Deuces Wild VP simple strategy

I have been getting into deuces wild video poker lately. There are quite a few strategies online that are confusing because they contradict themselves. Then I found the Wizard‘s simple strategy which I do not fully understand. For example:

2 deuces

3. 4 to a straight flush with 2 consecutive singletons, 6-7 or higher

Does „consecutive“ here mean including the deuces or not? So is 6+ - 2 – 2 – 9+ valid? And why do the singletons have to be higher than 6-7, why not 4-5? What ist he logic behind this?

0 deuces

10. 2 to a royal flush, J, Q high.

I gather that a Q is the highest card you are allowed to hold, so no K – T or A – K?
I get it, that you can build more straights around a Q J than around an A K but isn’t a wild royal flush or even a royal flush more important?

Thank you

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I have been getting into deuces wild video poker lately. There are quite a few strategies online that are confusing because they contradict themselves. Then I found the Wizard‘s simple strategy which I do not fully understand. For example:

2 deuces

3. 4 to a straight flush with 2 consecutive singletons, 6-7 or higher

Does „consecutive“ here mean including the deuces or not? So is 6+ - 2 – 2 – 9+ valid? And why do the singletons have to be higher than 6-7, why not 4-5? What ist he logic behind this?

0 deuces

10. 2 to a royal flush, J, Q high.

I gather that a Q is the highest card you are allowed to hold, so no K – T or A – K?
I get it, that you can build more straights around a Q J than around an A K but isn’t a wild royal flush or even a royal flush more important?

Thank you
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I have no idea what singletons means, I just called them suited connectors(AKA no/0 gap). Any two deuces and 6-7ss, 7-8ss, 8-9, 9-10ss

With 5-6ss and below, there are fewer straights and straight flushes, and two (3 if a 3-card STF with a single D) of the cards that would help you make them are also the deuces.

No, wild Royals are not more important.

Also, you're dealing with a simple strategy; with the advanced strategy, you will hold some other two Royal combinations that don't include penalty cards. *See the advanced strategy to learn those changes.

The problem with penalty cards and advanced strategies is the minuscule amount you're saving/earning versus the time it takes you to look and notice could slow you down, thus making less per hour.


With enough practice, the advanced strategy isn't that difficult, and it becomes second nature. I think you'll feel better about yourself knowing that you're playing as optimally as possible, even if that means you might be making a tiny bit less per hour.

Ending with 7 means you can draw to 3-7, 4-8, 5-9 or 6-10 with natural cards. Ending with 6 reduces those by one since 2-6 includes a deuce. Your chances of drawing a deuce are the same, so 267 has better overall odds than 256.

Straight flush is important as well, so when you calculate the expected value of two to a royal flush ending in K or A you see that it's not worth much. T-A has a zero chance of winning a straight flush.

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Also, you're dealing with a simple strategy; with the advanced strategy, you will hold some other two Royal combinations that don't include penalty cards. *See the advanced strategy to learn those changes.

<penalty cards> I had to look that one up. Very interesting.

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With enough practice, the advanced strategy isn't that difficult, and it becomes second nature.

I think I will stick with the simple strategy for the time being.

Thanks for your answer

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Straight flush is important as well, so when you calculate the expected value of two to a royal flush ending in K or A you see that it's not worth much.

Where can you look that up?

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T-A has a zero chance of winning a straight flush.

Why is that? Because that combination can only form a royal flush?

Thanks for your answer.

Quote: OK

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Straight flush is important as well, so when you calculate the expected value of two to a royal flush ending in K or A you see that it's not worth much.

Where can you look that up?

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T-A has a zero chance of winning a straight flush.

Why is that? Because that combination can only form a royal flush?

Thanks for your answer.
link to original post

It has no chance to make a str8 flush and you limit your str8 possibilities making a redraw worth more.

Look up individual hands here...
https://wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/hand-analyzer/calculator/

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<penalty cards> I had to look that one up. Very interesting.

Now learn reverse penalties. Instead of cards that hurt your chances of making somthing, they increase your chances of making something due to favorable deck composition.

I suggest somewhere in between, perhaps a modified advanced simple strategy. I would start off with penalty card changes. It's it's not that hard to notice when you have a straight or a flush penalty card in the hand.

I'm late to the thread here, but there are several different pay tables out there for deuces wild games. You'll rarely see the 15-9-5-3-2-2-1 anymore (full pay). The strategy for NSUD is different (16-10-4-4-3-2-1) but still around 99.7%. This is the one I play the most. There are many other pay tables for much less where it requires again a different strategy.