Two Card Joker Poker

Introduction

Two Card Joker Poker is a poker-based game seen at the Foxwoods casino in April, 2009. It is similar to Three Card Poker, except a regular deck with two jokers is used, and each hand consists of only two cards.

Rules

1. A 54-card deck is used, including two jokers. The jokers may only be used to complete a pair.
2. Player makes an Ante and/or Pair Up bet.
3. The dealer gives each player and himself 2 cards. The player may examine his cards. The dealer's cards are dealt face down.
4. If the player made the Ante bet, he must fold or call.
5. If the player folds, he forfeits his Ante wager.
6. If the player calls, he must make a Call bet, exactly equal to his Ante bet.
7. The dealer will reveal his cards.
8. The dealer needs a Queen high or better to qualify.
9. If the dealer does not qualify, the player wins even money on the Ante bet.
10. If the dealer qualifies, the dealer's hand is compared to the player's hand according to the hand ranking chart below, the higher hand wins.
11. If the dealer has the higher hand, then the Ante and Call bets lose.
12. If the dealer has an identical hand, then the Ante and Call bets push.
13. If the player has the higher hand, then the Ante bet pays even money and the Call bet pays according to the pay table below.
14. The Pair Up bet pays based solely on the rank of the player's hand, as shown in the Pair Up section below.

Strategy

Strategy for the ante bet is extremely simple: raise with Queen-Five or better, and fold with Queen-Four or lower. For example, King-Two is higher than Queen-Five, and Jack-Nine is lower thanQueen-Five.

Ante Game Analysis

The following table lists all possible outcomes. The lower-right corner shows a house edge of 3.15%. The average wager is 1.672956 times the Ante bet, which makes the element of risk for this game 1.88%, a better bet than Three Card Poker.

Pair Up Side Bet Analysis

The Pair Up side bet is similar to the Pair Plus bet in Three Card Poker, and can be made in addition to or instead of the ante wager. The following table shows the different possible outcomes for this bet. The lower-right cell shows a house edge of 2.0964%.

Detailed Hand Analysis

The following table shows the expected value of every possible hand. Hands with an expected value greater than -1 should be called, because they will lose less on average than the unit that would be lost by folding.

For academic purposes only, a strategy that raises every hand would yield a house edge of 6.8067% and an element of risk of 3.4034%.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank J.B. for his analysis of this game.

Written by: Michael Shackleford