduce the number of useful cards available for a proposed draw. Two starting hands can look almost identical, with one card only different by suit.
A strategy rule may normally favor one type of straight or flush draw, but a discarded card of the needed suit or rank can lower the number of winning completions.
This is an advanced strategy. Such small changes in strategy are confusing to the vast majority of players. A compact strategy chart containing the exceptions is very useful to have. Getting it correct could mean plus or minus 30 or 40 credits for a straight, flush, or straight flush
Examples of Penalty Card Changes
- In games like 9/6 Jacks or Better, it’s often better to hold three cards to a royal flush instead of four cards to a flush due to potential penalty cards.
- Flush Penalty Cards most visible — A player with a suited 10 and king should keep them if no other cards of that suit are present, as discarding could lead to missed opportunities for a flush, straight flush, or a royal flush. Discarding a card that completes a flush reduces the number of cards left in the deck that can help complete that flush, impacting the player’s strategy.
Different Pay Tables from the Usual
Suppose two Jacks or Better machines pay the same amount for a royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, straight, and lower hands, but one pays 9 units for a full house and 6 for a flush while another pays 8 and 5. Those differences change the value of draws that can finish as full houses or flushes. If a flush pays more, losing one flush-completion choice matters. If a straight pays differently, straight penalties change.
Altered four-of-a-kind bonuses in Bonus, Double Double Bonus, and Triple Double Bonus games mean penalty cards of different ranks can alter basic strategy.
That means a penalty exception learned for one schedule should not be carried blindly into another.
A Disciplined Routine Prevents Video Poker Errors
Remember, the cabinet name tells you the game family, while the pay table tells you the actual game variation you are buying.
A practical video poker routine is deliberately unglamorous. Matching the optimal strategy to the game name and assuming a particular pay table is usually the first mistake that will decrease your expected return. Slow down when two holds look close, or you realize some questionable holds or discards. Recognizing penalty cards may alter your strategy and not decrease your EV.
The Moral of the Story for ALL Video Poker Players
Video poker is misplayed often because the machine disguises complexity behind a very easy interface – the pay table. Pressing buttons is simple. Correctly ranking five-card decisions according to a specific pay table is the actual game.
Personally, I feel it is more important to play proper general strategy and not worry about the exceptions. But it’s more about preparation to play the best strategy you can. The more a player treats pressing buttons and making many decisions as identical, the more likely small, repeatable mistakes become part of every session.
