Is it ever worth holding 4 cards to an inside straight draw aka a gut shot straight draw? In other words, only four individual cards in the deck will complete your straight. For example, you have a 10, 9, 7, 6 and some other card. In this case, only four cards in the deck will complete your straight draw – the 8 of clubs, the 8 of diamonds, the 8 of hearts, and the 8 of spades.
I’ll show you that in most cases, you do not hold those four cards and attempt to draw to the inside straight draw. Let’s break it down!
If the inside straight draw is made up of all low cards (all the cards are less than a Jack) – then let’s see what our Video Poker Assistant says.
I’ll test a Td 9h 7c 6c 2h scenario:
So in the case of 4 to an inside straight draw, all low cards, it’s better to discard all cards rather than try to draw an 8. But what if we have one high card? Let’s see:
Rather than go for the gut shot straight draw with a Jack, we just hold the Jack and discard the rest. Let’s try two high cards:
Again, we just hold the two high cards and discard the rest. Let’s see what happens now if we have 3 high cards:
Ok, so this is where it finally flips and we hold the 3 high cards and the 9 and go for the inside straight draw. One thing we’ve noticed from our users is that too many players go for the gut shot straight draw too often. You should only hold the 4 cards if three of them are high (Jack or higher). There are exceptions to this though if two of those cards are suited. Then you actually go for the Royal Flush rather than the inside straight draw. This next hand replaces the Jh with a Jc. See this next hand:
In this case, we hold the two suited high cards, drop the Qd, and go for the Royal Flush. So in the game of Jacks or Better, there is only one scenario when you hold four cards to an inside straight draw, and that’s when three of the cards are high cards and unsuited!
Remember this rule when you’re playing Jacks or Better for real money… or just use our Video Poker Assistant while you’re playing 😉
You can play the ideal 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker game at the Planet 7 Casino.
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