Basic Pick’em Strategy Chart

Use the Pick'em strategy chart below to increase your odds of winning at Pick'em Poker and get as close as possible to the 99.95% theoretical return that this type of video poker provides.

Priority	Dealt Cards + Card Held	Example
1	Three of a Kind 222-AAA
2	Qeen High Straight Flush Draw TJQs
3	King High Straight Flush Draw - 1 Gap JQKs, TQKs, TJKs
4	High Pair 99 to AA
5	Ace High Royal Flush Draw QKAs
6	Open Ended Straight Flush Draw - 3 to J 9TJs-345s
7	4 High Open Ended Straight Flush Draw 234s
8	Straight Flush Draw - 1 Gap - 2 to Q 235s-9TQs
9	Straight Flush Draw - 2 Gaps - 2/3 High Cards 69Ts-TKAs
10	Flush Draw - 3 High Cards 9JKs-9KAs
11	Open Ended Straight Draw - 9 to Q 9TJ/TJQ
12	Straight Flush Draw - 2 Gaps - 1 High Card 589s-78Js
13	Flush Draw - 2 High Cards 29Ts-8KAs
14	Low Pair 22 to 88
15	Straight Flush Draw - 2 Gaps - 0 High Cards A25s-458s
16	Straight Draw - 1 Gap - 3 High Cards 9TQ to JQA
17	Ten High Open Ended Straight Draw 89T
18	Flush Draw - 1 High Card 239s-78As
19	Straight Draw - 2 Gap - 3 High Cards 9QK - TJA
20	Straight Draw - 1 Gap - 2 High Cards 79T - 8TJ
21	9 High Open Ended Straight Draw 789
22	Flush Draw - 0 High Cards 267s-378s
23	3 High Cards 9TK-9KA
24	Straight Draw - 2 Gaps - 2 High Cards 69T-8JQ
25	Straight Draw - 1 Gap - 1 High Card 679-78T
26	Open Ended Straight Draw - 0 High Cards 345-678
27	2 High Cards 29T-89K
28	Straight Draw - 2 Gaps - 1 High Card 569-78J
29	Straight Draw - 1 Gap - 0 High Cards 245-578
30	1 High Card 239-78A
31	Straight Draw - 2 Gaps - 0 High Cards 236-478
32	0 High Cards 237-478

Below is an example of the strategy chart application in actual game of Pick'em Poker. This situation happens quit often. Based on my experience this is probably tricky situation that comes up most often. On the left side image below we are dealt 6 diamonds and 5 clubs. And we have to choose from two piles of 3 cards with upcards Jack spades or 8 diamonds. Many players here tend to choose the high card (Jack of diamonds) but based on the strategy card it's obvious that straight draw with 1 gap low cards (priority position 29) has higher priority than 1 high card (priority 30). The difference between return when holding 8 diamonds (2.4113 return) and Jack (1.8617) is not as huge as can be some other mistakes in strategy.

Another quite frequents situation is the choice between low pair or high card. This situation in Pick'em is less close call and would be major mistake as low pair has priority 14 which is much higher than high card (priority 30). This translates to return 5.7092 when holding the low pair vs return just 1.7642 when holding the high card.

As you can see on the image above. The training software WinPoker will show you such a major errors when in "WARN" mode so you can instantly find out the mistakes you are doing. Once you are confident enough you can switch to "TEST" mode to play a session and in the end you can check out how many mistakes have you made and what would be your return in comparison to best possible return. WinPoker is not free software (it's $29.99). But it can save you much more money. If you make many major mistakes you can get substantially lower return that the highest possible theoretical return and you will lose very fast.

So lets summarize the most frequent tips that can help players avoid major errors and increase odds of Pick'em Poker:

• Low pair (from 22 to 88) has much higher priority to high card  (9 or better)
• Low card straight draw with 1 gap has higher priority than high card
• High pair (99 and higher) has higher priority than any flush draw or straight draw
• If none of the 2 cards up for choice will improve your hand it does not matter which one you choose (image below)