Poker Straight Flush Card
Straight Flush
I first had to learn the poker game. When the straight flush pays more, there are several differences in strategy. To find out what they were, I tried to check the hands systematically, investigating those with straight flush potential. I first looked at 4-card straight flushes compared to 5-card straights hands such as 4H, 5H, 6H, 7H, 8C. It turns out that it’s still slightly better to keep the straight, as long as all cards are ten or below. However, if there are one or more high cards in the straight flush, as in 8S, 9S, TS, Jack S, Queen H, it’s better to try for the straight flush. The presence of the three jacks remaining to be drawn (and return even money) is enough to make the difference in the play.I then checked the 3-card royal flushes compared to high pairs, as well as 3-card royal flushes compared to 4-card flushes. There were a lot of these and they weren’t easy to figure out. For example, from King C, Queen C, Jack C, 5C, 4D, you hold KOJ in the 10/7/80 version of this game rather than the KOJ5 in the 10/7/50 version, but from King C, Queen C, Jack C, 5C, Jack D or King C, Queen C, Jack C, 5C, 9D, you hold KQJ5 in both games.
Strategy
I knew that double inside straight flushes with no high cards were close in value to either a J or an A, depending on straight interference. So I checked those. And I checked many other hands too. I spent at least 10 hours finding and memorizing these differences. As I look back on the notes I took then, I see now that I missed quite a few of the strategy changes and about operation. I know a lot more about various kinds of interference than I did then and the available tools (for analysis) are better now. Still, I went forward at the time with the best tools I had. At about 8 o’clock one evening, I took my eight grand and went off to Bally’s to seek my fortune. Their high-limit room, called Champagne Slots, was essentially empty A host was idly chatting with a cashier when I walked up and asked to buy $5,000 in $25 tokens. This got their attention. Before I could sit down I had the host’s card in my hand with a promise that he’d be available 24/7, forever and ever, to get me anything my little heart desired. Well, maybe he didn’t promise quite that much, but it sounded like it. I tried to be cool, as though I did this all the time. “I’ll get back to you. Right now I’m more interested in getting four aces than I am in eating.”
Handle the Machine
“Okay, fine. But don’t forget, I’m right here.” It took all of 20 minutes for the poker online game machine to swallow the $5,000. Slurp and it was all gone. Feelings of dread began to spread over me. I started feeding hundred dollar bills into the machine, each one worth only slightly more than a single bet. The cashier came over and asked me if I wanted to buy more tokens. I told her that I’d try the bills for awhile. “Maybe it’ll change my luck.” Two minutes later, I was dealt four 3s for a $6,000 payoff and I was even again. Phew! I now knew that $8,000 was a pitifully small bankroll with which to attack this machine, but I kept going anyway. I moved over to the adjacent machine and before I’d been paid for the 3s, I hit four kings for $3,750. I started to breathe normally again. This might turn out to be an okay experience after all.
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