ULTIMATE FOUR OF A KIND DEUCES WILD STRATEGY

The next ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind’ series game that we’ll cover is the ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind Deuces Wild’ version. ‘Deuces Wild’ is a favorite of ‘sharp’ video poker players and recreational enthusiasts alike and when you throw in the ‘sixth coin bonus’ feature offered in the ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind’ series it becomes all the more exciting—and all the more volatile.

The same advice goes for this ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind’ variation as goes for the rest of the genre. If you’re not going to invest the sixth coin to activate the bonus feature you’re much better off playing a ‘regular’ Deuces Wild game. The return percentage on the most common ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind’ Deuces wild paytable isn’t bad with the bonus activated—a respectable 99.65%. If you’re going to play without the bonus, however, you’re not going to get that return. More importantly, you can find a much better return percentage on a variety of other ‘Deuces Wild’ variations.

‘Ultimate Four of a Kind‘ is usually found in the same multigame format as ‘Ultimate Aces‘. Like ‘Ultimate Aces‘ these machines offer a number of very common rulesets with the ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind‘ bonus added. In most Jacks or Better, several ‘bonus poker‘ variations such as Bonus Poker and Double Bonus Poker along with a couple of Deuces Wild variations. We’ll cover each of the games individually since they each have a unique paytable and in some cases their own dedicated strategy decisions.

The overwhelming majority of ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind’ machines are of the three hand variety though IGT did make a limited number of single hand versions. The single hand variation of the game offers a couple of unique twists—if a player gets a Four of a Kind on the deal he gets an extra pick. Also, if he draws a joker in the bonus round it comes to an end no matter how many ‘picks‘ he has remaining.

ULTIMATE FOUR OF A KIND RULES

The ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind‘ series has slightly different rules from game to game. On the ‘Jacks or Better’ version, there’s only one hand that activates the bonus feature. On some of the ‘Bonus Poker‘ games, there are multiple hands. For the most part, the game plays like a normal version of the specific ruleset. When a player makes the bonus hand on the draw (usually 4 of a Kind) he activates the bonus feature. For the ‘Deuces Wild’ variation of ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind’ the machine will make the distinction between a ‘natural’ Four of a Kind (no wild cards) and every other ‘Four of a Kind’ (with wild-cards). The ‘natural’ quads will activate the bonus feature while a four of a kind with wild-cards will not.

Two other hands will activate the bonus feature since they’re technically ‘four of a kind’ hands. One is the ‘Four Deuces’ mini jackpot. The other is another hand distinction unique to this game—a ‘Five of a Kind with One Deuce’ which obviously includes a ‘natural’ four of a kind.

When the bonus feature is activated, the player picks cards face down from a 53 card deck (Joker added). Since the majority of the ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind‘ machines in use are three hand games the player is awarded picks for each qualifying hand. Some games (eg: the ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind Bonus Poker’ games) awards different amounts of ‘card selections’ for certain hands. On this machine, however, each qualifying hand awards one selection. The cards the player selects are revealed and based on their value a bonus of varying amounts are paid. This also varies slightly from one variation to another.

BONUS CARD PAYS

• JOKER 4000
• ACE 500
• 2-4 360
• 5-K 200

Since the ‘Joker‘ pays the same 4000 coins as a Royal Flush these bonuses can add up quickly. With expert play, the ‘Ultimate Four of a Kind Deuces Wild’ returns 99.65%. The strategy is the same as on a ‘regular‘ DW machine:

ULTIMATE FOUR OF A KIND DEUCES WILD STRATEGY

Deuces Wild strategy decisions are determined not only by the hand you’re dealt but also by how many deuces you’re holding. The chart below will show the ranking of hands to hold in descending order. If a particular hand isn’t on the list discard everything and draw five cards.

FOUR DEUCES

Hold all four Deuces and collect the 1000 coin (with max bet) ‘mini jackpot‘.

THREE DEUCES

Hold the three deuces and draw two cards. The ONLY exception is if you’ve been dealt a pat Royal Flush. In that case, hold all five and collect the 125 coins.

TWO DEUCES

Hold any ‘pat‘ Four of a Kind, Five of a Kind, Straight Flush or Royal Flush.

If you don’t have a pat hand hold the two deuces and draw three cards with the following exceptions:

• Four to a Royal Flush
• Four to a Straight Flush

These three exceptions notwithstanding, hold the two deuces and draw three.

ONE DEUCE

With one deuce and no deuces, the strategy gets a bit more complex. Not many situations to with four, three and two deuces but it’s important that you memorize the following decision hierarchies. Here are the hold strategies for a hand with a single deuce:

• Dealt 4 of a kind, 5 of a kind, Straight Flush or Royal Flush
• Four to a Royal Flush
• Full House
• Four to a Straight Flush
• Dealt Three of a Kind, Straight or Flush
• Three to a Royal Flush
• Three to a Straight Flush ONLY if you have two consecutive cards six or higher. So:
  • 2W 7 8 X X would be a playable hand and you should draw two to the straight flush.
  • 2W 4 5 X X would not be playable. You should hold the deuce and draw four cards.
• Any other hand not listed above is unplayable. Hold the deuce and draw four.

NO DEUCES

• Dealt Royal Flush
• Four to a Royal Flush
• Dealt Three of a Kind, Full House, Four of a Kind, Straight Flush
• Four to a Straight Flush
• Three to a Royal Flush
• Any Pair
• Four to a Flush
• Four to an Outside Straight
• Three to a Straight Flush
• Four to an Inside Straight
• Two to a Royal Flush J-Q high. In other words, 10-J, 10-Q, J-Q
• Discard all five cards and draw a new hand

The important thing to about playing a hand with no deuces. Don’t even THINK of playing it the same way you would a Jacks or Better hand. If you don’t have anything to work with you’re much better off drawing a new hand—knowing that four deuces remain in the deck—than trying to draw with only one or two outs to complete a low paying hand.