Bits & Odds

20/12/9/5/3/2 Deuces Wild Strategy Card

A free printable strategy card for the 800-200-20-12-9-5-3-2-2-1 paytable. Followed exactly it returns 98.7294% of everything you bet, against 98.9378% for perfect play — a gap of 0.2085 percentage points, or one five-coin bet every 480 hands. That number is measured over all 2,598,960 deals, not estimated.

This card is for 800-200-20-12-9-5-3-2-2-1 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.

Deuces Wild 20/12/9/5/3/2 strategy card: the 800-200-20-12-9-5-3-2-2-1 paytable across the top, then 35 hold rules in order, returning 98.7294% against 98.9378% for perfect play.
The front of the 20/12/9/5/3/2 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 98.7294% 0.2085 480 hands Letter · A4
Short card — bigger type, fewer lines 5 x 7 in, 4 x 6 in or 3.5 x 5 in 32 98.6718% 0.2661 376 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 200
Four of a kind 20
Full house 12
Flush 9
Straight 5
Three of a kind 3
Two pair 2
Jacks or better 2
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 Four deuces 4
2 Natural royal flush 5
3 Wild royal flush 5
4 Three deuces and nothing else 3
5 4 to a royal flush 4
6 Five of a kind 5
7 Straight flush 5
8 Four of a kind 4
9 One deuce and three of a kind 4
10 Two deuces and a pair 4
11 Two deuces and 2 to a royal flush 4
12 One deuce and 3 to a royal flush 4
13 Two deuces and 2 to a straight flush 6 ways 4
14 Two deuces and nothing else 2
15 Full house 5
16 One deuce and two pair 5
17 One deuce and 3 to a straight flush 4 ways 4
18 Flush 5
19 Straight 5
20 One deuce and 3 to a straight flush 3 ways 4
21 Three of a kind 3
22 One deuce and a pair 3
23 One deuce and 3 to a straight flush open 4
24 4 to a straight flush 4
25 3 to a royal flush 3
26 One deuce and 2 to a straight flush 6 ways 3
27 One deuce and 2 to a royal flush 3
28 One deuce and nothing else 1
29 One pair 2
30 4 to a flush 4
31 3 to a straight flush 4 ways 3
32 4 to a straight open 4
33 3 to a straight flush 3 ways, open 3
34 4 to a straight inside 4
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 1 paytables play close enough to 20/12/9/5/3/2 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
25/15/10/4/3/2 800-200-25-15-10-4-3-2-2-1 94.6212% 94.8182% 0.1971

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 20/12/9/5/3/2 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
25/15/11/4/4/3 800-200-25-15-11-4-4-3-2-1 1.0278 25/15/11/4/4/3
20/12/10/4/4/3 800-200-20-12-10-4-4-3-2-1 0.9658 20/12/10/4/4/3
25/15/6/4/4/3 800-200-25-15-6-4-4-3-2-1 0.9478 25/15/6/4/4/3
25/15/10/4/4/3 800-200-25-15-10-4-4-3-2-1 0.9365 25/15/11/4/4/3
Not So Ugly Ducks 800-200-25-16-10-4-4-3-2-1 0.9346 25/15/11/4/4/3
20/11/9/4/4/3 800-200-20-11-9-4-4-3-2-1 0.9002 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
300/20/12/10/4/4/3 800-300-20-12-10-4-4-3-2-1 0.8939 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
20/12/9/4/4/3 800-200-20-12-9-4-4-3-2-1 0.8896 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
25/16/9/4/4/3 800-200-25-16-9-4-4-3-2-1 0.8794 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
Illinois 800-200-25-15-9-4-4-3-2-1 0.8793 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
20/10/8/4/4/3 800-200-20-10-8-4-4-3-2-1 0.8702 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
20/15/9/4/4/3 800-200-20-15-9-4-4-3-2-1 0.8692 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
25/15/8/4/4/3 800-200-25-15-8-4-4-3-2-1 0.8592 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
25/10/7/4/4/2 800-200-25-10-7-4-4-2-2-1 0.7427 25/12/8/4/4/2
25/12/7/4/4/2 800-200-25-12-7-4-4-2-2-1 0.7362 25/12/8/4/4/2
25/10/8/4/4/2 800-200-25-10-8-4-4-2-2-1 0.6901 25/12/8/4/4/2
25/12/8/4/4/2 800-200-25-12-8-4-4-2-2-1 0.6797 25/12/8/4/4/2
25/12/9/4/4/2 800-200-25-12-9-4-4-2-2-1 0.6591 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
Colorado 800-200-25-16-13-4-3-2-2-1 0.4886 Colorado
25/15/9/4/3/3 800-200-25-15-9-4-3-3-2-1 0.4263 25/15/9/4/3/3
20/10/8/4/3/3 800-200-20-10-8-4-3-3-2-1 0.3931 300/20/12/10/4/4/3
20/10/8/4/3/2 800-200-20-10-8-4-3-2-2-1 0.1867 Full Pay
Full Pay 800-200-25-15-9-5-3-2-2-1 0.1646 Full Pay

The short card

The same derivation with a line budget: 32 lines instead of 35, set large enough to read in bad light, at a cost of 0.2661 points instead of 0.2085. Whether that trade is worth it is yours to make, which is why both numbers are printed on both cards.

#HoldCards
1 Four deuces 4
2 Natural royal flush 5
3 Wild royal flush 5
4 Three deuces and nothing else 3
5 4 to a royal flush 4
6 Five of a kind 5
7 Straight flush 5
8 Four of a kind 4
9 One deuce and three of a kind 4
10 Two deuces and a pair 4
11 Two deuces and 2 to a royal flush 4
12 One deuce and 3 to a royal flush 4
13 Two deuces and 2 to a straight flush 6 ways 4
14 Two deuces and nothing else 2
15 Full house 5
16 One deuce and two pair 5
17 Flush 5
18 Straight 5
19 Three of a kind 3
20 One deuce and a pair 3
21 One deuce and 3 to a straight flush 4
22 Flush 5
23 4 to a straight flush 4
24 3 to a royal flush 3
25 One deuce and 2 to a straight flush 6 ways 3
26 One deuce and 2 to a royal flush 3
27 One deuce and nothing else 1
28 One pair 2
29 4 to a flush 4
30 3 to a straight flush 3
31 4 to a straight 4
32 Nothing above — draw five —

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