Loose Deuces Online Video Poker

Another hybrid of previously successful video poker variations, Loose Deuces online is a game which incorporates elements of Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, and of course, Deuces Wild.

If you’re still learning the ropes of video poker, we recommend visiting the Jacks or Better page before moving on to the other games. You’ll find a detailed walk-through on video poker basics, including how to operate the machine, the difference between various coin denominations, selecting your wager size, reading pay tables, and the foundations of proper strategy.

From there, check out the Deuces Wild page to learn all about this popular version of video poker, in which the four 2’s in the deck each act as wild cards. Loose Deuces online is essentially the same game as Deuces Wild in terms of rules and game-play, aside from one crucial adjustment to the pay table; more on this below. So in order to play Loose Deuces online the right way, learning Deuces Wild is the best place to start.

This page represents a tutorial on Loose Deuces online video poker, beginning with an introduction to the rules and game-play, followed by an explanation of the game’s most common pay tables and their impact on your bottom line, and concluding with an optimal strategy chart to help govern the game’s difficult decisions.

Best Loose Deuces Online Casinos

Online Loose Deuces Rules

Loose Deuces online plays according to the same structure as most video poker versions, including the aforementioned Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild games.

The standard 52-card deck is used in Loose Deuces online, but as the game’s title suggests, the four 2’s are designated as wild cards. This means that any deuce in the deck can serve as any other card to create winning hand combinations.

Before moving on to the impact that these wild cards will have on the game, let’s take a moment to review the traditional poker hand hierarchy used to assess hand strength in Loose Deuces online:

Natural Royal Flush

10 J Q K A, all in the same suit, with no deuces.

Four Deuces

Four of a Kind in Deuces.

Wild Royal Flush

10 J Q K A, all in the same suit, with one or more deuces.

Five of a Kind

Four of a Kind in any card, plus one Deuce.

Straight flush

Any five card Straight, all in the same suit.

Four of a Kind

Four cards of the same rank.

Full House

Three of a Kind AND One Pair.

Flush

Any five cards, all in the same suit.

Straight

Any string of five consecutive cards.

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank.

Note that the mother of all poker hands, the royal flush, has been divided into two separate categories, with a “natural” royal flush standing as the game’s strongest holding. On the other hand, when you make a royal flush while using a deuce as a wild card, this compromised version sits on the third rung.

The reason for this division should be obvious, as landing a perfect royal flush using a suited combination of the 10 J Q K A straight is extremely difficult in terms of probability (about 40,000 to 1). By adding four wild 2’s to the mix, players can form “wild” royal flushes much more easily, hence the hand’s diminished status on the hand ranking ladder.

Another interesting wrinkle created by wild cards in Loose Deuces online is the five of a kind, a hand which can only be formed by the inclusion of a deuce. If you happen to hold a hand like 4 4 4 Q K, for example, this three of a kind can be improved to five of a kind by drawing two deuces. Even a simple pair like 3 3 A 6 9 can be improved to five of a kind by catching three of the deck’s four wild cards.

Even though five of a kind would appear to be an extremely strong hand, it’s actually outranked by the two royal flush types, along with one particular four of a kind hand – four deuces. Although not the “strongest” hand in terms of the rankings above, as you’ll discover in the subsequent section on pay tables, four of a kind in deuces is actually the highest paying hand whenever a bet of less than the maximum has been placed.

Finally, readers who are familiar with the Jacks or Better construct will notice that the minimum hand threshold required to earn a payout in Loose Deuces online has been raised to three of a kind. This means that finishing a hand with one pair or two pairs, even in aces or kings, results in a loss for the player. Again, the inclusion of four wild cards in the game makes landing a single pair, or even two pairs, much more attainable, so the game simply removes these hands from the pay table altogether.

Pay Table Breakdowns

Several pay tables have been devised for Loose Deuces video poker, so depending on the particular machine you happen to find, the game can be drastically changed.

A preferable pay table from the player’s perspective is known as the 15 / 10, due to the respective payouts for making five of a kind or a straight flush. Also known as “full pay,” the 15 / 10 pay table offers the highest expected return, and thus the lowest house edge.

Check out the 15 / 10 pay table for Loose Deuces online below:

If you previously brushed up on your Deuces Wild knowledge, you’ll notice that this pay table adheres very closely to its predecessor – save one crucial caveat.

When playing Deuces Wild, the top payout for a natural royal flush begins at 300 credits for a one coin bet, which matches the payout for Loose Deuces online. The payouts for the wild royal flush (3^rd ranked hand) and five of a kind (4^th ranked hand) also match, at 25 and 15, respectively.

What separates Loose Deuces from Deuces Wild, however, is the payout awarded for making four deuces – the game’s 2^nd ranked hand. When betting the minimum of one coin in Deuces Wild, players earn 200 credits for landing four of a kind in deuces, but in Loose Deuces online, the payout climbs to 500 credits.

This means that whenever you’re betting between one and four coins on a Loose Deuces machine, the highest payout you can achieve is for making four deuces – even though landing a natural royal flush is still the most difficult hand to complete.

Betting between one and four coins while using the full pay 15 / 10 Loose Deuces pay table provides players with an expected return of 99.87 percent (provided they’re playing according to optimal strategy). If you prefer to think in terms of house edge, simply subtracting 99.87 from 100 returns a house edge of just 0.13 percent under this scenario – making full pay Loose Deuces video poker one of the most player friendly games in any casino.

As you can see, the online Loose Deuces pay table also follows the Jacks or Better structure by rewarding maximum bets (five coins) with a much higher payout attached to natural royal flushes.

According to the incremental pattern that all other payouts follow, a natural royal flush on a five coin maximum wager should pay 1,500 credits, but instead, the game ups the ante to 4,000 credits. For this reason, the expected return rate reaches its highest point – and actually becomes a positive number – when you bet the maximum of five coins.

Max betting on a full pay Loose Deuces online game, while also employing optimal strategy, actually nullifies the house edge and gives players a slight edge of 0.97 percent.

No matter how many coins you bet, however, Loose Deuces video poker becomes an extremely top heavy game. By far, the highest payouts on the table are awarded for the two highest ranked hands: the natural royal flush and four of a kind in deuces.

This prioritization of two hands over the rest directly affects the Loose Deuces online strategy used (more on this in the next section), as players should almost always be aiming to draw a natural royal flush or four deuces rather than hold weaker pat hands.

It’s always your best bet to limit your action to full pay machines, but if you’re unable to locate a 15 / 10 pay table in your local casino, several alternative pay tables are likely to be found. These pay tables slightly alter the payouts for five of a kind and the straight flush, and while these reductions may appear to be negligible to the naked eye, they directly impact your expected return rate.

You can review five of the most common reduced pay tables for Loose Deuces online below, with each assuming a maximum bet of five coins. The # / # heading at the top of each column signifies the revised payouts which differ from the 15 / 10 full pay standard:

Unlike other online video poker variations, which significantly reduce the player’s expected return through the use of alternative pay tables, Loose Deuces online doesn’t suffer the same drastic drop-off. Both the 15 / 8 and 12 / 10 pay tables remain positive expectation games, for example, and even the three other options maintain a house edge of less than 1 percent.

Experienced video poker players know that hunting for full pay games at the best online casinos will improve their odds of winning over the long run, and indeed, full pay games should always be your preference. But for Loose Deuces in particular, encountering either the 15 / 8 or 12 / 10 pay tables doesn’t need to give you pause, and by applying the precepts of proper strategy you’ll still enjoy the rare occasion of a positive expectation game.

For additional information, check VP Free which also has Loose Deuces pay table details.

Loose Deuces Strategy

When playing Loose Deuces online, the name of the game is, of course, how many 2’s you happen to hold in your hand.

Before the draw, the optimal strategy for this game is predicated on a number of deuces you currently have to work with. The chart below is broken down according to deuce count, and in order to read the chart, simply keep the highest hand on any given list.

At first glance, applying this optimal strategy chart may seem more like a chore, but the guidelines will become instinctual after a few practice sessions spent carefully consulting the lists and making the correct decisions.

As an example, let’s consider a deal in which you receive the 6h 7h 8h 8s 2c. There are two possibilities:

Both of these possibilities appear to offer players a decent proposition on their face, but by consulting the optimal strategy chart above, we can see exactly which play represents the most profitable option over the infinite long run. Under the One Deuce heading, we find that a pat three of a kind is listed in the 5^th position while the four card straight flush draw is listed in 4^th position. The highest hand on the list is always the better play, so under this example, holding onto the straight flush is the optimal play.

For another short strategy discussion about Loose Deuces online visit the Wizard of Vegas website.