Ultimate X

When playing Ultimate X Video Poker 10 hands, and have a 12x multiplier on all hands, when you are dealt 2 pairs and one of those pairs is Aces, statistically do you follow the standard video poker guidelines and only hold the Aces, or do you hold both pairs hoping for a full house?

The multipliers that are up in UXP shouldn't change the strategy. If it's correct in UXP to toss the underpair and hold the aces with a 2x multiplier on a line, it should be the same with a 12x multiplier. But I think most of the strategy tables in UXP have you keep the two pair... assuming you are playing with the bonus feature (i.e. betting 10 per line and not just vulturing multipliers and doing 5 per line). That's because usually the full house multiplier is 12x on most games, and is going to be like 3x for an unimproved two pair.

If you're just betting 5 coins, either because you are vulturing or planning on leaving the machine without multipliers, than you just go with the standard strategy that you'd employ in a non-UXP game. If the base strategy says toss the underpair, you're probably going to be maximizing volatility along with your EV... so if you're on a short bankroll, you might have better utility by keeping the two pair and taking the small EV hit in favor of a higher median average AR.

You might find this link helpful. Wizard posts the return tables for UXP variants, and if you scroll to the bottom he has a link to strategies of different variants as well as an explanation for how to create your own strategy for games like Deuces Wild or Bonus Deuces Wild.

PS. Well.. guess it doesn't let me link yet, even if it's to the sister site.
wizardofoddscom/games/video-poker/tables/ultimate-x/

Why wouldn’t the multipliers that are up change the strategy?

It might be complicated, but if you had a perfect VP computer, there must be some situations that it would make a difference.

What base game are you playing? This answer is different for JOB than it is for games that bonus quad aces.

Quote: FinsRule

Why wouldn’t the multipliers that are up change the strategy?

It might be complicated, but if you had a perfect VP computer, there must be some situations that it would make a difference.

Yes, the optimal strategy would depend on the multipliers. However, analysis of this game shows the multipliers don't affect the strategy much. In the interests of simplifying the strategy, we ignore them.

Double Double Bonus Poker

Quote: enichols77

Double Double Bonus Poker

For all the Double Double UX, max bet (10 coins per line), 10 line pay tables I checked, holding just the two aces is the way to go with all 12 times multipliers.

For the 99.87% EV pay table, this is true when the sum of all the multipliers is 50-120. Below that, hold the two pairs.

This is based on exact EV calculations.

But has the biggest debate about this game been solved?

Is it called “ultimate x” or “ultimate times” poker?

With all 12X on board you'd definitely want to not hold 2 pair. You'd want to hold AA instead.

The multiplier independent strategy assumes the average current multiplier is 2 which is roughly what it is for ultimate x in average. But if you have all 12X on board, the current EV is much more important.

When the average multiplier is 12X:



When the average multiplier is 2X:

Quote: GaryJKoehler

For all the Double Double UX, max bet (10 coins per line), 10 line pay tables I checked, holding just the two aces is the way to go with all 12 times multipliers.

For the 99.87% EV pay table, this is true when the sum of all the multipliers is 50-120. Below that, hold the two pairs.

This is based on exact EV calculations.

Good to know Gary. If I ever get a scenario over 5X average per hand, I'll definitely go for AA instead!