What Makes Deuces Wild Popular?

It is no secret that video poker is one of the best games to play at the casino. Based on five-card draw poker, you will find video poker machines littered around pretty much every casino on earth. Many players who are committed to video poker typically are for one major reason: with a house edge notoriously lower than other games, it is often regarded as the smart way to gamble.

The most primitive poker machines (which came to prominence in the 1970s) looked like old-school TV monitors with buttons at the bottom of a frame. The software wasn’t too far removed from the arcade game “Pong,” and the sounds were pretty dull. Nevertheless, the game caught on. Over the years, software improved, and the machines moved with the times, but that old-school charm is still very much there.

It goes without saying that the most common versions of video poker are Jacks or Better. This means that the lowest payout you can get is for a pair of jacks. Anything below a pair of jacks – such as a pair of 10s or a pair of 7s – will see you lose your bet. In games like Deuces Wild, this concept is turned on its head. We will explain how it all works in this essential guide.

If you are new to video poker, you will undoubtedly see or hear the term “full-pay” quite often in your quest to learn everything about this game.

The term has been commonly used to describe a machine – or version of a video poker title – which pays highest. On the opposite end of the spectrum, machines which paid lower were imaginatively called “short-pay.” This term is not as widely used these days by video poker experts or enthusiasts, however, as there are many different versions of video poker. Most of these variants return a high amount to the player.

In Deuces Wild, the potential return can be as high as 100.76%. This is, as stated above, clearly a huge selling point of the game. In order to avail of the maximum return, you must first use the best strategy to ensure you’re getting the best out of the game.

We will break down the strategy for Deuces Wild below, which will give you the information you need to have the best chance of winning. Before we do that, we will look at how to play the game.

Depending on your experience with video poker machines, some things may appear a little strange at first. If you have absolutely no track record of playing video poker, you have to start somewhere. For players who know these types of games inside out, moving from one variant to another shouldn’t cause too many headaches. What bonds both the novice and the experienced player, however, is that they should both be using a strategy when playing.

In this guide, we will explain why a strategy is important. No one strategy will work for each and every video poker machine, as they will come with their own differences. As we previously mentioned, the majority of video poker games you can expect to find in a casino are based on Jacks or Better.

It would be pretty difficult to miss the pay table when playing Deuces Wild. It is right there in front of you! Located above the cards which are drawn, you will see, in descending order, the highest payout – for a natural royal flush – right down to three of a kind.

Once you have your bankroll set and have found a full-pay machine, you are ready to rock.

Your First Game of Deuces Wild

In order to avail of the highest maximum payout on Deuces Wild, you will be required to play with 5 coins, known as “Bet Max,” or sometimes, “Max Bet.”

This will ensure that you are eligible for the highest payout in the game, which is usually 4000 coins (80x your bet). If you opt for a lower denomination of bet, then this will affect your strategy, so keep this in mind. By playing at 1, 2, 3, or 4 coins, you are denying yourself the chance to win the highest payout on the machine.

The first step in your strategy for playing this game is choosing the right denomination. If you feel as though you cannot afford to play at five coins, you might have the option to lower the coin amount, which means that you can. Think about it: imagine scoring a natural royal flush when you are playing on one coin. Now, imagine how sweet it would have been if you were playing for five. Don’t be that guy.

The Deal

Once you have selected the “Deal” button, you will receive your first five cards.

As we mentioned above, Deuces Wild is a form of draw video poker, so you have a decision whether to discard or keep all, some, or none of the five cards on the screen. The aim of the game is to find the best hand from the cards you want to keep. You could be lucky enough to be dealt a strong five-card hand like a royal flush, four deuces, or the like, but if you are not, you must hold onto the cards that can make your final hand strong.

You will usually find that there is an “Auto-hold” function which you can play with on the game. This is a built-in feature of the system which essentially picks out the best cards in the hand for you. In certain cases, this feature can be turned on or off from the options menu, according to your preferences.

Have I Won?

Once you have played your hand, the software will automatically let you know if you have won or lost.

The pay table will flash – or in certain cases produce a highlight – on the combination you have won. For example, if you have four deuces in your final hand, the line on the appropriate section of the pay table will have a red line through it or will flash. There is pretty much no way to miss a win in this case, unless you are blindfolded and are blasting death metal through your earphones.

Your best bet is to be aware and attentive. Understand the game and pay attention when you are playing! You just might learn something you previously missed.

When we look at the full-pay Deuces Wild pay table below, we can see that anything below four deuces is pretty modest in terms of payout.

The natural royal flush is by far the best-paying hand you can hope for. When playing with max coins, you can win 4000 coins, which is enough to get the juices flowing. This certainly makes it worth your while to read the best strategy – which we have laid out below – for a shot at the top prize.

When you compare the 9/5 Deuces Wild payouts to many other Jacks or Better variants, it is clear where the differences are. A standard pair of jacks or above will not be enough to win you anything at all. However, if you do get a pair of jacks or above and a 2, you will pick up even money on your bet. The 2 acts as a wild, so your two jacks now become three of a kind.

Therefore, it is always a good idea to analyze the pay table in cases where you cannot find a full-pay game. There will be times when you don’t have the best option at your disposal. Hands which lower the smaller wins to increase the bonus payouts are the ones which will affect you most, given that these are the hands most likely to appear over the course of a certain number of games.

In video poker, strategies are devised according to the probabilities of hands occurring and the payouts for particular hands. Given that these are able to be calculated – as we know the number of cards in a deck – we can work out that the least probable hands are the ones which naturally pay out more. In basic terms, this is why you will win more for a royal flush than you will a pair of kings. In any video poker game, this principle underpins why – from a casino’s perspective – the game is profitable.

In this case, a strategy comes in as crucial. In order to stand a chance of winning such an improbable hand, most games should pay something back. While Jacks or Better will pay evens in any game of its ilk, Deuces Wild pays back even money for three of a kind. If a player could, in theory, win this on most games, they would still be in with a shout. It is a little more complicated than that, so please read on, and we will explain how to use our Deuces Wild strategy.

Using the Deuces Wild Strategy

In Deuces Wild, the first thing to remember is the value of any deuce. This is a wildcard and will, therefore, help you put together the best hand possible (aside from a natural royal flush). If you have all of the other cards for a natural royal flush with a deuce, you will have a wild flush anyway. Discarding a wild flush in the hope of landing a royal flush is not advised in any case.

The best potential scenario will be at the top of the chart. Below, we will look at charts covering what to do when you have between zero and four deuces. Remember that you should start from the top of the chart (which represents the best scenario) and work your way down until you identify the best potential hand to play.

When Playing with 4 Deuces

• Retain pat royal flush (royal flush on the first deal) – the highest hand on the pay table
• Play 4 deuces. You have the second-highest-scoring hand on the pay table

When Playing with 3 Deuces

• Retain pat royal flush (royal flush on the first deal) – the highest hand on the pay table
• Play 3 deuces. With an additional pair, you will have five of a kind. If you don’t have a pair, discard the other two cards

When Playing with 2 Deuces

• Retain pat royal flush (royal flush on the first deal) – the highest hand on the pay table
• Retain pat four of a kind or better. A deuce will make this five of a kind
• Retain wild royal flush
• Retain five of a kind
• Retain a straight flush
• Retain four of a kind
• Retain four to a wild royal flush
• Retain four to a straight flush

When Playing with 1 Deuce

• Retain pat royal flush (royal flush on the first deal) – the highest hand on the pay table
• Retain wild royal flush
• Retain five of a kind
• Retain a straight flush
• Retain four of a kind
• Retain four to a wild royal flush
• Retain a full house
• Retain any four-card straight flush
• Retain three of a kind
• Retain a flush
• Retain a straight
• Retain four cards to a straight flush with a gap
• Retain four cards to a straight flush with two gaps
• With a deuce, retain ace, 3, 4 suited; ace, 3, 5 suited; or ace, 4, 5 suited
• Retain three to a royal flush (without ace)
• Retain three to a straight flush
• Retain three to a royal flush (with ace)

When Playing with 0 Deuces

• Retain pat royal flush (royal flush on the first deal) – the highest hand on the pay table
• Retain four to a royal flush
• Retain straight flush
• Retain four of a kind
• Retain full house
• Retain three of a kind
• Retain a flush
• Retain a straight
• Retain four to a straight flush
• Retain three to a royal flush
• Retain any pair
• Retain four to a flush
• Retain four to a straight
• Retain a three-card straight flush
• Retain 10 and queen suited or jack and queen suited
• Retain four to a straight
• Discard all

As you can see from the tables above, there are a number of hands which can be made when playing Deuces Wild. Following this information will prevent you from making errors which can eat into your bankroll. It is crucial to stick to the strategy if you are serious about increasing your chances of winning.