Hold a low pair or an open-ended straight draw?

Keep the low pair on Jacks or Better, even against four to an open-ended straight.

Average return per coin on Jacks or Better 9/6: Hold the pair 0.8237 · Hold four to a straight 0.6809.

Open this hand in the analyzer Jacks or Better 9/6 strategy chart

The hand

Play	Cards held	Return per coin
Hold the pairBest	6♣ 6♦	0.8237
Hold four to a straight	6♣ 7♥ 8♠ 9♣	0.6809

Average coins back per coin bet on a five-coin bet, where a royal pays 4,000, counting every possible draw from the 47 cards left. Above 1.0000 the hold wins money on average.

Why

An open-ended straight draw has eight outs, so it fills about one time in six, and with no high cards it pays nothing when it misses. The low pair turns into two pair, trips, a full house or quads a bit more often and keeps more value. Double Bonus is the exception: its straights pay five for one, enough to make the straight draw the better hold.

Does the paytable change the answer?

The answer changes on Double Bonus Poker 10/7, highlighted below.

Paytable	Hold the pair	Hold four to a straight
Jacks or Better 9/6	0.8237	0.6809
Jacks or Better 8/5	0.8135	0.6809
Bonus Poker 8/5	0.8135	0.6809
Bonus Poker Deluxe 9/6	0.8165	0.6809
Double Bonus Poker 10/7	0.7434	0.8511
Double Double Bonus Poker 9/6	0.7332	0.6809

Average coins back per coin bet on a five-coin bet, where a royal pays 4,000, counting every possible draw from the 47 cards left. Above 1.0000 the hold wins money on average.

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The hand

Why

Does the paytable change the answer?

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