SmartHold
9 / 6
QUADS NEED THE RIGHT KICKER
Double Double Bonus
Strategy guide
Aces and low quads receive large bonuses. Keep a qualifying kicker with completed bonus quads, but discard both side cards with trips. The chance of drawing the right kicker still affects earlier decisions.
Built for 9/6 Double Double Bonus.
REMEMBER THESE
The three rules that move the game
01
Keep a bonus kicker with made quads
Hold 2/3/4 with Four Aces, and hold A/2/3/4 with Four 2s–4s when that card activates the higher payout.
02
Do not drag a kicker with trips
With three Aces or three low cards, discard both side cards. You need two fresh draws to maximize the routes to the premium hand.
03
Ace pairs outrank Two Pair
Two Pair pays only even money. When one pair is Aces, keeping only the Aces is the core play.
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
Royal flush
Keep the jackpot hand.
02
Premium quads with their bonus kicker
Hold all five cards that earn the enhanced tier.
03
Other four of a kind, then straight flush
Keep four cards for ordinary quads; discard a non-bonus kicker.
04
Four to a royal flush
The premium draw outranks the remaining made hands.
05
Three Aces
Draw two and do not keep a hoped-for kicker.
06
Full house, flush, or straight
Keep the completed payout.
07
Trips, 2s through Kings
Draw two.
08
Four to a straight flush
Keep the premium suited run.
09
Pair of Aces, then Two Pair
Break Ace-high Two Pair; keep other Two Pair.
10
Royal draws and paying pairs
JQK can outrank Kings; TJQ can outrank Jacks or Queens.
11
Four-flushes, low pairs, and straight draws
This crowded middle is where exact practice matters most.
12
High-card fragments or draw five
Do not force a kicker story onto an unmade hand.
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 9/7/5 Double Bonus
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
2
DRAW
3
DRAW
The kicker is not held with trips
Both bonus kickers are already in the hand and both get thrown: three Aces drawing two is 12.27 per coin against 11.83 for keeping one. Two fresh cards improve the chance of finding the fourth Ace; the calculation also includes the chance of drawing a qualifying kicker. Triple Double Bonus reverses exactly this hand.
K
HOLD
Q
DRAW
J
DRAW
5
DRAW
K
HOLD
The pair of Kings holds off the flush draw
Double Bonus takes the four-card flush at 1.51 per coin, on the strength of a 7-for-1 flush. Drop the flush to 6 and the made paying pair wins instead: 1.45 against 1.32. Keep the two Kings and throw three cards of a royal draw.
9
DRAW
A
HOLD
8
DRAW
7
DRAW
J
DRAW
Straight draws lose to a lone Ace
Four to an inside straight with a high card is a Double Bonus hold at 0.49 per coin. The 4-for-1 straight here drops it below a single Ace drawing four — 0.46 against 0.40 — because the Ace is the card the whole pay table is built around.
COMMON TRAPS
Mistakes worth recognizing on sight
Keeping a kicker too early
The possibility of a kicker bonus affects EV throughout the draw. On this schedule, however, keeping a kicker with trips or a pair sacrifices too much draw value.
Holding all five with ordinary quads
With four Aces or four 2s–4s, discard a non-bonus kicker to draw for the higher tier. With four 5s–Kings, the fifth card cannot change the payout, so keeping or discarding it ties.
Treating Two Pair as safe
Its one-credit payout makes Ace pairs and several premium draws comparatively stronger.
TURN THE LADDER INTO INSTINCT
Practice Double Double Bonus
Every miss comes back through Review until the correct hold is automatic.