> Standard Poker Strategy

Pick'em Poker is a newer and more unusual variety of video poker, at least compared to the more traditional games of Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild. What's interesting about the game is that it has more in common with stud poker than draw poker, and it has a potentially tremendous payout percentage - 99.95 percent if played with perfect strategy. Instead of receiving five cards like you would normally receive in most other video poker games, you receive eight cards. Two of these cards are placed face up on the left and two sets of three cards on the right. After the deal you can see four cards as the top cards of the sets of cards on the right are up. You can’t throw away the cards on the left. These cards can’t be thrown away during the game. But you have to decide which of the right sets of cards you want to hold. When you select which stack you want to keep, the two cards dealt underneath the face up card are exposed, and your hand is made from the two cards on the left plus the three cards in the stack you kept. So basically, in Pick'em Poker, you're choosing one of two three card hands every round. The hand is formed of the two cards on the left and three cards you have left on the right.