OCL Simple Joker Poker Strategy Hand-by-Hand

November 2, 2014 by

If you’re a online video poker player that’s looking to ease into wild card games, then the first thing you should study is Joker Poker strategy. It’s only slightly different than Jacks or Better in terms of what you need to do to perform well, and it can help you to ease into more complicated wild card games. We have a few hand examples that will show you what needs to be learned to do well in this particular game.

Joker Poker Strategy Adjustments

Joker Poker StrategyWe’re going to focus on adjustments to make to Jacks or Better strategies here. Keep in mind that the traditional Joker Poker paytable only pays out for kings or better, so there are only two high cards before the draw. This means you’re going to run into more situations where you have a low pair and a draw, and you’ll have to decide how to play.

If you’re not holding a joker, high pairs are better than flush draws, and flush draws are better than low pairs. Low pairs are also still better than open-ended straight draws. This part of strategy is pretty straight-forward if you’re familiar with Jacks or Better.

Playing With the Joker

The main strategic adjustment you’ll have to make is playing with the joker in your hand. If you don’t have a good hand at all, keeping a small pair with your joker and a card that’s between five and ten is better than keeping just your joker. Moreover, keeping a flush draw with a joker is stronger than keeping a high pair with a joker.

Open-ended straight draws with a joker are tricky. If your joker is one of the outside cards, then it’s better than keeping a pair. However, if it’s one of the inside cards, then it’s worse than keeping a pair. For example, with a draw to 9876, the “inside” cards are the 8 and 7, and the “outside” cards are the 9 and 6. Which card your joker is substituting for is what determines whether it’s better or worse to keep a small pair.

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