Holding Kicker Cards in Video Poker

A kicker should be held only when the expected value of keeping it exceeds the expected value of drawing an extra card. The fact that a paytable advertises “four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 kicker” does not mean a low card should automatically be kept beside a pair or three aces.

That is the central kicker lesson: a card can qualify a rare premium hand and still be a bad initial hold.

“Kicker” means something different here

In table poker, a kicker can break a tie between players. Video poker has no opposing hand. The machine pays the final five-card category printed on its paytable.

In Double Double Bonus, for example, four aces accompanied by a 2, 3, or 4 may receive a higher award than four aces with another fifth card. The low card is called a kicker because it changes the final payout category. It does not improve the rank of a pair of aces, and it has no independent value unless the paytable assigns one.

Kicker rules commonly appear in:

• Double Double Bonus;
• Triple Double Bonus;
• selected proprietary bonus-poker variants;
• multi-hand versions of those games.

They normally do not apply to conventional Jacks or Better. Classic Bonus Poker separates quad payouts by rank but usually does not create an ace-with-low-kicker category. Always read the actual paytable rather than transferring a rule from a similarly named game.

Every extra held card reduces the draw space

From a five-card deal, 47 unseen cards remain. If you hold two cards, the machine draws three cards from those 47. If you hold a third card as a kicker, it draws only two.

The number of possible draws is:

Possible draws = C(47, d)

where d is the number of replacement cards and C(n, d) is the combinations formula.

Keeping a kicker therefore removes thousands of possible three-card draws when the alternative is holding only a pair. The premium payout must compensate for the lost chances of making trips, a full house, ordinary quads, and other paying outcomes.

Pair of aces plus a low card: the low card usually goes

Consider this deal in a representative 9/6 Double Double Bonus game:

A♠ A♥ 4♦ 9♣ K♣

Assume the paytable pays, per unit wagered:

• 400 for four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 kicker;
• 160 for four aces without the qualifying kicker;
• 9 for a full house;
• 6 for a flush;
• 4 for a straight;
• 3 for three of a kind;
• 1 for two pair or a high pair.

Holding only the two aces produces these 16,215 possible draws:

The average return is approximately 1.9142 units per unit wagered for this specific dealt hand.

Holding A♠ A♥ 4♦ leaves only 1,081 two-card draws. It guarantees that any completed four-aces hand carries the premium kicker, but it sharply reduces the number of ways to improve the pair. The resulting average return is approximately 1.5911 units.

So the attractive-looking kicker hold gives up about:

1.9142 − 1.5911 = 0.3231 units of expected return

The result is deal-specific and paytable-specific, but the method is general. The 4 is not valuable merely because it appears in the premium-hand wording.

Three aces create a closer decision—and sometimes reverse it

Now consider:

A♠ A♥ A♦ 2♣ K♣

In the same representative Double Double Bonus paytable, holding only the three aces and drawing two cards has an expected return of about 12.4894 units. Holding the 2 as well and drawing one card returns about 11.8298 units. Discarding the kicker is still better.

Change the paytable to a representative Triple Double Bonus schedule in which four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 kicker pays 800 units while four aces without it pays 160. Under that assumption:

• hold three aces: approximately 15.6633 units;
• hold three aces plus the 2: approximately 19.4255 units.

The much larger kicker premium reverses the decision. This is why “always discard the kicker” is just as unreliable as “always hold it.” The correct instruction belongs to a named game, a specific paytable, and a particular five-card deal.

For the game-specific hierarchy, use Double Double Bonus strategy or Triple Double Bonus Poker, not a generic poker instinct.

When the kicker is already part of a made premium hand

If the dealt hand is four aces plus a qualifying low kicker, hold all five cards. The premium category is already complete. Discarding the kicker would surrender a guaranteed award for a draw that can only keep or reduce the result.

The same principle applies whenever the screen already shows the highest available payout category for that exact five-card combination. Before pressing draw, verify:

1. the machine correctly marked all five cards as held;
2. the paytable category includes the displayed kicker;
3. the wager level qualifies for the displayed award;
4. no progressive or multi-hand rule changes the settlement.

Gaming-device standards require card-game simulations to use approved rules, clearly identify held and non-held cards, and evaluate winning combinations according to the submitted game design. The GLI-11 gaming-device standard is an equipment-certification reference, not a player strategy chart. It supports game integrity; it does not decide which optional hold has the highest expected value.

Kicker errors that cost the most

Importing table-poker logic

A king beside a pair of aces does not “strengthen” the pair. Unless the final paytable has a category involving that king, holding it merely removes a draw card.

Treating every 2, 3, or 4 as a premium kicker

The low card must accompany the correct quad rank. A 3 beside four kings is not the same category as a 3 beside four aces. Some paytables also distinguish 2s through 4s from aces.

Reading the game family but not the paytable

Two machines labeled Double Double Bonus can have different full-house, flush, quad, or kicker awards. A strategy chart for one schedule may mis-rank close decisions on another.

Counting the jackpot but not the lost draws

The premium amount is only one side of the comparison. The other side is the value of every outcome made less likely by holding the extra card.

Using a kicker-heavy game with a Jacks or Better bankroll expectation

Moving return into rare premium quads increases volatility. A respectable theoretical return does not imply a smooth session. The variance simulator can illustrate how long the dry intervals can be.

The calculation behind a hold

For any candidate hold:

EV(hold) = Σ [Number of draws producing result i / Total possible draws] × Payout i

Each i is a final paytable category. The calculation must include all possible draws, not only the premium hand being considered.

The best hold is:

Best hold = arg max EV(hold)

This formula measures average return from the current deal under the stated paytable. It does not guarantee that the higher-EV choice will win on this hand. A correct discard can lose; an inferior kicker hold can hit the premium quad. Strategy evaluates the decision before the random draw, not the emotional impact afterward.

The broader expected value of a hold page explains the method. Penalty cards covers the subtler cases in which apparently irrelevant discards change flush or straight possibilities.

A usable kicker rule

Do not ask, “Is this a kicker card?” Ask:

Does this exact card, held with this exact hand, on this exact paytable, produce a higher complete-draw expected value than discarding it?

If a verified strategy chart or hand analyzer says yes, hold it. If not, the card’s relationship to a headline jackpot is not enough.