Video poker trainer

9/6 Jacks or Better, five coins. Tap the cards you want to hold and draw. The coach scores your hold against all 32 possible holds using the exact expected value of every draw from the remaining 47 cards, not a strategy chart, so it is right on every hand including the odd ones.

 

Deal a hand. Hold cards by tapping them. Draw, and the coach tells you the best hold and what yours cost.

How the coach scores a hold

For each of the 32 ways to hold a dealt hand, the trainer deals every possible replacement from the 47 unseen cards, pays each result on the 9/6 table, and averages. That is the exact expected value (EV) of the hold, in coins won per coin bet. The best hold is the one with the highest EV. Your cost on a hand is the gap between the best hold and yours; over a session the total cost, divided by hands, is how far you sit below the game's 99.54% return.

Two habits produce most of the cost. Holding a "kicker" with a pair (never right in Jacks or Better). And breaking a paying hand for a draw when the draw is worth less: a made flush is worth 6, four to a royal is worth about 18, so you break the flush; but a made straight against four to a straight flush stays, because the straight flush draw is worth about 3.

9/6 Jacks or Better pay table (five coins)

HandPays (per coin)
Royal flush800 (4,000 for 5 coins)
Straight flush50
Four of a kind25
Full house9
Flush6
Straight4
Three of a kind3
Two pair2
Jacks or better1

The "9/6" is the full house and flush payouts. Optimal play returns 99.54% on this table. The same game paying 8/5 returns 97.30%, and 6/5 returns 95.00%; before you sit down, read the full house and flush lines. The royal only pays 800-to-1 at five coins (it is 250 per coin at fewer), which is why the trainer assumes max coins. Play a lower denomination rather than fewer coins.

Where this fits

Video poker at 99.54% is one of the cheapest games in the building, and it is rated play: the comps guide shows what a session of it is worth in theo, and the players cards comparison shows which clubs pay points on it (most do, at a lower rate than slots). Blackjack tournament player? Final Hand is the trainer for that.

Sources

Strategy and education only. Nothing here guarantees a win; the best play on this table still loses 0.46% of coin-in over time.