Bits & Odds

9/5 Jacks or Better Strategy Card

A free printable strategy card for the 800-50-25-9-5-4-3-2-1 paytable. Followed exactly it returns 98.4482% of everything you bet, against 98.4498% for perfect play — a gap of 0.0016 percentage points, or one five-coin bet every 63,208 hands. That number is measured over all 2,598,960 deals, not estimated.

This card is for 800-50-25-9-5-4-3-2-1 only.

A strategy card is only right for the paytable it was built for. Read the full house and flush payouts off the machine before you use one: 9 and 6 is a different game from 8 and 5, and a multi-denomination machine can change paytable when you change the denomination.

Generated September 22, 2026; the returns below are measured against the solved table as of that date.

Jacks or Better 9/5 strategy card: the 800-50-25-9-5-4-3-2-1 paytable across the top, then 35 hold rules in order, returning 98.4482% against 98.4498% for perfect play.
The front of the 9/5 card. The back, the other sizes and the print sheets are in the PDF.

Download

Card Lines Return Gap One bet every PDF
Full card — every line 5 x 7 in or 4 x 6 in 35 98.4482% 0.0016 63,208 hands Letter · A4
Short card — bigger type, fewer lines 5 x 7 in, 4 x 6 in or 3.5 x 5 in 22 98.3634% 0.0864 1,157 hands Letter · A4

Each PDF holds the card at every trim it stays readable at, front and back, largest first — the full card at 5 x 7 in or 4 x 6 in, the short card at 5 x 7 in, 4 x 6 in or 3.5 x 5 in. All of them are standard laminating-pouch sizes. Where the 3.5 × 5 fits there is also a cut-and-fold sheet that needs no duplex printing. Free, no email, generated 2026-09-22.

The paytable this card assumes

HandPays (per coin, five coins bet)
Royal flush 800
Straight flush 50
Four of a kind 25
Full house 9
Flush 5
Straight 4
Three of a kind 3
Two pair 2
Jacks or better 1

The hold order, in full

This is what is printed on the front of the full card. Read down; hold the first line your five dealt cards can make. Where one line fits your hand two ways, take the one with more high cards, and if that ties, the lower cards.

#HoldCards
1 Royal flush 5
2 Straight flush 5
3 Four of a kind 4
4 4 to a royal flush 4
5 Full house 5
6 Flush 5
7 Three of a kind 3
8 Straight 5
9 4 to a straight flush open, 0–2 high cards 4
10 Two pair 4
11 4 to a straight flush inside, 0–3 high cards 4
12 High pair (JJ–AA) 2
13 3 to a royal flush 3
14 4 to a flush 0–2 high cards 4
15 4 to a straight open, 3 high cards 4
16 Low pair (22–TT) 2
17 4 to a straight open, 0–2 high cards 4
18 3 to a straight flush 3 ways, 2 high, 4 ways, 1 high 3
19 4 to a straight inside, 4 high cards 4
20 3 to a straight flush 2 ways, 2 high, 3 ways, 1 high 3
21 2 to a royal flush Q-J, K-Q, K-J 2
22 3 to a straight flush completes 4 ways, no high cards 3
23 2 to a royal flush A-J, A-K, A-Q 2
24 4 to a straight inside, 3 high cards 4
25 K-Q-J unsuited 3
26 Q-J unsuited 2
27 3 to a straight flush 2 ways, 1 high, 3 ways, 0 high 3
28 2 unsuited high cards except Q-J, A-J 2
29 2 to a royal: J-T 2
30 A-J unsuited 2
31 One high card J, K, A 1
32 2 to a royal: Q-T 2
33 One high card: Q 1
34 3 to a straight flush completes 2 ways, no high cards 3
35 Nothing above — draw five —

Never hold these

Each one is worth less than throwing all five cards away on this paytable. They are absent from the card because they were priced and lost, not because they were forgotten.

Other paytables this card is right for

These 6 paytables play close enough to 9/5 that the same card serves them. The cost of using it on each is measured the same way as the card's own return.

PaytablePayoutsWith this cardPerfect playGap
8/5 (35 4K) 800-50-35-8-5-4-3-2-1 99.6600% 99.6613% 0.0014
9/5 (55 SF) 800-55-25-9-5-4-3-2-1 98.5021% 98.5038% 0.0017
8/5 (30 4K) 800-50-30-8-5-4-3-2-1 98.4784% 98.4799% 0.0015
6/5 (35 4K) 800-50-35-6-5-4-3-2-1 97.3571% 97.3586% 0.0015
8/5 (55 SF) 800-55-25-8-5-4-3-2-1 97.3506% 97.3525% 0.0018
8/5 800-50-25-8-5-4-3-2-1 97.2968% 97.2984% 0.0017

Using this card on a machine it is not for

Sometimes the machine in front of you is not the one you printed for. This is the 9/5 full card measured on every other paytable we hold, worst first — the gap between what it returns there and what perfect play returns there. The five worst are the ones to avoid; each of them has its own card on this site.

MachinePayoutsThis card gives upIts own card
9/6 (1000 RF, 125 SF, 30 4K, 2 Trips) 1000-125-30-9-6-4-2-2-1 0.2039 9/6 (1000 RF, 125 SF, 30 4K, 2 Trips)
9/6 (250 RF) 250-50-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.1952 9/6 (500 RF)
9/6 (250 RF, 55 SF) 250-55-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.1943 9/6 (500 RF)
40-20-9-6-5 800-40-20-9-6-5-3-2-1 0.1912 40-20-9-6-5
9/6 (500 RF, 100 SF, 30 4K, 2 Trips) 500-100-30-9-6-4-2-2-1 0.1362 9/6 (500 RF, 100 SF, 30 4K, 2 Trips)
9/6 (1000 RF, 100 SF, 30 4K, 2 Trips) 1000-100-30-9-6-4-2-2-1 0.1327 9/6 (1000 RF, 125 SF, 30 4K, 2 Trips)
9/6 (1 2P) 800-50-25-9-6-4-3-1-1 0.1018 9/6 (1 2P)
9/6 (500 RF) 500-50-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0838 9/6 (500 RF)
9/6 (976 RF) 976-50-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0295 9/6
9/6 (90 SF) 800-90-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0292 9/6
7/5 (1000 RF, 20 4K) 1000-50-20-7-5-4-3-2-1 0.0254 9/6
6/5 (1000 RF) 1000-50-25-6-5-4-3-2-1 0.0240 9/6
9/6 (940 RF) 940-50-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0213 9/6
9/6 (900 RF) 900-50-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0153 9/6
8/6 (55 SF) 800-55-25-8-6-4-3-2-1 0.0089 9/6
8/6 800-50-25-8-6-4-3-2-1 0.0081 9/6
8/6 (26 4K) 800-50-26-8-6-4-3-2-1 0.0080 9/6
9/6 800-50-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0079 9/6
8/6 (29 4K) 800-50-29-8-6-4-3-2-1 0.0078 9/6
9/6 (47.8 SF) 800-47.8-25-9-6-4-3-2-1 0.0075 9/6
7/5 (20 4K) 800-50-20-7-5-4-3-2-1 0.0024 9/6
6/5 800-50-25-6-5-4-3-2-1 0.0023 9/6
7/5 800-50-25-7-5-4-3-2-1 0.0019 9/6

The short card

The same derivation with a line budget: 22 lines instead of 35, set large enough to read in bad light, at a cost of 0.0864 points instead of 0.0016. Whether that trade is worth it is yours to make, which is why both numbers are printed on both cards.

#HoldCards
1 Royal flush 5
2 Straight flush 5
3 Four of a kind 4
4 4 to a royal flush 4
5 Full house 5
6 Flush 5
7 Three of a kind 3
8 Straight 5
9 4 to a straight flush 4
10 Two pair 4
11 High pair (JJ–AA) 2
12 3 to a royal flush 3
13 4 to a flush 0–2 high cards 4
14 4 to a straight open 4
15 Low pair (22–TT) 2
16 3 to a straight flush except 2 ways, 0 high cards 3
17 2 to a royal flush except Q-T, K-T, A-T 2
18 4 to a straight inside, 3–4 high cards 4
19 K-Q-J unsuited 3
20 2 unsuited high cards 2
21 One high card 1
22 Nothing above — draw five —

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