Deuces wild: full pay return, odds and strategy, calculated

Key facts

In deuces wild all four 2s are wild. The full pay table (800, 200, 25, 15, 9, 5, 3, 2, 2, 1) returns 100.762% with perfect strategy in our exact calculation.
Four of a kind is the line that matters most: it lands on 6.5% of hands and supplies 32% of the return. At 4 instead of 5 for four of a kind, the same game returns only 94.34%.
Three of a kind, which only returns your bet, is the most common paying hand at 28.5% of hands. A pair pays nothing.
Strategy starts with counting deuces. Keep every deuce; with three deuces keep only the deuces unless you hold a wild royal or five of a kind in tens or higher. In our calculation even five 5s is worth breaking.
Online deuces wild cannot legally be offered to people in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001.

Deuces wild in one paragraph

Deuces wild is video poker in which every 2 is a wild card that can stand in for any card. Because wild cards make big hands common, the paytable starts at three of a kind and pays nothing for a pair. On its full pay table, deuces wild returns 100.762% with perfect strategy in our calculation, slightly more than you bet. That headline needs two warnings, both covered below: one changed line removes the advantage and much more, and the strategy is less intuitive than jacks or better.

The full pay deuces wild table

Payouts are per coin on a full bet. We calculated the game exactly: all 2,598,960 deals, every one of the 32 possible holds, and every draw.

Final hand	Pays	Chance with perfect play	About 1 in	Share of the return
Natural royal flush (no deuces)	800	0.0022%	45,282	1.8%
Four deuces	200	0.0204%	4,909	4.0%
Wild royal flush	25	0.180%	557	4.5%
Five of a kind	15	0.320%	312	4.8%
Straight flush	9	0.417%	240	3.7%
Four of a kind	5	6.494%	15.4	32.2%
Full house	3	2.123%	47	6.3%
Flush	2	1.678%	60	3.3%
Straight	2	5.607%	17.8	11.1%
Three of a kind	1	28.469%	3.5	28.3%
Nothing (including a pair or two pair)	0	54.690%	1.8	0%

Four of a kind is the engine of the game: it comes every 15 or so hands and supplies nearly a third of the money returned. Three of a kind is the most common paying hand but only gives your bet back.

One line changes everything

To show how sensitive the game is, we re-ran the calculation with a single change: four of a kind paying 4 instead of 5, everything else the same. The perfect strategy changes too, and the return falls from 100.762% to 94.34%. One unit on one line costs 6.4 points of return.

Paytable	Return with perfect play	Expected result per $1,000 played
Full pay (four of a kind pays 5)	100.76%	plus $7.62
Same, but four of a kind pays 4	94.34%	minus $56.58

That is why the paytable is the first thing to check on any deuces wild machine. For comparison, the best common jacks or better table returns 99.54%; see our jacks or better guide.

How many deuces you will be dealt

Deuces in the five cards dealt	Chance	About 1 in
None	65.88%	1.5
One	29.95%	3.3
Two	3.99%	25
Three	0.174%	576
Four	0.0018%	54,145

Two hands in three have no deuce at all. Those are the hands where deuces wild strategy feels strangest, because you are drawing for wild cards as well as for your own cards.

Deuces wild strategy, by deuce count

Count your deuces first, then decide. Every number below comes from our calculation on the full pay table and is the average return of the hold in coins per coin bet.

Four deuces: you already have the 200-coin hand. Keep everything.

Three deuces: keep only the three deuces, unless the other two cards already give you a wild royal, or five of a kind in tens through aces. With 2♣ 2♦ 2♥ K♠ 7♦, holding the three deuces is worth 15.00; adding the king drops it to 11.57. The surprise is lower five of a kind: with 2-2-2-5-5, a guaranteed 15 for keeping it loses narrowly to 15.06 for drawing two cards to the deuces, because the draw can still bring four deuces or a wild royal. With 2-2-2-10-10 the order reverses (15.00 kept against 14.94 drawn).

Two deuces: keep the deuces and any cards that build towards a royal. With 2♣ 2♦ K♥ Q♥ 5♠, holding 2-2-K-Q of hearts is worth 4.62, against 3.26 for the two deuces alone.

One deuce: keep the deuce with made hands and strong draws, otherwise often the deuce alone.

You are dealt	Best hold (value)	Alternative (value)
2♦ 8♣ 8♥ K♠ 4♣	2-8-8, three of a kind (2.02)	2-8-8-K (1.55)
2♠ 5♥ 9♣ J♦ K♠	The deuce alone (1.03)	Deuce and the 9 (0.94)

No deuces:

You are dealt	Best hold (value)	Alternative (value)
A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥ 5♥ (a flush)	A-K-Q-J of hearts (19.53)	Keep the flush (2.00)
5♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♦ (a straight)	Keep the straight (2.00)	5-6-7-8 of spades (1.62)
Q♥ J♥ 10♥ 4♣ 4♠	Q-J-10 of hearts (1.46)	The fours (0.56)
J♣ J♦ 7♥ 7♠ 4♣ (two pair)	One pair, either (0.56)	Both pairs (0.51)
9♣ 9♥ K♦ 5♠ 3♣	The nines (0.56)	Nines and the king (0.34)
A♥ K♦ Q♣ 7♠ 3♦	Draw five new cards (0.33)	Keep the 7 (0.29)

Three habits from jacks or better that cost you here: keeping two pair (worth nothing), keeping high cards (a pair of aces pays nothing either) and keeping a kicker. And look at the last hand: with no deuce and no draw, throwing all five away beats keeping anything.

Pundit tip: if you stood pat on every deal, full pay deuces wild would return 29.1% in our calculation. The game's entire edge for the player comes from drawing correctly, so take your time on every hold.

Is deuces wild really a positive game?

On paper, yes, by 0.76% of the amount bet, with the full pay table and flawless strategy. In practice, three things work against it. The margin is smaller than the cost of occasional mistakes. About 15% of the full return comes from the rarest four hands (natural royal, four deuces, wild royal and five of a kind), so long losing stretches are normal. And the full table is not the only one machines use. Think of the 100.76% as the ceiling, not the expected outcome.

Deuces wild in Australia

There is no licensed way to play deuces wild online in Australia. Video poker counts as a casino-style game, which the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 prohibits providers from offering to people here over the internet, and ACMA keeps adding illegal sites to its blocked list. The law does not penalise players, but if an offshore site refuses a withdrawal, no Australian regulator can step in. Read our online poker Australia guide for the full picture, and our video poker guide for how all the variants compare. Hand values follow the usual poker hand rankings, with five of a kind added on top.

If chasing that 0.76% has you playing longer than you meant to, step back. Free support is on our gambling help australia page.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the return of full pay deuces wild?

In our exact calculation, 100.762% with perfect strategy, using 800 for a natural royal, 200 for four deuces, 25 wild royal, 15 five of a kind, 9 straight flush, 5 four of a kind, 3 full house, 2 flush, 2 straight and 1 three of a kind (per coin, full bet).

Does that mean deuces wild beats the house?

Only on that exact table, only with flawless play, and only over a very long run. Small strategy errors cost more than the 0.76% margin, and most tables pay less. In the short run, results swing widely, because about 15% of the return comes from four rare hands: natural royals, four deuces, wild royals and five of a kind.

What is the most important deuces wild strategy rule?

Never discard a deuce. Then play by how many you hold. With one deuce and no made hand, keeping the deuce alone and drawing four is often right. With three deuces, keep just the deuces unless you hold a wild royal, or five of a kind in tens or higher.

Do you keep two pair in deuces wild?

No. Two pair pays nothing in deuces wild, so keep one pair and draw three. With J-J-7-7-4 our calculation values holding one pair at 0.56 coins per coin, against 0.51 for keeping both pairs.

Can I play deuces wild online in Australia?

Not from a lawful provider. Video poker is a casino-style game, and the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 bans offering those online to people in Australia. Playing is not an offence, but offshore sites give you no Australian protection.