Never hold a kicker

A kicker is an extra card held alongside a pair or three of a kind — keeping K♥ K♠ A♦ instead of just the kings. Some video poker games pay a bonus for four of a kind with the right kicker. Jacks or Better is not one of them, so in this game a kicker never earns you a single coin.

What it does is cost you a card. Holding a high pair on its own gives you three fresh cards; keeping a kicker with it leaves you two. That is fewer chances at two pair, three of a kind, a full house and four of a kind, in exchange for nothing.

Example: K♥ K♠ A♦ 7♣ 3♥. Hold K♥ K♠ and nothing else. The pair alone returns about 1.54 coins per coin bet; dragging the ace along drops it to 1.42.

The same goes for a low pair and for three of a kind: 7♥ 7♠ 7♦ A♣ 3♥ is a hold on the three sevens and a two-card draw — about 4.30 against 3.85 if you keep the ace too. Two pair is the one that looks similar but is not: there you keep all four cards, because both pairs are part of the hand.