SmartHold
99.64%
EIGHTY FOR EVERY QUAD

Bonus Deluxe

Strategy guide
A 9/6 Jacks ladder with two changes that pull opposite ways: every four of a kind pays 80 regardless of rank, and Two Pair returns only the bet. Draws gain ground; pairs quietly lose a little.
Built for 9/6 Bonus Deluxe: quads pay 80, Two Pair pays 1, and the royal pays 800 per coin.
REMEMBER THESE

The three rules that move the game

01

Rank never matters on quads

Four 5s pay exactly what Four Aces pay, and there is no kicker rule. An isolated low card has no special quad value. A lone Ace can still be a useful paying-pair draw.
02

Two Pair only returns the bet

Reducing Two Pair from 2 to 1 lowers the value of many pair and high-card holds. The 80-for-1 quad award offsets some of that loss; compare the full pay table, not just one row.
03

Marginal straight draws move up

Because the fallback holds lost value, a four-card inside straight is worth keeping even with no high card in it. Check for stronger alternatives, especially three-card straight-flush draws, before keeping the inside straight.
DECISION LADDER

Start at the top; compare overlapping choices.

CORE ORDER
“Pat” means keep all five. “Four to” or “three to” counts the held cards, including any wild cards. An outside straight such as 5-6-7-8 can finish at either end; an inside straight such as 5-6-8-9 needs one rank. A-2-3-4 and J-Q-K-A also have only one completing rank. Discarded cards stay out of the draw and can weaken a competing hold.
01
Pat royal, straight flush, or four of a kind
Keep it. Every quad pays 80, so there is no rank to chase.
02
Four to a royal flush
Still breaks a made flush, a made straight, or a paying pair.
03
Full house, flush, or straight
Keep the made hand: a 9-for-1 full house beats breaking back to trips.
04
Three of a kind
Draw two for quads or a full house. Trips are worth about 6.6 per coin on an ordinary dealt three of a kind.
05
Four to a straight flush
Keep the premium suited run.
06
Two pair, then Jacks or Better
Two pair still wins even at even money; splitting it for one pair is worse.
07
Three to a royal versus four to a flush
Neither always wins. With A
J
10
9
Q
, keep four hearts: 1.28 per coin versus 1.24 for the three-card royal.
08
Low pair
Ahead of every four-card straight — and worth a shade less than the same pair on 9/6 Jacks.
09
Four-card outside straight
Eight outs at 4-for-1.
10
Inside straights and three-card straight flushes
Inside straights gain ground, but compare suited draws and the exact high cards before choosing.
11
High cards
Suited and unsuited high-card combinations can beat a lone high card. Discarded cards can reverse close choices, so the 9/6 Jacks answer is not automatic.
12
Bare inside straight, then draw five
Four to an inside straight with no high card still beats a fresh five on this table.

Why this isn’t an exception chart

Suits, gaps, discarded cards, and custom payouts can move close hands. This is a compact learning guide, not a complete first-match chart. For wild games, use only the branch for the wild cards actually dealt. SmartHold Practice compares all 32 holds for the exact deal. EV means average total return, including the stake, per coin wagered; it is not profit or the chance of winning. The examples use the schedule named above.
WORKED EXAMPLES

The deals that split from 9/6 Jacks or Better

5
HOLD
6
HOLD
8
HOLD
9
HOLD
2
DRAW

A bare inside straight is a hold

No pair, no high card, no flush — on 9/6 Jacks this is a fresh five, worth 0.359 per coin against 0.340 for the draw. Two Pair paying only the bet is what drags the fresh five down here: 0.340 for the inside straight against 0.325.
10
HOLD
9
HOLD
4
DRAW
K
HOLD
J
HOLD

The inside straight over the high cards

Jacks or Better keeps King-Jack and draws three, 0.483 per coin. Bonus Deluxe keeps the four cards to an inside straight instead, 0.468 against 0.446 — the same trade, one rung higher up the ladder.
COMMON TRAPS

Mistakes worth recognizing on sight

Playing it like Bonus Poker

There are no rank tiers here. Aces have no extra quad bonus, but they remain paying high cards; isolated low cards do not.

Reusing 9/6 Jacks pair habits

Two Pair pays 1, which shades lone high cards, three-card royals, and drawing five downward.

Discarding a bare inside straight

A bare inside straight beats drawing five, but first check for a stronger suited draw.
TURN THE LADDER INTO INSTINCT

Practice Bonus Deluxe

Every miss comes back through Review until the correct hold is automatic.