Optimal strategy: not so ugly duck Deuces Wild but with a progressive jackpot

I've recently relocated to the Carson City/Reno area and every casino (at least 15) I've played at these past 2 years use the "ugly ducks" payout but have a progressive jackpot with 5 coin play (sometimes only 100 for dirty royal, tho). In fact, I've never seen any payouts other than the ugly duck system going from Jackpot, NV west to the Lake Tahoe area in the past 2 years. (basicly the whole Northern NV area)

Majority of the progressive payouts here: (5 coin) 5 10 15 20 20 45 60 100 1000 *jackpot*(where jackpot is 4000 plus)

2 questions: 1) does the split 2 pair rule hold when full house pays the same as four of a kind?? and 2.) do play strategies change when there's a jackpot payout increase of 20% or better for a natural royal ?? For example, going for the jackpot and sacrificing 3 of a kind, straight, flush, etc. if you have 3 to a royal in hand. Do you have a strategy listing ??

Quote: ziggyff

I've recently relocated to the Carson City/Reno area and every casino (at least 15) I've played at these past 2 years use the "ugly ducks" payout but have a progressive jackpot with 5 coin play (sometimes only 100 for dirty royal, tho). In fact, I've never seen any payouts other than the ugly duck system going from Jackpot, NV west to the Lake Tahoe area in the past 2 years. (basicly the whole Northern NV area)

Majority of the progressive payouts here: (5 coin) 5 10 15 20 20 45 60 100 1000 *jackpot*(where jackpot is 4000 plus)

2 questions: 1) does the split 2 pair rule hold when full house pays the same as four of a kind?? and 2.) do play strategies change when there's a jackpot payout increase of 20% or better for a natural royal ?? For example, going for the jackpot and sacrificing 3 of a kind, straight, flush, etc. if you have 3 to a royal in hand. Do you have a strategy listing ??

1) When the full house pays four units, keep two pair. When it pays three, keep one pair, discarding the other.
2) Yes, but those strategies vary according to how much the increase is relative to the base royal jackpot. At a 20% increase, keep all two-card royals (assuming no deuces, and with the only alternative play being to draw five), aven something like A10, and ignore penalty card considerations for that play.

In order to develop a good strategy for progressives, you need to get some decent VP software, and print out strategy charts with the royal increasing to $1,200, $1,400, $1,600, etc. Then note which plays change as the royal increases.

There are two places that I know of in Reno offering fullpay deuces wild: Silver Legacy (.25 denom) and Atlantis (.05 denom, 10-coin).

The paytable you quote is pretty bad; the straight flush, 5 of a kind, and wild royal are all shorted, so you are playing below 98% return. I wouldn't touch this game unless the royal was at least at $1600.

Ziggy: Want to enjoy yourself and have fun? Then yes, understand what the right plays are and try your best to make them. But don't worry one lick about if a game is full pay or not, or even if you screw up some holds. You never know. Lots of people spend all their energy scouring casinos for the best pay tables, then they are too fatigued to follow through on making all the best holds. For the short time you are there anything can happen, and if you follow what advantage players tell you then you might as well do EVERYTHING they leave out as they make it all appear so easy:

1. Play perfectly with no errors.
2. Play as fast as you can in order to get in as many slot club points as you can. This will help you justify your losses at the end of the trip. In fact, play 2 machines at the same time if it's allowed and you are able.
3. Play as many hours as you are awake, allowing the game to take over your vacation.
4. Prepare to become severely addicted to playing, which in turn can very easily lead to becoming a problem gambler.
5. No need to report back with a "Jerry, I should have listened to you". I understand completely!

Good luck and have a great time!

To follow up: the .25 fullpay deuces at the Silver Legacy are on the first floor, in the southeast corner, near the entrance. They are not marked as such. The fullpay deuces at the Atlantis have been downgraded, but there are still Loose Deuces and Super Bonus Deuces, both of which return over 100.1%, in a circular bank between the coffee bar and the poker room. Those are five or ten-coin .05 or .25 multigamers.

Other good Deuces plays in the area are Almost Positive Deuces (25-15-11-4-4) at the Tamarack (.25; 99.96%) and NSUD at the Carson Nugget (99.73%, with 3, 5, 10 line games available in .05/.10/.20/.25 denoms, and 0.5% cashback). Also, at the Fandango in Carson City, there's a bank of 8 bartops that feature FPDW with a progressive, at 20 nickels per play--that's the best game in Carson OR Reno.

So you don't need to settle for NSUD in Reno/Carson; there are much better plays available. Be sure you know the differences between NSUD and FPDW:

1. Full house: hold two pair in NSUD, hold one pair in FPDW.
2. 4 card flush w/pair: hold the 4-flush in NSUD, hold the pair in FPDW.
3. 3-card or 4-card straight flush w/ one deuce or two deuces; in FPDW, SF must be consecutive cards, not lower than 6; in NSUD, cards can be one-gap, and as low as 5
4. Dealt 5-of-a-kind w/three deuces; draw two to the three deuces in FPDW, if the pair is 9 or lower; keep all five cards in NSUD

The above rules changes aren't the only ones necessary, but they'll do until you get some more practice.

deleted