Five cards, one draw, and a choice: which cards are worth keeping? A pair of jacks is the lowest paying hand, but even a pair of threes can be your best starting point.
The strategy: keep the combination with the highest expected payout for your exact hand and pay table. Learn the common choices below, use the 9/6 chart as a reference, or check your own five cards.
You play against a payout schedule. There is no dealer hand to beat, no bluffing and no later betting round. In standard Jacks or Better, the deck has 52 cards and no wild cards.
Choose a denomination and credits within your budget. The strategy on this page assumes the five-credit royal bonus shown in the complete pay table.
You can keep zero through five cards. Holding a card protects it from replacement. The best choice considers all five cards, including the ones you discard.
Every unheld card is replaced from the 47 unseen cards. Only the final hand pays. Discarded cards do not come back in that draw.
“Jacks or better” means a pair of J, Q, K or A. That pair pays 1 for 1: your wager comes back. A lone ace or a pair of tens pays nothing, although either can be worth holding for the draw. Two pair pays even when both pairs are below jacks.
Tap cards to choose your hold, or use Change card to enter a deal. The analyzer compares every possible hold. Choose your actual pay table first; the default is standard 9/6.
Examples keep your selected pay table. Changing a card or table selects a best hold again; tap the cards to compare your own choice.
Draw 3 cards · 16,215 possible draws.
This is the best hold for the selected pay table.
Keeping the pair returns 0.8237 per 1 bet, compared with 0.4948 for the king and queen. The pair can become two pair, three of a kind, a full house or quads. It does not need to be a paying pair now to be the better draw.
4,656 of the 16,215 possible draws make a paying hand (28.7142%). The table describes the best hold shown, not your own choice. How much each hand pays matters as much as how often it comes.
| Final hand | Possible draws | Chance | Payout per 1 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four of a kind | 45 | 0.2775% | 25 |
| Full house | 165 | 1.0176% | 9 |
| Three of a kind | 1,854 | 11.4339% | 3 |
| Two pair | 2,592 | 15.9852% | 2 |
| No payout | 11,559 | 71.2858% | 0 |
Scroll sideways for the full comparison
| Hold | Draw | Possible draws | Return per 1 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3♣ 3♦BestYour hold | 3 | 16,215 | 0.8237 |
| 3♣ 3♦ K♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.6753 |
| 3♣ 3♦ Q♠ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.6753 |
| 3♣ 3♦ 8♦ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.6753 |
| K♥ Q♠ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.4948 |
| Q♠ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.4709 |
| K♥ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.4664 |
| 3♣ 3♦ K♥ Q♠ | 1 | 47 | 0.3830 |
| 3♣ 3♦ K♥ 8♦ | 1 | 47 | 0.3830 |
| 3♣ 3♦ Q♠ 8♦ | 1 | 47 | 0.3830 |
| Q♠ 8♦ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.3451 |
| Discard all five | 5 | 1,533,939 | 0.3302 |
| K♥ 8♦ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.3293 |
| 8♦ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.3079 |
| K♥ Q♠ 8♦ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.2969 |
| 3♣ K♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2963 |
| 3♦ K♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2963 |
| 3♣ Q♠ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2963 |
| 3♦ Q♠ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2963 |
| 3♣ K♥ Q♠ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.2858 |
| 3♦ K♥ Q♠ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.2858 |
| 3♣ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2421 |
| 3♦ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2366 |
| 3♦ 8♦ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2163 |
| 3♣ K♥ 8♦ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.1804 |
| 3♦ K♥ 8♦ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.1804 |
| 3♣ Q♠ 8♦ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.1804 |
| 3♦ Q♠ 8♦ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.1804 |
| 3♣ 8♦ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.1553 |
| 3♣ K♥ Q♠ 8♦ | 1 | 47 | 0.1277 |
| 3♦ K♥ Q♠ 8♦ | 1 | 47 | 0.1277 |
| 3♣ 3♦ K♥ Q♠ 8♦ | 0 | 1 | 0.0000 |
For every hold, the tool counts all possible final hands from the 47 unseen cards and weights their payouts. It uses exact combinations, not random trials, for one standard deck and the complete selected pay table. Tied best holds are shown; returns are rounded to four decimal places.
These are gross returns. A value of 0.8237 means an average payout of 0.8237 per 1 originally bet, not an 82.37% chance of winning. The wager is already committed when you choose a hold. A best decision can have a return below 1, and its next draw can still lose. The whole game’s return is a different figure.
Check the full payout schedule against your game. This tool does not cover progressive royals, wild cards, altered quad awards or lower-credit royal payouts.
Once you understand these competing hands, the chart becomes easier to read. All four examples below use standard 9/6 Jacks or Better with the five-credit royal bonus.
And leave the extra ace behind. With K♣ K♦ A♥ 8♠ 3♣, keep just the kings. An unrelated ace uses up a draw without adding a kicker bonus.
Read from the top and stop at the first matching line, including its note. The highlighted cards in each example are the hold. This is the site’s detailed learning chart; use the analyzer when two close draws compete.
The analyzer is on a different pay table. This chart and its five notes remain for standard 9/6 only.
All 36 lines. Searching keeps the original rank numbers but can hide a higher-priority hold. Clear the search before playing by the list.
| Rank | What to hold | Example deal | Analyze the example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Royal flush | ||
| 02 | Straight flush | ||
| 03 | Four of a kind | ||
| 04 | 4 to a royal flush | ||
| 05 | Full house | ||
| 06 | Flush | ||
| 07 | Three of a kind | ||
| 08 | Straight | ||
| 09 | 4 to a straight flush | ||
| 10 | Two pair | ||
| 11 | High pair (jacks or better) | ||
| 12 | 3 to a royal flush Note 1 | ||
| 13 | 4 to a flush | ||
| 14 | 10-J-Q-K, unsuited | ||
| 15 | Low pair (2s to 10s) | ||
| 16 | 4 to an outside straight | ||
| 17 | 3 to a straight flush, type 1 | ||
| 18 | Suited Q-J Note 2 | ||
| 19 | A-K-Q-J, unsuited | ||
| 20 | Suited K-Q or K-J | ||
| 21 | Suited A-K, A-Q or A-J | ||
| 22 | 4 to an inside straight with 3 high cards | ||
| 23 | 3 to a straight flush, type 2 | ||
| 24 | K-Q-J, unsuited | ||
| 25 | Q-J, unsuited | ||
| 26 | Suited J-10 Note 3 | ||
| 27 | K-Q or K-J, unsuited | ||
| 28 | Suited Q-10 Note 4 | ||
| 29 | A-K, A-Q or A-J, unsuited | ||
| 30 | A jack | ||
| 31 | Suited K-10 Note 5 | ||
| 32 | A queen | ||
| 33 | A king | ||
| 34 | An ace | ||
| 35 | 3 to a straight flush, type 3 | ||
| 36 | Draw five new cards |
No matching lines. Try “pair” or “royal”, or clear the search.
A “penalty card” is a card in your original deal that you would discard, making it unavailable to complete the draw. These five notes cover close choices. Each belongs to a specific line above.
The chart is a learning aid for 9/6. Played exactly as written, it returns 99.5439%, the same as perfect play to four decimals; it parts from perfect play on 96 of the 2,598,960 deals, each time by 0.0056 per 1 bet. Reduced or modified pay tables can change the order: the analyzer checks your exact cards on your table.
“9/6” means a full house pays 9 and a flush pays 6 per credit. That is the usual full-pay version. Check the entire table too: a game can still be called 9/6 while changing other awards.
Standard 9/6 is the strongest of these six tables. Its 99.54% return assumes optimal decisions and the five-credit royal bonus.
All supported tables pay 25 for any four of a kind, 2 for two pair and 1 for a high pair. There are no rank-based quad or kicker bonuses. Table changes also update the analyzer above.
Why the five-credit royal matters| 9/6 Jacks or Better | Per creditat five credits | Five creditstotal payout |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 4,000 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 250 |
| Four of a kind | 25 | 125 |
| Full house | 9 | 45 |
| Flush | 6 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 20 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 15 |
| Two pair | 2 | 10 |
| Pair of jacks, queens, kings or aces | 1 | 5 |
Each return assumes its own optimal strategy and the complete standard schedule shown, worked out exactly over all 2,598,960 deals. Reading a pay table shows how to tell the versions apart.
With A♠ J♠ 10♠ 4♠ K♦, keep the four spades on 9/6. On 9/5, keep A♠ J♠ 10♠ instead. Lowering the flush payout changes which draw has the higher average return.
On the standard credit schedule, the royal pays 250 per credit at one through four credits. At five credits it jumps to 4,000 total—800 per credit bet. The extra royal value is part of the strategy and return figures on this page.
Five credits does not mean five dollars. At a $0.05 denomination, the wager is $0.25; at $0.25, it is $1.25. Use a lower denomination if needed to fit your limit. Increasing the number of credits at the same denomination increases the money at risk.
It describes the long-run share of total wagers returned under the stated rules and optimal play. On 9/6, the average net loss is about $4.56 per $1,000 wagered. On 8/5, it is about $27.02. This is money cycled through the game, including reused payouts, not just your starting bankroll.
Your session can finish far above or below that average. A royal comes about once in 40,391 hands and supplies 1.98 points of the 99.54%, but it is never “due.” Set a spending limit before playing; chasing losses or changing bets does not improve the value of a hold.
A low pair starts the draw halfway to several paying hands: two pair, three of a kind, a full house or quads. It usually beats unrelated high cards, as the threes example shows. It does not beat every draw: four to a flush and some stronger combinations rank above it. Check the full hand rather than treating “keep a pair” as an absolute rule.
In the standard Jacks or Better tables supported here, keep both pairs and draw one card. Two pair already pays 2 for 1, with a chance to improve to a full house. Do not import a Double Bonus rule: its two-pair award and quad awards differ.
Not just because three cards share a suit. In standard 9/6, three suited cards may be worth keeping when they also make a qualifying royal or straight-flush draw. An ordinary three-card flush is not a separate hold in the reference chart. The actual ranks and all five dealt cards matter.
An unrelated ace is a kicker, not an extra bonus in Jacks or Better. When the pair is the right hold, keep just the pair and draw three cards. If the ace helps form a different valuable draw, such as four cards to a royal, compare that whole combination instead.
Yes. On standard 9/6 with the five-credit royal bonus, four cards to a royal are worth more than keeping an ordinary made straight or flush. Three cards to a royal are a very different proposition: do not break those made hands for only three royal cards.
The 36-line reference is for 9/6. Many holds remain the same on reduced Jacks or Better tables: played on 8/5, the chart gives up 0.0070% against that table’s perfect play. Close decisions can change, so select the actual table in the analyzer. Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus and Deuces Wild are different games. Use the strategy for their complete payout schedules.
Yes. For example, with four of a kind, keeping all five cards or drawing one to the quads produces the same payout in standard Jacks or Better. The analyzer marks exact ties. It does not treat a tiny difference hidden by rounding as a tie.
The mathematics is the same for the same fair 52-card, single-draw game and identical payouts. Check for altered awards, extra features or progressive jackpots. Auto-hold suggestions should be checked against the actual game rules; the label alone does not tell you what strategy the feature uses.
No. A gamble or double-up option after a win is a separate wager. Neither the chart, the analyzer nor the quoted base-game returns depends on using it.
The chart in three lines.
Find the highest of the 36 lines your hand contains and keep those cards. Played that way, 9/6 Jacks or Better returns 99.54%.
From 3♣ 3♦ K♥ Q♠ 8♦, the threes return 0.8237 per 1 bet; K♥ Q♠ return 0.4948. Four to a flush and a few other draws still rank above a low pair.
The five notes settle close calls, where a discarded card changes the hold. With A♠ J♠ 10♠ 4♠ K♦, keep the four spades on 9/6, but A♠ J♠ 10♠ on 9/5.