Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker

Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker represents a little bit of a twist on the normal action that you get from standard wild card video poker games. If you manage a straight flush or four of a kind without the use of a wild card, you can get a special payback separate from what those hands pay with wild cards involved. It gives you a little something extra to shoot for while playing the game.

Video poker stands as one of the few casino games which really holds a lot of advantages for the player. In the case of most casino games, you have to balance out the positives with some pretty significant negatives. But video poker borrows the best parts of slots and table games and leaves out the bad stuff.

You can play video poker in so many different ways. The most basic format, Jacks or Better, is the most popular. But you can branch out from that and play many different twists on normal gameplay. In terms of those twists, wild card play is a popular favorite with video poker players. When you have wild cards in the deck, you can change them into whatever cards improve your hands the most. With wild cards, you can achieve many hands that wouldn’t likely be within reach without them.

Deuces Wild video poker is the most common wild card game. The twos, or “deuces,” in the deck are all wild. With so many wild cards, you won’t go too long without seeing one or more in your hand.

In the case of Deuces Wild, most pay tables include two separate paybacks for the royal flush, which is the rarest hand in the game. You get paid a significant amount for a royal flush achieved with a wild card. But you get paid more for a royal flush without a wild card in your hand, because it’s rarer.

On a normal Deuces Wild pay table, there’s no distinction between a straight flush or four of a kind made with or without a wild card. But in Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker, you get a little boost for those two hands when they’re achieved without a wild card.

That might not seem like much of a difference. But those who play video poker a lot know that, eventually, you get a shot at rare hands. Having that extra payback on Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker for the straight flush or quad hands provides a little extra incentive to play the game.

Like other video poker games, you should look for the most beneficial pay tables for Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. But since it’s a relatively rare game, you won’t have as much room to choose. Still, for casual players, Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker can be a great thrill. Its pay tables follow the “44” format for Deuces Wild pay, so you get the same payback for four of a kind and full house.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. We’ll show you how to play video poker and explain how wild cards work. Finally, we’ll discuss the important characteristics of this game, such as pay tables, payback percentage, and strategy.

Playing Basic Video Poker

As we said above, Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker creates an interesting variation on basic video poker. Maybe some of you are already familiar with the basics of the game. If that’s the case, you can move ahead to where we start talking about the specifics of wild card play.

But if you’re a newcomer to video poker, you’re about to find out what a fascinating and potentially lucrative game it is. There are many people who will play nothing other than video poker when they enter a casino. You’re about to find out why.

It turns out that video poker might just be the most gambler-friendly game you can play at casinos or on gambling websites. Learn some of the reasons why below.

  • Video poker comes in many varieties. We told you that Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker was one of these varieties, but there are literally hundreds more. As a result, you never have to get bored playing the same thing over and over again.
  • Video poker is easy to play. Even for beginners, the process of learning the game is smooth. Experienced poker players will have no problem at all getting started.
  • It’s a one-person experience. That means you don’t have to suffer any problems caused by others in the casino. No need to deal with employees or patrons if you don’t want to.
  • Video poker allows you to play with strategy. The better your decisions, the better your payback in the long run. It’s not just a mindless experience, as is the case with slot machine play.
  • Video poker is governed by the probabilities of a deck of 52 cards. As a result, you can anticipate how often winning hands will come your way. And you can then, in turn, use that knowledge to determine the average payback for the game you’re playing.
  • The game pays back pretty well. It certainly pays back better than slot machines. And, with the right strategy and a beneficial pay table, you can even expect to make a profit playing the game, which is a rarity in the casino world.
  • Video poker plays very smoothly online. The most popular video poker games can easily be found online at real money casinos. And you’ll find that there’s no difference in play between video poker in casinos and video poker online.

As you can see, there are a lot of benefits waiting for you if you play video poker. Now, all you have to do is learn how to play. Take a look at this step-by-step guide to get the hang of it before we move on the wild-card play of Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker.

Step 1: Fund Your Bankroll

A bankroll is necessary any time you settle in to play video poker at gambling websites or in casinos. If you’re playing at a machine in a casino, put some money or a redemption ticket into the provided slot. Those playing online will have to create a gambling account to fund their bankroll.

What you’ll notice in either case is that your bankroll will show up on the screen as units known as coins or credits. You’ll also find out that these units are equal to whatever the denomination you’re playing. In other words, if you’re playing at a quarter machine and win 10 credits, you’ll walk away with $2.50 (10 times .25).

Step 2: Make Your Bet

Betting in video poker is an important part of your strategy, although a lot of novice players don’t realize it. You’ll have the choice when playing Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker to bet between one and five credits per hand. And, if you choose, you can switch up the size of the bet every hand.

A lot of video poker newcomers think switching up the bet each hand is the way to go. They might try to “time” the machine, matching the size of their bet to when they think they’re due to win a hand.

In actuality, the software is set up so your chances of winning are exactly the same every single hand. As a result, trying to time the machine is a waste.

The smart play when betting at Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker, or just about every machine where the max bet is five coins, is to bet five coins per hand. When we get to the pay tables below, you’ll understand that the payback for the royal flush is the reason you need to do this.

If you achieve a pure royal flush without wild cards, which is the rarest and most lucrative hand in all video poker, on a hand where you bet one through four coins, your payback will be 250 to 1. But if you do the same thing on a five-coin wager, you’ll receive a payback of at least 800 to 1, sometimes more (as is the case with full-pay Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker).

Step 3: Play Your Hand

Video poker is, at heart, a computerized simulation of the card game known as Five-Card Draw. In both games, you’re dealt five cards and have to decide which of those cards you wish to keep in your hand. Any cards you discard will be replaced by others in the deck, with your goal being to make the best poker combination out of the five cards remaining in your hand.

But video poker gives you a little bit better chance of winning from hand to hand. When you’re playing Five-Card Draw, you have to beat everybody at the table either by having the best hand or by bluffing them into quitting their hands.

With video poker, all you have to do is make one of the winning hands listed on the pay table, since you’re not playing against anybody else. Here are the winning hands you’ll be trying to make when playing Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker.

  • Three of a kind
  • Straight (five cards in a row in rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
  • Flush (five cards of same suit)
  • Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
  • Four of a kind
  • Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
  • Five of a kind
  • Wild royal flush (royal flush achieved with the help of a wild card)
  • Four wild cards
  • Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)

When you look at this list, you should realize that the hands at the top are the easiest to achieve when playing Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. As you move down the list, the hands will be more and more difficult to achieve. The harder a hand is to achieve, the more it will pay.

If you’ve played the basic video poker game known as Jacks or Better, you might notice that the winning hands for Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker present a little bit higher threshold. For instance, the lowest-paying hand in Jacks or Better is a pair of jacks or better.

That’s not a paying hand in Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. The presence of wild cards makes it easier to make certain winning hands. As a result, the pay table is adjusted to account for this.

Once you’ve created your bankroll, made your bet, and hit the “deal” button, you’ll see five cards appear on the screen. These five will come from a simulated deck of 52 cards containing the same 52 cards in an actual regulation deck. When you hit the “deal” button, the cards stop their simulated shuffling and the top five will be your deal.

When you see this deal, you’ll assess which of the cards you have are worth keeping and which should be discarded. The cards that are discarded will be replaced by others from the deck on the draw. Keep in mind that the draw deck will contain 47 cards, since the five you were dealt are already out of play.

How do you make this decision?

Well, it depends on how close any of the cards you have are to making a winning combination. In some deals, you’ll have a winning combination right off the bat, which will make your selection easy.

There will be many deals when you’ll have more than one possibility in terms of what you might hold. When you count it all up, you’ll have 32 different combinations of what to hold and discard. Ideally, you’ll be able to make these choices easily and quickly so you can play as quickly as possible.

You also have to keep in mind the potential payback for the hands you’re pursuing. Is it better to go after a winning hand that you’re more likely to make on the draw but won’t pay too much? Or you should you take the chance on a hand that’ll require a lot of luck on the draw to attain but would pay back very well?

In any case, once you decide, you’ll press the button corresponding to the cards you wish to hold (if any). You’ll then press the “draw” button and the cards that have been discarded will be replaced. That will complete the hand.

You can keep playing like this as long as you still have credits in your bankroll. If you wish, you can always cash out at any point you want to quit. Now that you have the basics down pat, we can talk about the wild card play at the heart of Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker.

How Wild Cards Work

A wild card is any card designated beforehand as one that can be changed into any other card in the deck. The idea is that the card can be used the best possible way for that particular hand of video poker.

In the case of Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker, you’ll have four wild cards with which to work. The twos, or deuces, are the wild cards in this case. Since there are 52 cards in the deck, it means you have a one in 13 chance of seeing a wild card in any particular position on the video poker screen.

When you consider you’re getting five cards on the deal and perhaps even more on the draw, you’ll see wild cards show up in your hands often during gameplay for Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. The key is to understand how to use them, especially when you get them on the deal.

Let’s take a look at a sample hand to see how all this might work. Imagine that you received the following five cards on the deal while playing Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker.

Two of Hearts, Four of Diamonds, Five of Diamonds, Six of Diamonds, Six of Hearts

Without a wild card involved, this would not be a winning hand. But the two of hearts is a wild card, which means you can use it in a way that helps your hand the best.

When you get a wild card on the deal like you did hear, you can speculate on how it might work. That speculation will help you make the decisions about what to hold and discard.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to declare what you want the wild card to be. You could have one thing in mind for it, but the draw might change your plans. Once the draw comes, the wild cards in your hand will automatically be turned into the card that helps your hand the best.

Going back to our example hand, you can see that you have a pair of sixes. If you were to hold these two cards and the wild card, you know you’d have three of a kind going into the draw. That would ensure you of a winning hand, once that can conceivably be improved with the cards you get on the draw.

You could also build this hand around the four, five, and six of diamonds. By imagining the wild card working in conjunction with these cards, you could see that a straight, flush, or even a straight flush are in play. These are higher-paying hands than the three of a kind, but you run the risk of losing the hand outright if you go in this direction.

For the sake of our example, let’s assume that you decide to hold on the four, five, and six of diamonds along with the wild card. Here is what could happen on the draw:

Two of Hearts, Four of Diamonds, Five of Diamonds, Six of Diamonds, Four of Clubs

The addition of the four of clubs changes the complexion of this hand. You now have a pair of fours, which means that the best way that the wild card can be used is to turn it into another four. That will give you three of a kind.

As you can say, the presence of wild cards will give you a lot of flexibility while playing Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. In many ways, it also makes strategy a little easier, since you know you’ll be holding them going into the draw. It’s just a matter of knowing what to do with the other cards.

For the most part, you’ll play Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker without noticing much difference from a common Deuces Wild game. But there are certain hands that twist the game ever so slightly, as you’ll find out when you check out the pay tables for the game.

Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker Pay Tables

What makes Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker different from basic Deuces Wild? You’ll be able to see it best by looking at the pay table for the game.

It’s an instructive lesson, because the pay table is a crucial piece of information for anyone who wants to play video poker well. You’ll be able to tell so much from a pay table, include strategy, payback percentage, and volatility of a given game.

In the case of Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker, you’ll see how it differs from most Deuces Wild games. Take a look at the full-pay pay table, which is the version of the game that is most lucrative, on average, for players.

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1000 4700
Four deuces 200 400 600 800 1000
Straight flush 50 100 150 200 250
Wild royal flush 25 50 75 100 125
Five of a kind 15 30 45 60 75
Four of a kind 10 20 30 40 50
Wild straight flush 9 18 27 36 45
Wild four of a kind 4 8 12 16 20
Full house 4 8 12 16 20
Flush 3 6 9 12 15
Straight 2 4 6 8 10
Three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5

You might notice right off the bat that the payback for the royal flush with five coins is actually at 4,700 coins. Most video poker pay tables top out at 4,000 coins for that hand.

But the key difference with Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker comes when you look at a common Deuces Wild pay table.

Take a look at a pay table for a common “44” Deuces Wild game. (It’s called “44” because, like Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker, it pays off 4 to 1 for both wild four of a kind and full house hands):

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1000 4000
Four deuces 200 400 600 800 1000
Wild royal flush 25 50 75 100 125
Five of a kind 15 30 45 60 75
Straight flush 11 22 33 44 55
Four of a kind 4 8 12 16 20
Full house 4 8 12 16 20
Flush 3 6 9 12 15
Straight 2 4 6 8 10
Three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5

You can probably tell just by looking at it that this pay table isn’t quite as long as the Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. And that’s because the Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker table includes a couple special hands that aren’t on this one. Those hands are the straight flush and four of a kind achieved without the help of a wild card.

Those hands turn out to have pretty significant payoffs compared to the wild card versions on the Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker pay table. Take a look.

Hand With Wild Card Without Wild Card
Straight Flush 9 to 1 50 to 1
Four of a Kind 4 to 1 10 to 1

Here are examples of what these cards would look like:

  • Straight Flush With Wild Card: Four of Hearts, Five of Hearts, Six of Hearts, Two of Clubs, Eight of Hearts
  • Straight Flush Without Wild Card: Four of Hearts, Five of Hearts, Six of Hearts, Seven of Hearts, Eight of Hearts
  • Four of a Kind With Wild Card: Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Two of Hearts, Ace of Spades, Six of Clubs
  • Four of a Kind Without Wild Card: Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Spades, Six of Clubs

In the common Deuces Wild game, you would get just a uniform payback for these hands, whether or not you have a wild card involved. Basically, Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker gives you a few different ways to win.

As a “44” style pay table, it also gives you a little bit more consistency in terms of the payouts. To make a comparison, this is a pay table for a common Deuces Wild game that doesn’t have the “44” or Deluxe format involved.

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1000 4700
Four deuces 200 400 600 800 1000
Wild royal flush 25 50 75 100 125
Five of a kind 15 30 45 60 75
Straight flush 9 18 27 36 45
Four of a kind 5 10 15 20 25
Full house 3 6 9 12 15
Flush 2 4 6 8 10
Straight 2 4 6 8 10
Three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5

We’ve given you a lot of information about the different pay tables surrounding Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker and similar Deuces Wild games. But the bottom line for video poker players is knowing how much a game pays back. In the case of the full-pay Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker, the news is pretty good.

The payback percentage for the full-pay version of the game is 100.65%. In other words, you could expect to make $65 after playing a $10,000 bankroll. This is based on the probabilities of achieving winning hands and the payback for those hands.

It doesn’t mean your results will always turn out that way. Luck could certainly play a factor, especially if you’re only playing a short session of the game. But the average results will be positive if you play Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker on a regular basis.

Why is this important?

Well, if you’re a regular at casinos, you probably know about something called the house edge. In short, the house edge is in place to keep gamblers from putting casinos out of business.

As a result, any game that gives the edge to players is a rarity. Thus, Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker is a highly valuable game if you can find it in full-pay version. But there’s more good news. You might not be able to find the full-pay version of the game. But there’s another pay table with an over 100% payback percentage.

Take a look:

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1000 4700
Four deuces 200 400 600 800 1000
Straight flush 50 100 150 200 250
Wild royal flush 25 50 75 100 125
Five of a kind 15 30 45 60 75
Four of a kind 10 20 30 40 50
Wild straight flush 9 18 27 36 45
Wild four of a kind 4 8 12 16 20
Full house 4 8 12 16 20
Flush 3 6 9 12 15
Straight 2 4 6 8 10
Three of a kind 1 2 3 4 5

This pay table brings in a payback percentage of 100.32%. Keep in mind that this percentage doesn’t even take into account any rewards that you might earn from casinos or gambling websites for frequent play. That could bump your profits up even more.

If you find a Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker near you, expect it to be pretty popular. Savvy gamblers know the games that are most lucrative. You should consider making this your regular video poker game if you can.

Strategy for Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker

We told you above that Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker is a great game to play in terms of its payback percentage. But the only way you can hope to reach that percentage is if you play the game perfectly, with no strategic errors.

What exactly do we mean by that? Well, for every deal you receive in a game of Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker, there will be 32 different combinations of holds and discards you can choose.

For example, you can hold all five cards, discard all five, hold the card in position #1 and discard the other four, hold positions #1 and #2 and discard the other three, and so on down the line. That’s true for every hand that you play.

But there is only one of those combinations which will maximize the winning potential for each specific set of five cards that you’re dealt. You need to know what that combination is for every possible deal that you might receive.

What happens if you make the wrong choice? Well, you can get away with it occasionally. Remember that the draw is random, so occasionally you can get lucky on the draw even if you make an incorrect choice.

But luck like that can only last for so long. Eventually, the probabilities will take over. And your wrong choices will start to shave points off your payback percentage to the point where you are frittering away the edge that you have playing Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker.

You might think you can figure out the right plays for yourself. And you might be able to do that 95% of the time. Many deals in Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker make the choices pretty obvious for you.

Yet, as you play the game, you’ll be confronted with deals which give you two, maybe even three legitimate potential combinations of holds and discards, which all seem plausible. You might think you can separate these choices on your own and choose the right one.

But the math is extremely complicated and it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to get it right every time. This is especially true when you’re trying to play the game quickly. Every wrong choice lowers your expected payback percentage.

For that reason, you should try to get some help to learn perfect play for Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. Luckily, there are some resources to which you can turn to help you do this.

If you use one of our recommended methods of video poker strategy instruction, you’ll find that all of the math is already done for you. It’s just a matter of learning the right play based on what these methods tell. This can take a little time, but it will be worth it to you if you can achieve perfect play.

Here are the two methods we recommend for you to learn perfect Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker strategy.

Video Poker Training Software

Training software can be found online for most popular games like Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. Or you can find one that allows you to input information from a pay table so it can customize its instruction.

Make sure you can do that if the software isn’t specifically designed to continue this game.

Once you have the software set up, you can play practice hands. When you’re faced with a tough choice about what to hold and what to discard, the software will point you in the right direction. After you’ve practiced like this for a while, you’ll know the right play in every situation.

Strategy Charts

Again, you have to make sure that the chart you find is specifically tailored to Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker. Otherwise, you could end up getting led in the wrong direction. You have to memorize the chart so you can have all the necessary information in your head for your next video poker session.

Strategy charts teach perfect play by ranking the card combinations that you might get on the deal. You can then compare that information with the cards you have on your own deal. That will let you know what to hold and what to discard in every possible case.

Pros and Cons of Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker

Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker Pros

  • More winning hands available than traditional Deuces Wild play
  • Wild card play lets you make winning hands normally not within easy reach
  • Payback percentage for this game is exceptional

Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker Cons

  • It can be tough to form winning hands if you don’t get a two on the deal or draw
  • Strategy for wild card play can get a little tricky
  • Wild card games are always a little more volatile than video poker games without them

Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Deluxe Deuces Wild Poker video poker lets you make key winning hands with or without wild card. Some of those winning hands will pay a lot more if you can find a way to achieve them without a two acting as a wild card. And the bottom-line payback of this game is substantial enough that you should seek it out if at all possible.