Video Poker · Premium practice
Video Poker Hold Decisions: Learn What to Keep
Compare the expected payout of your hold, understand kickers, and use Coach or Test Me to check a decision before judging the result.
Updated October 14, 2026
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Score the decision before the replacement cards arrive
A good hold can lose, and a weak hold can get lucky. Expected return compares the average payout across legal replacement draws. It is not a promise for the next hand. A mathematical analysis of Jacks or Better treats this as a conditional-expectation problem.
Lucky Penny evaluates the 32 possible hold masks against the remaining 47 cards. It uses your selected credits and denomination, including the five-credit royal bonus. An exact tie between best holds counts as an optimal decision.
Start with clear hands
On a dealt royal flush, keep all five. With four of a kind, the four matching cards form the paying hand; the fifth card is a kicker. A pair uses two cards, trips use three, and two pair uses four. These groups explain the payout highlights, but highlights on the final hand are not a strategy recommendation for the original deal.
A low pair can be worth holding even though that pair alone does not pay. It can improve to two pair, trips, a full house, or four of a kind. Overlapping straight, flush, and royal draws make a universal short rule unreliable; compare the actual hand in Coach.
Read the three hold comparisons
Coach lists the strongest holds with their average amount returned and the percentage of draws that form a paying hand. The highest paying-hand frequency is not necessarily the highest expected return: a rarer large award can change the comparison.
Use this hold selects the best listed cards. The gold HELD markers confirm what will survive the draw. You can change those selections before drawing.
Test your own judgment
Switch to Test Me before choosing. Make the hold and draw; the review then compares your original decision with the best expected return. The comparison uses the dealt cards, not hindsight from the final result.
The Account optimal hold rate includes completed ordinary hands assessed with Coach or Test Me. Demos and practice examples are excluded. A small sample of assessed hands is a starting point, not proof of consistent skill.
Try it at the table
Try five hands with separate practice credits. Full play requires Premium access; the guide is open to everyone.
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