Originally Posted by PositiveVariance View Post
What I find unique about this is the amount of equity that you would have when holding this hand, which is 1.2766. This is very small. The reason I find this interesting is Because if you look at Rank line #37 at the very bottom, you can hold NOTHING and your EV is 1.2198.

Most would think having "4 to a straight with a gutshot is a respectable hand, in reality it is ONLY less than 6 hundredth of a percent better than holding NO cards and drawing a fresh 5 cards.

It makes sense as to why, but I never realized 4 to a straight with 1 gap and a holding of NOTHING is essentially the same thing. Very Interesting.


Playing 5 credits on a .25 machine ($1.25) would be a 5.7 cent difference in Expected Value between the 2 hands.
PV, on the video poker software the EV of the hands are measured in coins, based on a 5-coin bet. You can convert them to percentage of bet by dividing by 5. For instance, the gutshot you referred to is worth 1.276 coins, or 25.52% of the bet. The draw five hand is worth 1.2198 coins, or 24.396% of the bet.

In the Jacks or Better games a few factors determine whether the gutshot plays over the draw five.

In 9/6 Jacks the straight pays 20 coins (4 units) and two-pair pays 2 for 1. The draw five hand plays over the gutshot/no high cards.

At 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe the straight pays 20 coins (4 units) and two-pair pays even money. In this case the gutshot/no high cards plays over draw five.

AT 10/7 Double Bonus the straight pays 25 coins (5 units) and two-pair pays even money. The extra unit the straight pays means the gutshot/no high cards plays over draw five.