$1,000
Bankroll
Place your bets
Pick a bet size, then deal.
Dealer · opens with king high or better
Your Cards · best four play
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Ante--= ante
Super Bonus--
Play--side
Queens Up
Bet size (ante and super bonus each)
Queens Up side bet
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Decision Accuracy
0
Hands
$0
Net
Recent Hands
Played hands show up here with both hands, your decision, and the result.
Crazy 4 Poker Strategy
Crazy 4 Poker asks one question per hand: how much money goes behind your best four cards. The answer is a three-line rule, and following it plays within a ten-thousandth of a percent of fully optimal. The trainer grades you against exactly this strategy.
The decision — apply the first rule that fits
- 3xRaise the maximum whenever it is allowed: with a pair of aces or better. Every hand strong enough to unlock the big raise is strong enough to want it.
- 1xRaise with K-Q-8-4 high or better. Compare your best four cards to king, queen, eight, four, one card at a time. Any pair also clears this bar.
- FoldEverything below K-Q-8-4. Give up the Ante and Super Bonus rather than feed a Play bet to a losing spot.
Why king-high hands still raise: the Play bet wins outright whenever the dealer misses king high, which happens about 15% of the time. That free-win chance carries marginal hands over the line.
Hand rankings — four-card order
- 1Four of a kind
- 2Straight flush
- 3Three of a kind — beats a flush here
- 4Flush — beats a straight here
- 5Straight
- 6Two pair
- 7Pair
- 8High card
With four cards the usual five-card order flips: trips are rarer than flushes, and flushes are rarer than straights. The ace plays high or low in a straight (A-2-3-4 or J-Q-K-A).
Super Bonus (mandatory, = ante)
| Four aces | 200 to 1 |
| Four of a kind, 2s-Ks | 30 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 15 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 2 to 1 |
| Flush | 1.5 to 1 |
| Straight | 1 to 1 |
| Below a straight | Rides on showdown |
A straight or better pays no matter what the dealer has. Below a straight, it pushes when the dealer fails to open or when you beat or tie an opening dealer, and loses only when an opening dealer beats you.
Queens Up side bet (pay table 4)
| Four of a kind | 50 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 40 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 7 to 1 |
| Flush | 4 to 1 |
| Straight | 3 to 1 |
| Two pair | 2 to 1 |
| Pair of queens or better | 1 to 1 |
Pays on your hand alone, dealer irrelevant, but a fold forfeits it. This is the most common Las Vegas pay table and carries a 6.78% house edge, roughly double the main game.
The numbers
House edge 3.42% of the ante
Element of risk 1.09%
Raise 3x on 18.6% of hands
Raise 1x on 57.9%
Fold 23.5%
Dealer opens about 85% of the time
Average final wager 3.14 units
The K-Q-8-4 rule gives up only 0.000089% against the fully optimal computer strategy, so there is nothing meaningful left to memorize beyond these three lines.
How the bets settle
- AntePushes when the dealer does not open. Otherwise even money on the showdown.
- PlayWins outright when the dealer does not open. Otherwise even money on the showdown.
- BonusPay table on a straight or better; below that it rides on the showdown and pushes on a no-open.
- FoldForfeits everything on the table, including Queens Up.
Common mistakes
- Raising only 1x with a pair of aces or better. This is the most expensive habit in the game. The 3x raise exists precisely because those hands are big favorites; putting one unit behind them instead of three burns most of your edge on your best hands.
- Folding qualifying king-high hands. K-Q-8-4 feels like nothing, but the Play bet wins by itself about a quarter of the time when the dealer misses king high. Folding these hands throws away thin but real value.
- Calling with weak queen-high or jack-high hands. Below K-Q-8-4 the Play bet loses more than the Ante and Super Bonus forfeit costs. Fold and move on.
- Misreading the rankings. Three of a kind beats a flush and a flush beats a straight in four-card poker. Players trained on five-card order routinely undervalue trips here.
- Folding with a live Queens Up winner. A fold forfeits the side bet too. It never comes up under correct play, because a pair of queens or better always raises, which is one more reason to trust the chart.
Rules, strategy, and all published numbers from Michael Shackleford, Wizard of Odds — Crazy 4 Poker. The trainer’s engine reproduces his hand-frequency and return tables exactly.