DEAL ME IN
THE BACK DO' MYSTERY
Dear Mark,

Mark Pilarski

Playing Jacks-or-Better on video poker, should I keep a non-winning pair and draw three cards like I have been doing, or should I be throwing it away and draw one card to fill in a four-card flush, or a four card open ended straight?

Bill W.

In certain situations, Bill, a nonwinning low pair has a calculable value (the average value of all the wins attainable if the optimum cards are retained and each unique possible draw occurs) and can be worth keeping. But the way you have been playing them, always holding the low pair, is correct some, but not all, of the time. The low pair is worth saving against a four-card straight with no, or only one, high card, but that low pair should be discarded if your four-card straight has two or three high cards, and most definitely when you have a four-card flush.

Dear Mark,

Can you recommend a book on how to win at tournament blackjack?

Gerald B.

I just finished reading and thoroughly enjoying Play to Win, AWorld Champion's Guide to Winning Blackjack Tournaments by Ken Einiger. Einiger was the winner of the 2005 World Series of Blackjack as well as numerous other blackjack competitions. Another recommendation, Gerald, is Casino Tournament Strategy by Sanford Wong. This book combines his previous Tournament Blackjack and Tournament Craps books together. Anything that Wong writes is worth reading, and this book is no exception.

By the way, Stanford Wong is not his real name, but a nom de plume. He took his alma mater as the given name and an Asian last name to provide the "mystique of the Orient." It's not true that he types with chopsticks.

Dear Mark,

I noticed that the last time I visited the Gulf Coast that your column appears in the Biloxi Sun Herald. Here's one for you. Have you ever heard of a game called Mississippi Stud?

Greg M.

Heard of it, yes, played it, no. Mississippi Stud is but another poker variant in which each player receives a mix of face-down and faceup cards dealt in multiple betting rounds. A form of seven-card stud, Mississippi Stud is generally played pot limit, with fourth and fifth street cards dealt without a betting round between them, and seventh-street dealt face up.

ShuffleMaster has their own table game version of Mississippi Stud where players compete against a paytable rather than against other players or a dealer, and win if their hands consist of a pair of 6s or better.

Although I haven't seen this table game version, I hope those who have will drop me a line and share their thoughts on the game so I can pass them along to Greg.

Dear Mark,

The question about "Back Door Little Joe" is referring to the song "It Was A Good Day" by Ice Cube. The lyrics in question are:

…With the seven, seven-eleven, seven-eleven, seven.

Even back do' little Joe. I picked up the cash flow.

An educated guess as to the reference would be that since they are likely not playing craps on a craps table, but rather on the ground and shooting against a wall or door, Cube is likely referring to the fact that he was able to roll "little Joe" off the "back do." Gavin O.

Boy, am I'm listening far too much to lyrics like "Let's go surfing now, everybody's learning how "? It's probably best that I branch out some, but since the kid's gone off to college and I now have control of the television remote and the car radio, I won't be giving up my Oldies 107.5 anytime soon. But thanks, Gavin, for the catch.

Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "Playing poker for a living gives you backbone. You cannot survive without that intangible quality we call heart."

~Bobby Baldwin,

1978 WSOP winner (2001)

Got a question about gambling? Write to: Deal Me In, P.O. Box 1234, Traverse City, Michigan 49685 -email: pilarski@markpilarski.com + To order Mark Pilarski's "Hooked on Winning" audio cassettes-laminated win cards package ($12.95 plus $2 S&H) call 1-800-WINNERS.