How To Play Deuces Wild

Playing Deuces Wild video poker online is a little more complicated than playing Jacks or Better video poker. For one thing, you have to account for more variation from pay table to pay table. For another, the values of the hands—drawing hands and final hands—differ greatly because of the large number of wild cards involved.

• Deuces Wild Bonus Poker Strategy
• Learn How To Play Deuces Wild
• How To Play Deuces Wild Video Poker
• How To Play Deuces Wild Poker Machine Game
• How To Play Deuces Wild Poker Machine
• How To Play Deuces Wild Hold'em Fold Em

Mar 04, 2021 Basic Game Play Deuces Wild is a popular variant of video poker, where the objective is to get the best possible poker hand, but with the twist that all deuces counts as a 'wild' card.

• So, there are also games like Jokers Wild Video Poker on offer in most casinos too. In other games, there are wild cards other than jokers. For example, deuces wild video poker is really popular in the casinos. In this game, all the 2s are wild. Some people like to play multiple hands at once.
• A Beginner's Guide to Deuces Wild. Deuces Wild is an easy video poker variant to learn, and the game's signature feature of wild twos, or deuces, keeps the excitement levels high throughout. Whether playing for free or for real money, bettors will benefit from reading our full Deuces Wild guide for 2021. Discover the rules of the game, winning hands, strategies, bonuses, and more below.
• Deuces Wild Probably the most common of all poker variations played online today is Deuces Wild. This draw poker game uses the normal 52 card pack, but each of the four 'two point' cards or 'deuces' may represent any card chosen by the player who holds them in their hand.
• Deuces Wild is the most common form of wild card game in the world of video poker. It allows any of the twos in the deck to be turned into wild cards (4 out of 52), and that, in turn, means that you have a great chance of achieving big hands and top payouts.

If you’re just getting started with online Deuces Wild video poker, you should already know how to play Jacks or Better video poker. If you don’t know how to play Jacks or Better, go learn it first.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, you can get started learning how to play Deuces Wild video poker online with this post.

Side note: If you’re up for a challenge, there’s a fairly new game of online poker called Pai Gow Poker that’s worth checking out when you have a chance.

Are Video Poker Machines Random?

The first question some new online Deuces Wild video poker players might ask is this:

Are online video poker machines random? The answer is simple—of course they are. But let’s elaborate on that answer a little bit.

Online video poker machines, like all gambling machines, are powered by computer programs called “random number generators.” (You’ll often see that abbreviated as “RNG.”)

The way a random number generator works is this:

It’s a computer program that constantly generates numbers at a rate of thousands of numbers per second. When you press the “play” or “deal” button on an online video poker machine, the RNG stops on the number it’s generating that split second.

In games like online Deuces Wild video poker, each random number corresponds to a combination of 5 playing cards.

And since the probabilities behind a deck of cards are always based on a 52-card deck with 13 cards in each of 4 suits, is relatively simple for the programmers of the RNG to duplicate the probabilities you’d see from an actual deck of cards.

So not only are video poker machines random, they’re also predictably random in the sense that they have the same probabilities as a real deck of cards.

Choosing an Online Deuces Wild Video Poker Machine Based on the Pay Table

The most important thing that differentiates one video poker machine from another, besides the presence of wild cards, are the payouts for the various hands you might wind up with. The most basic kind of video poker, Jacks or Better, has no wild cards.

In all Deuces Wild video poker online games, the 2s are wild. But the variations in payouts for the various final hands can differ wildly.

Here’s one of the most common Deuces Wild video poker pay tables:

This pay table provides a skilled online Deuces Wild video poker player with a payback percentage of 98.91%.

This means that the house edge is about 1.09%, but it also assumes that you’re making the mathematically optimal play on each hand.

If you’re just playing by the seat of your pants, you might be giving up between 1% and 4% more in terms of strategy mistakes. That still makes online Deuces Wild video poker one of the best games available at online casinos, odds-wise.

With any gambling game, the payback percentage is less than 100%. That’s how the casino makes its profit in the long run.

But that’s not the only pay table for Deuces Wild that you’ll find. It’s not the best, and it’s also not the worst.

Changes in the payouts for those hands can have a dramatic effect on your potential payback percentage. And the higher the payback percentage, the better off you are as a player.

One pay table for Deuces Wild is called “full pay Deuces Wild,” and it’s going to make a liar out of me. Why? Because the payback percentage for full pay Deuces Wild is 100.76%, meaning you have an edge over the casino.

Of course, these pay tables are almost impossible to find, so my earlier generalization—that all gambling machines have a payback percentage of less than 100%–still holds for all practical purposes.

Here are the differences between the common pay table above and a full pay game:

Deuces Wild Bonus Poker Strategy

This is counter-intuitive, because you have dramatically lower payouts for 2 of the more common hands, and you only have an increased payout for 1 hand—a hand which is theoretically harder to get than the 2 hands with the reduced payouts.

But once you’ve done all the multiplication and division, the payback percentage is better for this version of the game.

Learn How To Play Deuces Wild

Another version of Deuces Wild is often called “Not So Ugly.” It has only 2 differences from the original pay table I posted:

The payback percentage for “Not So Ugly Deuces Wild” is 99.73%.

How To Play Deuces Wild Video Poker

This pay table is hard to find, too, but it’s easier to find than full pay Deuces Wild. If you can find it, it’s worth playing.

But unlike Jacks or Better, which only adjust the payout on 2 hands—the flush and the full house—the payouts on Deuces Wild are often adjusted on multiple hands at one time, making it harder to differentiate between one game and the other.

These apps will often provide you with an appropriate playing strategy, too.

How to Play Deuces Wild Video Poker Online Like a Smart Player with a Strategy

If you’re just a recreational player like me, the smartest and easiest strategy to remember when playing Deuces Wild video poker online is to remember to never discard a deuce. If you remember that, you’ll be ahead of a lot of the fish in the casino already.

If you’re interested in taking your game up a notch, though, you’ll need to find a Deuces Wild strategy card for the pay table you’re playing. The correct strategy does depend on which version of the game you’re playing, too.

These strategy cards consist of a ranked list of hands. You start at the top and work your way down until you find the highest-ranked hand that matches the hand you have.

Those are the cards you’ll hold. You’ll discard the other cards.

These strategy cards always sacrifice at least some tenths of a percentage to make them playable. A full, completely accurate pay table would be too complicated to actually use.

Just keep in mind that if you’re using a video poker online strategy card for a game with a different pay table, you’re sacrificing some percentage points back to the casino.

If you’re a recreational player, that’s okay, maybe—but if you have hopes of being an advantage player, you’ll want to get as close to the optimal strategy as possible.

Conclusion

Online Deuces Wild video poker is a lot of fun and offers some of the best odds in the casino, usually—but that varies based on the pay table.

And yes, the game is completely random.

The difference in pay tables is what changes the expectation for both the player and the casino. The casino doesn’t have the ability to adjust the randomness or lack thereof for the game.

Once you can differentiate between pay tables, you just need to find an optimal strategy and start playing.

Deuces Wild is just one of the many versions of Video Poker and therefore it is difficult to give a standard strategy for a general version.

We have compiled a strategy for some of the most popular versions. Please ensure you check the strategy for the version you are playing.

How to Play Deuces Wild

Deuces Wild is the same as other versions of Video Poker. You get dealt 5 cards, hold as many or as few as you want, the cards you discard are replaced by other cards from the pack and winnings are then paid. But, there is one major difference, which is that all four 2’s often known as Deuces are Wildcards and can be replaced by any other card to improve your hand. As there are 4 Wildcards, it is possible to get 5 of a kind, which isn’t possible in many versions of Video Poker, meaning the Strategy is completely different from other versions depending on how many Deuces you are dealt to start.

Payouts and Probability

First of all, let’s take a look at the possible winning combinations, how much each pays – remember this can vary from machine to machine and depending on how many coins you play – and how likely each is to come in.

As you can see from above, as the deuces are wild, not only is there a Five of a Kind in Deuces wild, there are also 2 versions of a Royal Flush, one using one or more deuces and one not using any. It is the one that doesn’t use deuces that pays the most, followed by Four of a Kind deuces, Royal Flush using one or more deuce then Five of a Kind.

It is imperative that this order is understood before you start playing the Deuces Wild Video Poker to ensure the optimal strategy is followed.

Due to the four wildcards, the minimum payout is Three of a Kind. A pair of Jacks or better and Two Pair count for nothing in Deuces Wild.

Deuces Wild Strategy

Now for the strategy part…

First, find the table depending on the number of deuces you are dealt. The chances are this will be 0, in which case use the top table. If you get 1, use the 2nd table etc.

Start from the top and work your way down until you find the hand that relates to the one you have. There will be some occasions where your hand appears more than once, in this case, follow the advice in the higher option as this will be the most likely for you to win.

No Deuce

* An outside Straight is where you require a card at either end to make the hand – e.g. 4, 5, 6, 7 – either a 3 or 8 would complete the Straight

How To Play Deuces Wild Poker Machine Game

** An inside Straight is where you require a card in the middle to make the hand – e.g. 4, 5, 7, 8 – only a 6 would complete the Straight
One Deuce

2 Deuces

How To Play Deuces Wild Poker Machine

3 Deuces
Hold if you have a Wild Royal Flush or Five of a Kind (so non-Deuces are a pair), otherwise just hold the 3 Deuces

The above is a guideline only in order to optimize your chances of winning, like many casino games, players do like to trust their instinct so feel free to do the same.

4 Deuces
Discard all other cards if you hold 4 deuces

Terminology

The following applies, in the above table:
Inside Straight – EG 5,6,8,9 – 4 Cards where there is one number missing that would complete a Straight.

Outside Straight – EG. 5,6,7,8 4 – Cards that are consecutive and where a card at either end can provide you with a Straight.

How To Play Deuces Wild Hold'em Fold Em

Related Articles:

Video Poker Strategy
Jacks or Better Strategy
Jokers Wild Strategy

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