A Different Version of NSU Deuces Wild - Part III of III

Two weeks ago I began a discussion comparing the "normal" version of NSU Deuces Wild (16-10-4-4-3) and another version that I arbitrarily called Super NSU (15-11-4-4-3). You might wantBob Dancer is one of the world's foremost video poker experts.  He is a regular columnist for Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and the Las Vegas Review-Journa land has written an autobiography and a novel about gambling.   He provides advice for tens of thousands of casino enthusiasts looking to play video poker.  Bob's website is www.bobdancer.com  to check out the earlier columns (available a few mouse-clicks away) before reading this one. Today I want to look at one-deuce 4-card straight and two-deuce 4-card straight flushes.

   1. One-deuce 4-card straights

In both games, a 4-card straight in the range of W567 – WTJQ is ALWAYS worth 5.000 coins. The deuce by itself is sometimes worth a little more than 5 coins, and sometimes a little less. For a discussion of WHY the value of holding the deuce by itself varies, see the "Power of the Pack" discussion in the Dancer / Daily Winner's Guide of the game. This has absolutely nothing to do with penalty cards.

The rules for when you hold the straight and when you hold the deuce in NSU are as follows. I consider them worth memorizing, although others disagree.

W567 --- not when the fifth card is a Q, K, or A

W678 --- not when the fifth card is a 3, suited K, or A

W789 --- not when the fifth card is a 3 or suited 4

W89T --- no exceptions. Always hold the straight.

W9TJ --- no exceptions. Always hold the straight.

For our examples, I'm showing cases where going for the straight is barely correct or barely incorrect. Notice that as we found last week, drawing four new cards to the deuce is worth about a penny more in SNSU than it is in NSU. The reason that there are so many differences between NSU and SNSU in this area is that there are a lot of differences worth LESS than a penny.

W567 --- only when fifth card is a T, unsuited with the 7

W678 --- only when fifth card is a J or unsuited Q

W789 --- only when fifth card is a Q or unsuited K

W89T --- only when the fifth card is a 4, 5, or K unsuited with the T

W9TJ --- only when the fifth card is a 4, 5, or 6

WQJT --- only when the fifth card is a 5, 6, or 7

Note that the charts have rotated in perspective between the two games. The SNSU chart shows when you SHOULD hold the straight and the NSU chart shows when you SHOULD NOT. The reason for this difference is that in NSU you USUALLY hold the straight and in SNSU you usually don't. If you are going to be memorizing both charts, it'll probably be useful to you to rephrase one of the charts. Why don't I do this for you? Because if the information is going to be useful to you, you're going to have to own it and practice with it extensively. Rephrasing it is the easiest part of that process. Anyone who objects to doing that doesn't have the personality to make use of the information anyway.

I currently do not have these SNSU exceptions memorized because I haven't found the game for stakes I would play. But when I do, I will.

   2. Two deuce 4-card straight flushes

If you've ever been to one of my deuces wild classes, you probably remember the section where we counted how many perfect cards would complete a straight flush. That is

WW'78 --- no insides --- eight cards complete the straight flush

WW'56' or WW'57' --- one inside --- seven cards complete the straight flush

WW'46' or WW'58 --- two insides --- six cards complete the straight flush

WW'59' --- three insides --- five cards complete the straight flush

If you haven't attended one of my classes, you should probably verify the numbers above. It's key to understand why there are differences in games between whether you hold WW'46', for example, and WW'57'.

This makes it clear that in SNSU, you hold the 4-card straight flush with either 0, 1, or 2 insides. In NSU, you hold the 4-card straight flush with 0 or 1 inside only.

The difference between the second and third example is that the king is suited with the WW'46' in the third case and not the second. This doesn't change the play, but it does make it closer.

Learning all of this is hard work, make no mistake about it. To me this is more pleasant work than going out and getting a job, but that's a value judgment where others disagree.