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‘Not So Ugly Ducks’ Deuces Wild Strategy

Last Update: Jun 28, 2009

This section contains my intermediate strategy for the "Not So Ugly Ducks" deuces wild game, mostly noted by paying 16 for a 5 of a kind and 10 for a straight flush. The following table shows the probabilities and return based on optimal strategy.

Return Table for NSUD
Hand	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Natural royal flush	800	458740044	0.000023	0.018411
4 deuces	200	3722640204	0.000187	0.037351
Wild royal flush	25	38014202784	0.001907	0.047677
5 of a kind	16	61970767656	0.003109	0.049743
Straight flush	10	102265178496	0.005130	0.051304
4 of a kind	4	1217014431948	0.061055	0.244218
Full house	4	520619308704	0.026118	0.104473
Flush	3	413496638196	0.020744	0.062232
Straight	2	1142019668916	0.057292	0.114585
3 of a kind	1	5327850287628	0.267285	0.267285
Nothing	0	11105798652624	0.557150	0.000000
Total		19933230517200	1.000000	0.997278

Intermediate Strategy

Following is my intermediate strategy.

Hand	Expected Return
4 Deuces
4 Deuces	200

Hand	Expected Return
3 Deuces
Wild Royal	25
Five of a kind	16
3 deuces	14.344126 to 14.482886

Hand	Expected Return
2 Deuces
Pat Four of a kind to Wild Royal	5.02128 to 25
4 to a RF	4.382979 to 5.06383
4 to a SF: 0 or 1 gap except 34, 35, 46	3.212766 to 3.468085
2 deuces	3.034968 to 3.095035

Hand	Expected Return
1 Deuce
Straight flush to wild royal	10 to 25
4 to a RF	3.489362 to 4.106383
Flush to 4K	3 to 5.0213
4 to a SF: 0 or 1 gap	2.191489 to 2.510638
Straight	2
4 to a SF: 2 gaps	1.9574
3 of a kind	1.888067
4 to a SF: A low	1.680851
3 to a RF: J-K high	1.13136 to 1.379278
3 to a SF: 0 gaps (67 to 9T)	1.108233 to 1.153562
3 to a RF: A high	1.06013 to 1.07308
3 to a SF: 1 gap (57 to 9J), 45	1.010176 to 1.074931
4 to a straight: 0 gaps (567 to TJQ)	1
1 deuce	0.990867 to 1.026446

Hand	Expected Return
0 Deuces
Royal flush	800
4 to a RF	19.659574 to 20
3 of a kind to 4 of a kind	1.888067 to 25
4 to a SF	1.638298 to 1.914894
3 to a RF	1.304348 to 1.517114
4 to a flush	0.765957
2 pair	0.680851
3 to a SF: 0 gaps (567 to 9TJ)	0.547641 to 0.592044
Pair	0.546778
4 to a straight: 0 gaps (4567 to TJQK)	0.510638
3 to a SF: 1 or 2 gaps, 345, 456	0.412581 to 0.509713
2 to a RF: J or Q high	0.344249 to 0.407956
3 to a SF: A low	0.33765 to 0.345051
4 to a staight: 1 gap, 3456	0.340426
2 to a RF: K high	0.323343 to 0.341351
Toss everything	0.313949 to 0.332771

Methodology

My video poker program can produce an optimal strategy to any game. However the said optimal strategy to this game was 7798 lines long. I then went through by hand and grouped like hands according to my best judgment.

Play For Fun

Practice playing Not So Ugly Ducks on my free Java game.

Other Resources

For an NSUD strategy card I recommend the NSU Deuces Wild Strategy Cardby Bob Dancer and Liam W. Daily.

For software that can produce a strategy to most video poker games I recommend Video Poker Strategy Master by Tom Ski or Frugal Video Poker Softwareby Jim Wolf (contributions by Jean Scott).

My Video Poker Offerings
Basic Video Poker Info My main Video Poker page Return tables: Probability of Ruin for single-play video poker Random simulations of multi-play video poker The standard deviation of n-play video poker Practice / Play Video Poker for Free Play my free video poker game/trainer Video Poker Calculator Analyze the return for almost any video poker paytable Other Stuff Jacks or Better quiz Probability distribution for each hand by number of cards held in Full-Pay Deuces Wild Video poker programming tips San Diego County video poker survey	Strategies Full-Pay Jacks or Better: Simple Strategy (return of 99.46%) Intermediate Strategy (return of 99.52%) Optimal Strategy (return of 99.54%) Full-Pay Deuces Wild: Simple Strategy (return of 100.71%) Optimal Strategy (return of 100.76%) 3 to a wild royal (ace-high) vs. Deuce only 2 to a royal (king-high) with a straight penalty 2 to a royal (king-high) with no penalty Quick Quads: 9/6 Jacks or Better 8/5 Bonus Poker 9/7 Double Bonus 9/6 Double Double Bonus 8/5 Triple Bonus Other Strategies: "Not So Ugly Ducks" 8/5 Bonus Poker 10/7 Double Bonus 9/6 Double Double Bonus

‘Not So Ugly Ducks’ Deuces Wild Strategy

Intermediate Strategy

Methodology

Play For Fun

Other Resources

Basic Video Poker Info

Practice / Play Video Poker for Free

Video Poker Calculator

Other Stuff

Strategies

Full-Pay Jacks or Better:

Full-Pay Deuces Wild:

Quick Quads:

Other Strategies: