Video Poker Strategy Guide
If you love poker but haven’t played video poker, what are you waiting for? This strategy guide gives you everything you need to play your best.
Updated:
If you love the game of poker or just want to try something different, then video poker may become your new favorite game. Online and land-based casinos offer a wide variety of poker slots that recreate single-player poker with payouts as high as 4000 credits.
Games can be played for as little as a penny per credit, and Royal Flush payouts are often linked to multiple games for huge jackpots. Linked games along casino bars allow you to play the games, have a drink, watch sports on big screen TVs and win big.
And you don't have to be a poker expert. Video games are easy to play, somewhat addictive, and surprisingly simple. Best of all, if you learn some strategy, you can actually change your financial fate by saving or discarding cards. That's better than anything slot machines can offer.
If you're a beginner, don't worry. I'll go over how the games work, what poker hands are, and the best way to play your cards. It's easy.
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About Video Poker
Unlike regular slot machines, where all you have to do is press a button to see your credits and the reels spin, you'll be making a poker decision every hand. Don't worry, the strategy is simple and we'll get to it soon.
First, you should know that slot machines and videos have a motherboard and game chips. They are computers that use a random number generator for each hand to simulate real games. For the most part, they work quite well.
If you've never heard of an RNG, it randomly selects a number that corresponds to a particular set of cards from a standard 52-card deck (53 if you're playing Joker poker). It does this by using computational algorithms to generate long sequences of random outcomes using a seed value or key.
What does this mean to you as a player? It means that in today's newer machines, the computer selects a set of five cards that appear on the video screen after you press the "play" button. The machine doesn't know what the five cards are going to be; they're just five random numbers that correspond to playing cards and suits.
You choose to keep all of your cards or discard any number of them and have them replaced by other randomly-chosen cards. The trick to video poker is correctly drawing cards based on each possible outcome and the payout for each possible final hand.
If that's confusing, let me explain. The object of poker is to make the best five-card hand possible. In Video Poker, the minimum hand for payouts is usually a pair of Jacks. In the following section, I'll explain how these hands work.
Poker Hands
Video Poker is based on five-card draw. It's not the popular Texas Hold'em game you may have played. There are no community cards, and you don't play against other players. This means that you are not playing for a "pot. Instead, you play to make the best hand. All payouts are tied to your final hand.
If you don’t make at least a pair of jacks, which will happen about 55% of the time, you lose your wager. This includes hands with no pair, no straight, and no flush. It also includes hands with a single pair of cards (such as 7 of spades and 7 of clubs) that are a lower denomination than jacks.
- If you get at least a single pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces, you'll get your bet back. You're not technically a winner, but you don't lose your bet
- If you make a final hand of two pair, such as 2-2-K-7-7, you'll be paid 2 credits for each credit wagered
- The next best poker hand is three of a kind, such as 8-8-8-3-5. Three of a kind pays 3 credits for each credit wagered
- A straight is any five cards in sequence, such as 3-4-5-6-7. In poker, an ace can be used to make a high straight, such as A-K-Q-J-T, or a low straight, such as 5-4-3-2-A. All straights pay the same 4 credits for each credit wagered
- the next best hand is a flush, which is five cards of the same suit, such as 2-5-8-9-Q, all of which are hearts. A flush pays 6 credits for each credit wagered
- a full house is three of a kind, such as 4-4-4, and a pair - let's say K-K. Your payout for a full house is 9 credits for each credit wagered
- Four of a kind pays 25 credits, such as J-6-6-6-6
- A straight flush is a combination of a straight and a flush. All cards must be in sequence and of the same suit, such as 4-5-6-7-8 in spades. A Straight Flush pays 50 credits for each credit wagered;
The highest hand in poker, a Royal Flush, is also the highest Straight Flush. There are only four possible Royal Flushes, each consisting of the cards A-K-Q-J-T, all of the same suit. A Royal Flush pays 250 credits for each credit bet. However, if you play five credits, the payout is 800-1, or 4000 credits for your wager of 5 credits.
How to Play Video Poker
Playing Video Poker is almost as easy as playing a slot machine. You insert your cash into the bill validator, choose your game type and denomination, and check the reader boards above the video screen to make sure you are on the game you want.
The best Jacks or Better pay table is shown below:
Jacks or Better
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 of a kind
25
50
75
100
125
Full house
9
18
27
36
45
Flush
6
12
18
24
30
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
2
4
6
8
10
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
As you can see, the higher your final hand, the more credits you'll win. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of winning. The first decision is how many credits to wager. Keep in mind that the biggest payout, the one for a Royal Flush, is 250 credits per credit bet. However, if you bet five credits, you will receive 800 credits per credit bet and 4000 total for 5 coins.
It’s tough to hit a royal – about 43,000 to 1 against – but if you are playing, don’t you want to get the best payoff? Again, it’s up to you. Play one credit, and your bankroll won’t get hit too hard on bad days. Play five credits, and you’ll see more fluctuation, but you’ll also find that the overall payback will be much better.
So how do you play? It's simple. Just find a comfortable seat in front of a machine and insert your coins into the slot or insert a bill into the validator. The screen will show you your total credits for the denomination you have chosen. If it's a multi-game machine, place your finger on the screen where the Jacks or Better logo appears. This will take you to the best game to start playing, and the top of the screen will show your payouts, similar to the one shown above on this page.
The buttons along the edge allow you to hold cards. Next to the Cash Out button is a button that says Bet One. You can press this button up to five times to reach the maximum credits. Or you can press the Max Bet button to the right of the ledge. Be careful with this, as some machines allow you to bet up to 100 credits.
To protect yourself from accidentally betting too many credits, press the Bet One button and see if it goes over 5 credits. If not, you can safely press the Max Bet button. Once you have chosen a bet amount, you will be dealt your first five cards at the same bet each time you press the Deal button.
If the machine is multi-denomination, that means you can choose how much each credit is worth – usually 5 cents, 25 cents, or $1, although other denominations are sometimes available. If your machine has multiple games to choose from, you’ll have to press the button on the screen that says More Games to change the denomination.
After pressing the Bet button to place your wager, press the Deal button to receive your first five cards. They will appear on the screen and you can now start making draw decisions. The above pay table, referred to as a 9/6 table (which stands for 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush), allows the player to enjoy the game with only about a 0.5% house edge. This house edge is only if you play the right strategy. If you make mistakes or play less than five coins/credits per hand, the house edge goes up considerably.
As for your starting hands, if you are dealt five cards all below a jack, with only two suited and none that can make a flush, well, you just have to throw them all away, because that is the worst hand to start with. The best hand to start with is that royal flush we talked about, and if you are dealt a pat royal, the machine will block your choices and you won't be able to accidentally bust a winner. That's cool.
On the other hand, that pat hand only happens about once every 650,000 attempts. Enjoy it when it happens. But what about other starting hands? We'll look at those next.
A live blackjack table mid-hand, the dealer's cards face upPhoto: Frerk Meyer · CC BY-SA
Video Poker Strategy
You have to make decisions every hand. Make good ones and you will win more. Make bad ones and your video poker experience can get expensive. For a standard game of Jacks or Better, follow the rules below and you'll be on your way to success.
I’ll go through each possible starting hand and guide you to the best payoffs, but keep in mind that the “jackpot” on a video poker machine is a royal flush. When possible, you’ll keep cards that can make a royal, or choose the next-best option to get a payoff. When presented with a hand like K-clubs, Q-clubs, T-clubs, Q-spades, and 4-hearts, what would you guess is the best play?
Well, it would be fun to hold the K, Q and ten of clubs and go for the royal, and that's how some people play. If you want more royals, go for it; I understand. If you miss and don't make a royal, you're going to occasionally make a flush, a straight, or a high pair that pays off.
However, if you want the best odds, hold the high pair of queens because it's a guaranteed winner every time. The odds of getting the jack and ten of clubs to make a royal are .00923, or about once in 923 tries. Trust me, that's forever in video poker land. All Video Poker strategy decisions are based on the best overall payoffs according to the mathematical probabilities presented for each starting hand.
That's a fancy way of saying follow the strategy because it pays the most, plain and simple. Don't play on hunches, and don't deviate from your strategy and save an ace while throwing away a small pair because it might make a royal. It might, but it probably won't in your lifetime of playing.
So, here’s another example. You press the Deal button, and the machine gives you a new hand. This time, you get the worst starting hand: one that has only two of a single suit, no straight draw, and all cards are below a jack. Yuck, this is as bad as it gets. As I mentioned before, you need to toss all your cards and draw new ones. You do this by pressing the Draw button without using the Hold option on any cards, or by pressing the screen. Newer video poker machines in land-based locations all have touch screens.
After pressing the draw button, you will be dealt five new cards. Most of the time you'll miss, but if you catch something like a big pair, you'll get a payoff. Either way, your decisions for this hand are over. So press Deal and let's move on to the next hand. The second worst starting hand has only one high card. It's still a dog, but at least you get to keep the only Jack, King, Queen or Ace and discard the other four cards. Press the Hold button under the card you are holding and cross your fingers. You're going to need some luck to survive.
You keep the high cards of Jacks or better because that's where the payoffs start. When you make a high pair or better, the machine automatically adds your payout to your existing credits and waits for your next play. So what do you play each hand? Keep the good cards and trade up to improve.
For example, if you have no pair and no four straight or four flush, but you get two suited face cards, you can keep them (that would be a king, queen, jack, or ace). If you get A-T, discard the ten and keep the ace. With these high suited cards, you can make a big pair or better, a straight, or even a flush.
- Two unsuitable high cards with no pair, straight or flush draw is another hand that comes up a lot. If you are dealt three high cards, keep only the two lowest (J-Q, Q-J, K-Q) and discard the higher card to improve your chances of making a straight. Here are the other cards in ascending order that you want to keep, assuming you do not have a big pair. The way to play them is to go through the list and play the highest possible option (closest to a royal flush)
- Three suited cards that can make a straight flush. Keep those and discard the junk
- Any four cards to make an outside straight. You'll see hands like 4-5-6-7 quite often. Drawing a single card to make an outside straight will pay off 8 times out of 47, or about once every six tries
- You'll also get a small pair (twos through tens) quite often. Hold them and hope for trips or four of a kind. What you'll usually get is three random cards. If you catch another pair, you get paid 10 coins. Not too shabby
- If you get four cards of the same suit without a pair, discard the off-suit and prepare to make a flush. Assuming there is no straight flush draw and you have a pair, keep the pair and discard the four straight
- Any three cards to make a royal flush is great. Keep them and discard the rest unless you have a higher starting hand listed below
- A pair of jacks or better is a guaranteed payoff. That's a great start, so discard the junk.
- Any two pairs can easily make a full house. Discard the rag and keep the two pairs
- Four cards to make a straight flush is fun and profitable. You can make a straight, a flush or even the elusive straight flush. Sometimes you won't make a paying hand. Call for cocktails
- Three of a kind pays well. Toss any other non-pair and draw two cards. You'll often make a full house or even four of a kind
- A five-card straight should always be saved. Hold all your cards
- A five-card flush should also be saved. Hold all your cards
- A full house should be saved
- Four cards to a royal flush has many possible payoffs. You'll hit a royal one time in 47 draws for the big payoff. You'll also hit a non-royal flush eight times out of 47 and several straights. As a consolation prize, you'll hit several paying pairs.
- Four of a kind can't be improved, so enjoy it.
- A straight flush pays 250 coins/credits. Just hold all your cards.
- A royal flush that's called only happens once in about 630,000 hands, but I was lucky enough to see it happen on my video machine!
Pay Tables
Although the payouts listed above are for Jacks or Better, variations of Video Poker such as Double Bonus and Deuces Wild have different paytables. Each casino has the option of offering higher or lower payouts for straights, flushes and full houses.
The payoffs are adjusted to produce varying casino win rates. The 9/6 pay table shown above has a terrific payback for players, with 9 credits per coin wagered (45 credits for 5 wagered) for a full house and 6 credits per coin wagered (30 credits for 5 wagered) for flushes.
If you find a Jacks or Better game with a 7/5 payout table (35 credits for a full house and 25 for a flush), the house edge is closer to 96%. On the other hand, you may find a 10/7 payout game. To compensate for the higher full house payoff, the two pair only pay 1 to 1. This reduces the total casino edge to close to 98%. Another example is the Double Double Bonus video game.
Double Double Bonus
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 aces with any A,2,3,4
400
800
1200
1600
2000
4 aces
160
320
480
640
800
4 2,3,4 with any A,2,3,4
160
320
480
640
800
4 2s, 3s,4s
80
160
240
320
400
4 5s through Ks
50
100
150
200
250
Full house
7
14
21
28
35
Flush
5
10
15
20
25
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
1
2
3
4
5
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
This is a very popular video poker game. As you can see, jacks or better and 2 pair pay the same. The flush and full house payouts are also reduced to allow for the maximum payouts when you get four of a kind, especially 4 aces with a small card.
Unfortunately, these changes reduce the overall payoffs to about 95.5%, so the house edge climbs to 4.5%.
Online Video Poker Versus Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
Not usually. The games at the D aren’t much different than those at the Nugget or across the street at the Fremont casino. However, you may find slightly better payoff tables on the higher-denomination video poker games. Quarter and dollar slots are often better than nickel slots.
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
Your internet provider and computer graphics card will also have an impact on your graphics. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the Flash version of most casino sites. That means I can connect and play very quickly without a drive to a local casino.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.
A Few Final Notes
You will probably find a wide variety of different Video Poker games, and each will have a slightly different strategy. So consider reading specific strategies for other video poker games. Some machines like Double Double and Aces and Faces offer bigger payouts for poker hands like four aces or four deuces. They also have different strategies for trying to preserve your bankroll while you wait for a big payoff.
While you are getting your feet wet, stay away from multiple-hand games like Triple Play or multi-play-level games where you bet 18 credits per spin. That takes a larger bankroll, and any mistakes you make will get multiplied by however many hands you are playing!
You should also know that once you become proficient at Video Poker, you'll find that hands fly by at an incredible rate. In fact, you may find yourself playing more than 300 hands per hour. This is great for earning comp points, but it's also hard on your bankroll.
So take your time, follow the simple strategy listed here, and have fun. When you are ready to learn other forms of video poker - some of which have almost no house edge when played perfectly - check out the links below to other great games.
Unlike regular slot machines, where all you have to do is press a button to see your credits and the reels spin, you'll be making a poker decision every hand. Don't worry, the strategy is simple and we'll get to it soon.
If you've never heard of an RNG, it randomly selects a number that corresponds to a particular set of cards from a standard 52-card deck (53 if you're playing Joker poker). It does this by using computational algorithms to generate long sequences of random outcomes using a seed value or key.
What does this mean to you as a player? It means that in today's newer machines, the computer selects a set of five cards that appear on the video screen after you press the "play" button. The machine doesn't know what the five cards are going to be; they're just five random numbers that correspond to playing cards and suits.
If that's confusing, let me explain. The object of poker is to make the best five-card hand possible. In Video Poker, the minimum hand for payouts is usually a pair of Jacks. In the following section, I'll explain how these hands work.
Poker Hands
Video Poker is based on five-card draw. It's not the popular Texas Hold'em game you may have played. There are no community cards, and you don't play against other players. This means that you are not playing for a "pot. Instead, you play to make the best hand. All payouts are tied to your final hand.
If you don’t make at least a pair of jacks, which will happen about 55% of the time, you lose your wager. This includes hands with no pair, no straight, and no flush. It also includes hands with a single pair of cards (such as 7 of spades and 7 of clubs) that are a lower denomination than jacks.
- If you get at least a single pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces, you'll get your bet back. You're not technically a winner, but you don't lose your bet
- If you make a final hand of two pair, such as 2-2-K-7-7, you'll be paid 2 credits for each credit wagered
- The next best poker hand is three of a kind, such as 8-8-8-3-5. Three of a kind pays 3 credits for each credit wagered
- A straight is any five cards in sequence, such as 3-4-5-6-7. In poker, an ace can be used to make a high straight, such as A-K-Q-J-T, or a low straight, such as 5-4-3-2-A. All straights pay the same 4 credits for each credit wagered
- the next best hand is a flush, which is five cards of the same suit, such as 2-5-8-9-Q, all of which are hearts. A flush pays 6 credits for each credit wagered
- a full house is three of a kind, such as 4-4-4, and a pair - let's say K-K. Your payout for a full house is 9 credits for each credit wagered
- Four of a kind pays 25 credits, such as J-6-6-6-6
- A straight flush is a combination of a straight and a flush. All cards must be in sequence and of the same suit, such as 4-5-6-7-8 in spades. A Straight Flush pays 50 credits for each credit wagered;
The highest hand in poker, a Royal Flush, is also the highest Straight Flush. There are only four possible Royal Flushes, each consisting of the cards A-K-Q-J-T, all of the same suit. A Royal Flush pays 250 credits for each credit bet. However, if you play five credits, the payout is 800-1, or 4000 credits for your wager of 5 credits.
How to Play Video Poker
Playing Video Poker is almost as easy as playing a slot machine. You insert your cash into the bill validator, choose your game type and denomination, and check the reader boards above the video screen to make sure you are on the game you want.
The best Jacks or Better pay table is shown below:
Jacks or Better
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 of a kind
25
50
75
100
125
Full house
9
18
27
36
45
Flush
6
12
18
24
30
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
2
4
6
8
10
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
As you can see, the higher your final hand, the more credits you'll win. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of winning. The first decision is how many credits to wager. Keep in mind that the biggest payout, the one for a Royal Flush, is 250 credits per credit bet. However, if you bet five credits, you will receive 800 credits per credit bet and 4000 total for 5 coins.
It’s tough to hit a royal – about 43,000 to 1 against – but if you are playing, don’t you want to get the best payoff? Again, it’s up to you. Play one credit, and your bankroll won’t get hit too hard on bad days. Play five credits, and you’ll see more fluctuation, but you’ll also find that the overall payback will be much better.
So how do you play? It's simple. Just find a comfortable seat in front of a machine and insert your coins into the slot or insert a bill into the validator. The screen will show you your total credits for the denomination you have chosen. If it's a multi-game machine, place your finger on the screen where the Jacks or Better logo appears. This will take you to the best game to start playing, and the top of the screen will show your payouts, similar to the one shown above on this page.
The buttons along the edge allow you to hold cards. Next to the Cash Out button is a button that says Bet One. You can press this button up to five times to reach the maximum credits. Or you can press the Max Bet button to the right of the ledge. Be careful with this, as some machines allow you to bet up to 100 credits.
To protect yourself from accidentally betting too many credits, press the Bet One button and see if it goes over 5 credits. If not, you can safely press the Max Bet button. Once you have chosen a bet amount, you will be dealt your first five cards at the same bet each time you press the Deal button.
If the machine is multi-denomination, that means you can choose how much each credit is worth – usually 5 cents, 25 cents, or $1, although other denominations are sometimes available. If your machine has multiple games to choose from, you’ll have to press the button on the screen that says More Games to change the denomination.
After pressing the Bet button to place your wager, press the Deal button to receive your first five cards. They will appear on the screen and you can now start making draw decisions. The above pay table, referred to as a 9/6 table (which stands for 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush), allows the player to enjoy the game with only about a 0.5% house edge. This house edge is only if you play the right strategy. If you make mistakes or play less than five coins/credits per hand, the house edge goes up considerably.
As for your starting hands, if you are dealt five cards all below a jack, with only two suited and none that can make a flush, well, you just have to throw them all away, because that is the worst hand to start with. The best hand to start with is that royal flush we talked about, and if you are dealt a pat royal, the machine will block your choices and you won't be able to accidentally bust a winner. That's cool.
On the other hand, that pat hand only happens about once every 650,000 attempts. Enjoy it when it happens. But what about other starting hands? We'll look at those next.
A live blackjack table mid-hand, the dealer's cards face upPhoto: Frerk Meyer · CC BY-SA
Video Poker Strategy
You have to make decisions every hand. Make good ones and you will win more. Make bad ones and your video poker experience can get expensive. For a standard game of Jacks or Better, follow the rules below and you'll be on your way to success.
I’ll go through each possible starting hand and guide you to the best payoffs, but keep in mind that the “jackpot” on a video poker machine is a royal flush. When possible, you’ll keep cards that can make a royal, or choose the next-best option to get a payoff. When presented with a hand like K-clubs, Q-clubs, T-clubs, Q-spades, and 4-hearts, what would you guess is the best play?
Well, it would be fun to hold the K, Q and ten of clubs and go for the royal, and that's how some people play. If you want more royals, go for it; I understand. If you miss and don't make a royal, you're going to occasionally make a flush, a straight, or a high pair that pays off.
However, if you want the best odds, hold the high pair of queens because it's a guaranteed winner every time. The odds of getting the jack and ten of clubs to make a royal are .00923, or about once in 923 tries. Trust me, that's forever in video poker land. All Video Poker strategy decisions are based on the best overall payoffs according to the mathematical probabilities presented for each starting hand.
That's a fancy way of saying follow the strategy because it pays the most, plain and simple. Don't play on hunches, and don't deviate from your strategy and save an ace while throwing away a small pair because it might make a royal. It might, but it probably won't in your lifetime of playing.
So, here’s another example. You press the Deal button, and the machine gives you a new hand. This time, you get the worst starting hand: one that has only two of a single suit, no straight draw, and all cards are below a jack. Yuck, this is as bad as it gets. As I mentioned before, you need to toss all your cards and draw new ones. You do this by pressing the Draw button without using the Hold option on any cards, or by pressing the screen. Newer video poker machines in land-based locations all have touch screens.
After pressing the draw button, you will be dealt five new cards. Most of the time you'll miss, but if you catch something like a big pair, you'll get a payoff. Either way, your decisions for this hand are over. So press Deal and let's move on to the next hand. The second worst starting hand has only one high card. It's still a dog, but at least you get to keep the only Jack, King, Queen or Ace and discard the other four cards. Press the Hold button under the card you are holding and cross your fingers. You're going to need some luck to survive.
You keep the high cards of Jacks or better because that's where the payoffs start. When you make a high pair or better, the machine automatically adds your payout to your existing credits and waits for your next play. So what do you play each hand? Keep the good cards and trade up to improve.
For example, if you have no pair and no four straight or four flush, but you get two suited face cards, you can keep them (that would be a king, queen, jack, or ace). If you get A-T, discard the ten and keep the ace. With these high suited cards, you can make a big pair or better, a straight, or even a flush.
- Two unsuitable high cards with no pair, straight or flush draw is another hand that comes up a lot. If you are dealt three high cards, keep only the two lowest (J-Q, Q-J, K-Q) and discard the higher card to improve your chances of making a straight. Here are the other cards in ascending order that you want to keep, assuming you do not have a big pair. The way to play them is to go through the list and play the highest possible option (closest to a royal flush)
- Three suited cards that can make a straight flush. Keep those and discard the junk
- Any four cards to make an outside straight. You'll see hands like 4-5-6-7 quite often. Drawing a single card to make an outside straight will pay off 8 times out of 47, or about once every six tries
- You'll also get a small pair (twos through tens) quite often. Hold them and hope for trips or four of a kind. What you'll usually get is three random cards. If you catch another pair, you get paid 10 coins. Not too shabby
- If you get four cards of the same suit without a pair, discard the off-suit and prepare to make a flush. Assuming there is no straight flush draw and you have a pair, keep the pair and discard the four straight
- Any three cards to make a royal flush is great. Keep them and discard the rest unless you have a higher starting hand listed below
- A pair of jacks or better is a guaranteed payoff. That's a great start, so discard the junk.
- Any two pairs can easily make a full house. Discard the rag and keep the two pairs
- Four cards to make a straight flush is fun and profitable. You can make a straight, a flush or even the elusive straight flush. Sometimes you won't make a paying hand. Call for cocktails
- Three of a kind pays well. Toss any other non-pair and draw two cards. You'll often make a full house or even four of a kind
- A five-card straight should always be saved. Hold all your cards
- A five-card flush should also be saved. Hold all your cards
- A full house should be saved
- Four cards to a royal flush has many possible payoffs. You'll hit a royal one time in 47 draws for the big payoff. You'll also hit a non-royal flush eight times out of 47 and several straights. As a consolation prize, you'll hit several paying pairs.
- Four of a kind can't be improved, so enjoy it.
- A straight flush pays 250 coins/credits. Just hold all your cards.
- A royal flush that's called only happens once in about 630,000 hands, but I was lucky enough to see it happen on my video machine!
Pay Tables
Although the payouts listed above are for Jacks or Better, variations of Video Poker such as Double Bonus and Deuces Wild have different paytables. Each casino has the option of offering higher or lower payouts for straights, flushes and full houses.
The payoffs are adjusted to produce varying casino win rates. The 9/6 pay table shown above has a terrific payback for players, with 9 credits per coin wagered (45 credits for 5 wagered) for a full house and 6 credits per coin wagered (30 credits for 5 wagered) for flushes.
If you find a Jacks or Better game with a 7/5 payout table (35 credits for a full house and 25 for a flush), the house edge is closer to 96%. On the other hand, you may find a 10/7 payout game. To compensate for the higher full house payoff, the two pair only pay 1 to 1. This reduces the total casino edge to close to 98%. Another example is the Double Double Bonus video game.
Double Double Bonus
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 aces with any A,2,3,4
400
800
1200
1600
2000
4 aces
160
320
480
640
800
4 2,3,4 with any A,2,3,4
160
320
480
640
800
4 2s, 3s,4s
80
160
240
320
400
4 5s through Ks
50
100
150
200
250
Full house
7
14
21
28
35
Flush
5
10
15
20
25
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
1
2
3
4
5
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
This is a very popular video poker game. As you can see, jacks or better and 2 pair pay the same. The flush and full house payouts are also reduced to allow for the maximum payouts when you get four of a kind, especially 4 aces with a small card.
Unfortunately, these changes reduce the overall payoffs to about 95.5%, so the house edge climbs to 4.5%.
Online Video Poker Versus Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
Not usually. The games at the D aren’t much different than those at the Nugget or across the street at the Fremont casino. However, you may find slightly better payoff tables on the higher-denomination video poker games. Quarter and dollar slots are often better than nickel slots.
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
Your internet provider and computer graphics card will also have an impact on your graphics. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the Flash version of most casino sites. That means I can connect and play very quickly without a drive to a local casino.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.
A Few Final Notes
You will probably find a wide variety of different Video Poker games, and each will have a slightly different strategy. So consider reading specific strategies for other video poker games. Some machines like Double Double and Aces and Faces offer bigger payouts for poker hands like four aces or four deuces. They also have different strategies for trying to preserve your bankroll while you wait for a big payoff.
While you are getting your feet wet, stay away from multiple-hand games like Triple Play or multi-play-level games where you bet 18 credits per spin. That takes a larger bankroll, and any mistakes you make will get multiplied by however many hands you are playing!
You should also know that once you become proficient at Video Poker, you'll find that hands fly by at an incredible rate. In fact, you may find yourself playing more than 300 hands per hour. This is great for earning comp points, but it's also hard on your bankroll.
So take your time, follow the simple strategy listed here, and have fun. When you are ready to learn other forms of video poker - some of which have almost no house edge when played perfectly - check out the links below to other great games.
Video Poker is based on five-card draw. It's not the popular Texas Hold'em game you may have played. There are no community cards, and you don't play against other players. This means that you are not playing for a "pot. Instead, you play to make the best hand. All payouts are tied to your final hand.
- If you get at least a single pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces, you'll get your bet back. You're not technically a winner, but you don't lose your bet
- If you make a final hand of two pair, such as 2-2-K-7-7, you'll be paid 2 credits for each credit wagered
- The next best poker hand is three of a kind, such as 8-8-8-3-5. Three of a kind pays 3 credits for each credit wagered
- A straight is any five cards in sequence, such as 3-4-5-6-7. In poker, an ace can be used to make a high straight, such as A-K-Q-J-T, or a low straight, such as 5-4-3-2-A. All straights pay the same 4 credits for each credit wagered
- the next best hand is a flush, which is five cards of the same suit, such as 2-5-8-9-Q, all of which are hearts. A flush pays 6 credits for each credit wagered
- a full house is three of a kind, such as 4-4-4, and a pair - let's say K-K. Your payout for a full house is 9 credits for each credit wagered
- Four of a kind pays 25 credits, such as J-6-6-6-6
- A straight flush is a combination of a straight and a flush. All cards must be in sequence and of the same suit, such as 4-5-6-7-8 in spades. A Straight Flush pays 50 credits for each credit wagered;
The highest hand in poker, a Royal Flush, is also the highest Straight Flush. There are only four possible Royal Flushes, each consisting of the cards A-K-Q-J-T, all of the same suit. A Royal Flush pays 250 credits for each credit bet. However, if you play five credits, the payout is 800-1, or 4000 credits for your wager of 5 credits.
How to Play Video Poker
Playing Video Poker is almost as easy as playing a slot machine. You insert your cash into the bill validator, choose your game type and denomination, and check the reader boards above the video screen to make sure you are on the game you want.
The best Jacks or Better pay table is shown below:
Jacks or Better
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 of a kind
25
50
75
100
125
Full house
9
18
27
36
45
Flush
6
12
18
24
30
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
2
4
6
8
10
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
As you can see, the higher your final hand, the more credits you'll win. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of winning. The first decision is how many credits to wager. Keep in mind that the biggest payout, the one for a Royal Flush, is 250 credits per credit bet. However, if you bet five credits, you will receive 800 credits per credit bet and 4000 total for 5 coins.
It’s tough to hit a royal – about 43,000 to 1 against – but if you are playing, don’t you want to get the best payoff? Again, it’s up to you. Play one credit, and your bankroll won’t get hit too hard on bad days. Play five credits, and you’ll see more fluctuation, but you’ll also find that the overall payback will be much better.
So how do you play? It's simple. Just find a comfortable seat in front of a machine and insert your coins into the slot or insert a bill into the validator. The screen will show you your total credits for the denomination you have chosen. If it's a multi-game machine, place your finger on the screen where the Jacks or Better logo appears. This will take you to the best game to start playing, and the top of the screen will show your payouts, similar to the one shown above on this page.
The buttons along the edge allow you to hold cards. Next to the Cash Out button is a button that says Bet One. You can press this button up to five times to reach the maximum credits. Or you can press the Max Bet button to the right of the ledge. Be careful with this, as some machines allow you to bet up to 100 credits.
To protect yourself from accidentally betting too many credits, press the Bet One button and see if it goes over 5 credits. If not, you can safely press the Max Bet button. Once you have chosen a bet amount, you will be dealt your first five cards at the same bet each time you press the Deal button.
If the machine is multi-denomination, that means you can choose how much each credit is worth – usually 5 cents, 25 cents, or $1, although other denominations are sometimes available. If your machine has multiple games to choose from, you’ll have to press the button on the screen that says More Games to change the denomination.
After pressing the Bet button to place your wager, press the Deal button to receive your first five cards. They will appear on the screen and you can now start making draw decisions. The above pay table, referred to as a 9/6 table (which stands for 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush), allows the player to enjoy the game with only about a 0.5% house edge. This house edge is only if you play the right strategy. If you make mistakes or play less than five coins/credits per hand, the house edge goes up considerably.
As for your starting hands, if you are dealt five cards all below a jack, with only two suited and none that can make a flush, well, you just have to throw them all away, because that is the worst hand to start with. The best hand to start with is that royal flush we talked about, and if you are dealt a pat royal, the machine will block your choices and you won't be able to accidentally bust a winner. That's cool.
On the other hand, that pat hand only happens about once every 650,000 attempts. Enjoy it when it happens. But what about other starting hands? We'll look at those next.
A live blackjack table mid-hand, the dealer's cards face upPhoto: Frerk Meyer · CC BY-SA
Video Poker Strategy
You have to make decisions every hand. Make good ones and you will win more. Make bad ones and your video poker experience can get expensive. For a standard game of Jacks or Better, follow the rules below and you'll be on your way to success.
I’ll go through each possible starting hand and guide you to the best payoffs, but keep in mind that the “jackpot” on a video poker machine is a royal flush. When possible, you’ll keep cards that can make a royal, or choose the next-best option to get a payoff. When presented with a hand like K-clubs, Q-clubs, T-clubs, Q-spades, and 4-hearts, what would you guess is the best play?
Well, it would be fun to hold the K, Q and ten of clubs and go for the royal, and that's how some people play. If you want more royals, go for it; I understand. If you miss and don't make a royal, you're going to occasionally make a flush, a straight, or a high pair that pays off.
However, if you want the best odds, hold the high pair of queens because it's a guaranteed winner every time. The odds of getting the jack and ten of clubs to make a royal are .00923, or about once in 923 tries. Trust me, that's forever in video poker land. All Video Poker strategy decisions are based on the best overall payoffs according to the mathematical probabilities presented for each starting hand.
That's a fancy way of saying follow the strategy because it pays the most, plain and simple. Don't play on hunches, and don't deviate from your strategy and save an ace while throwing away a small pair because it might make a royal. It might, but it probably won't in your lifetime of playing.
So, here’s another example. You press the Deal button, and the machine gives you a new hand. This time, you get the worst starting hand: one that has only two of a single suit, no straight draw, and all cards are below a jack. Yuck, this is as bad as it gets. As I mentioned before, you need to toss all your cards and draw new ones. You do this by pressing the Draw button without using the Hold option on any cards, or by pressing the screen. Newer video poker machines in land-based locations all have touch screens.
After pressing the draw button, you will be dealt five new cards. Most of the time you'll miss, but if you catch something like a big pair, you'll get a payoff. Either way, your decisions for this hand are over. So press Deal and let's move on to the next hand. The second worst starting hand has only one high card. It's still a dog, but at least you get to keep the only Jack, King, Queen or Ace and discard the other four cards. Press the Hold button under the card you are holding and cross your fingers. You're going to need some luck to survive.
You keep the high cards of Jacks or better because that's where the payoffs start. When you make a high pair or better, the machine automatically adds your payout to your existing credits and waits for your next play. So what do you play each hand? Keep the good cards and trade up to improve.
For example, if you have no pair and no four straight or four flush, but you get two suited face cards, you can keep them (that would be a king, queen, jack, or ace). If you get A-T, discard the ten and keep the ace. With these high suited cards, you can make a big pair or better, a straight, or even a flush.
- Two unsuitable high cards with no pair, straight or flush draw is another hand that comes up a lot. If you are dealt three high cards, keep only the two lowest (J-Q, Q-J, K-Q) and discard the higher card to improve your chances of making a straight. Here are the other cards in ascending order that you want to keep, assuming you do not have a big pair. The way to play them is to go through the list and play the highest possible option (closest to a royal flush)
- Three suited cards that can make a straight flush. Keep those and discard the junk
- Any four cards to make an outside straight. You'll see hands like 4-5-6-7 quite often. Drawing a single card to make an outside straight will pay off 8 times out of 47, or about once every six tries
- You'll also get a small pair (twos through tens) quite often. Hold them and hope for trips or four of a kind. What you'll usually get is three random cards. If you catch another pair, you get paid 10 coins. Not too shabby
- If you get four cards of the same suit without a pair, discard the off-suit and prepare to make a flush. Assuming there is no straight flush draw and you have a pair, keep the pair and discard the four straight
- Any three cards to make a royal flush is great. Keep them and discard the rest unless you have a higher starting hand listed below
- A pair of jacks or better is a guaranteed payoff. That's a great start, so discard the junk.
- Any two pairs can easily make a full house. Discard the rag and keep the two pairs
- Four cards to make a straight flush is fun and profitable. You can make a straight, a flush or even the elusive straight flush. Sometimes you won't make a paying hand. Call for cocktails
- Three of a kind pays well. Toss any other non-pair and draw two cards. You'll often make a full house or even four of a kind
- A five-card straight should always be saved. Hold all your cards
- A five-card flush should also be saved. Hold all your cards
- A full house should be saved
- Four cards to a royal flush has many possible payoffs. You'll hit a royal one time in 47 draws for the big payoff. You'll also hit a non-royal flush eight times out of 47 and several straights. As a consolation prize, you'll hit several paying pairs.
- Four of a kind can't be improved, so enjoy it.
- A straight flush pays 250 coins/credits. Just hold all your cards.
- A royal flush that's called only happens once in about 630,000 hands, but I was lucky enough to see it happen on my video machine!
Pay Tables
Although the payouts listed above are for Jacks or Better, variations of Video Poker such as Double Bonus and Deuces Wild have different paytables. Each casino has the option of offering higher or lower payouts for straights, flushes and full houses.
The payoffs are adjusted to produce varying casino win rates. The 9/6 pay table shown above has a terrific payback for players, with 9 credits per coin wagered (45 credits for 5 wagered) for a full house and 6 credits per coin wagered (30 credits for 5 wagered) for flushes.
If you find a Jacks or Better game with a 7/5 payout table (35 credits for a full house and 25 for a flush), the house edge is closer to 96%. On the other hand, you may find a 10/7 payout game. To compensate for the higher full house payoff, the two pair only pay 1 to 1. This reduces the total casino edge to close to 98%. Another example is the Double Double Bonus video game.
Double Double Bonus
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 aces with any A,2,3,4
400
800
1200
1600
2000
4 aces
160
320
480
640
800
4 2,3,4 with any A,2,3,4
160
320
480
640
800
4 2s, 3s,4s
80
160
240
320
400
4 5s through Ks
50
100
150
200
250
Full house
7
14
21
28
35
Flush
5
10
15
20
25
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
1
2
3
4
5
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
This is a very popular video poker game. As you can see, jacks or better and 2 pair pay the same. The flush and full house payouts are also reduced to allow for the maximum payouts when you get four of a kind, especially 4 aces with a small card.
Unfortunately, these changes reduce the overall payoffs to about 95.5%, so the house edge climbs to 4.5%.
Online Video Poker Versus Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
Not usually. The games at the D aren’t much different than those at the Nugget or across the street at the Fremont casino. However, you may find slightly better payoff tables on the higher-denomination video poker games. Quarter and dollar slots are often better than nickel slots.
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
Your internet provider and computer graphics card will also have an impact on your graphics. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the Flash version of most casino sites. That means I can connect and play very quickly without a drive to a local casino.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.
A Few Final Notes
You will probably find a wide variety of different Video Poker games, and each will have a slightly different strategy. So consider reading specific strategies for other video poker games. Some machines like Double Double and Aces and Faces offer bigger payouts for poker hands like four aces or four deuces. They also have different strategies for trying to preserve your bankroll while you wait for a big payoff.
While you are getting your feet wet, stay away from multiple-hand games like Triple Play or multi-play-level games where you bet 18 credits per spin. That takes a larger bankroll, and any mistakes you make will get multiplied by however many hands you are playing!
You should also know that once you become proficient at Video Poker, you'll find that hands fly by at an incredible rate. In fact, you may find yourself playing more than 300 hands per hour. This is great for earning comp points, but it's also hard on your bankroll.
So take your time, follow the simple strategy listed here, and have fun. When you are ready to learn other forms of video poker - some of which have almost no house edge when played perfectly - check out the links below to other great games.
Playing Video Poker is almost as easy as playing a slot machine. You insert your cash into the bill validator, choose your game type and denomination, and check the reader boards above the video screen to make sure you are on the game you want.
The best Jacks or Better pay table is shown below:
Jacks or Better
| Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pair | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
As you can see, the higher your final hand, the more credits you'll win. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of winning. The first decision is how many credits to wager. Keep in mind that the biggest payout, the one for a Royal Flush, is 250 credits per credit bet. However, if you bet five credits, you will receive 800 credits per credit bet and 4000 total for 5 coins.
So how do you play? It's simple. Just find a comfortable seat in front of a machine and insert your coins into the slot or insert a bill into the validator. The screen will show you your total credits for the denomination you have chosen. If it's a multi-game machine, place your finger on the screen where the Jacks or Better logo appears. This will take you to the best game to start playing, and the top of the screen will show your payouts, similar to the one shown above on this page.
The buttons along the edge allow you to hold cards. Next to the Cash Out button is a button that says Bet One. You can press this button up to five times to reach the maximum credits. Or you can press the Max Bet button to the right of the ledge. Be careful with this, as some machines allow you to bet up to 100 credits.
To protect yourself from accidentally betting too many credits, press the Bet One button and see if it goes over 5 credits. If not, you can safely press the Max Bet button. Once you have chosen a bet amount, you will be dealt your first five cards at the same bet each time you press the Deal button.
After pressing the Bet button to place your wager, press the Deal button to receive your first five cards. They will appear on the screen and you can now start making draw decisions. The above pay table, referred to as a 9/6 table (which stands for 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush), allows the player to enjoy the game with only about a 0.5% house edge. This house edge is only if you play the right strategy. If you make mistakes or play less than five coins/credits per hand, the house edge goes up considerably.
As for your starting hands, if you are dealt five cards all below a jack, with only two suited and none that can make a flush, well, you just have to throw them all away, because that is the worst hand to start with. The best hand to start with is that royal flush we talked about, and if you are dealt a pat royal, the machine will block your choices and you won't be able to accidentally bust a winner. That's cool.
On the other hand, that pat hand only happens about once every 650,000 attempts. Enjoy it when it happens. But what about other starting hands? We'll look at those next.
Video Poker Strategy
You have to make decisions every hand. Make good ones and you will win more. Make bad ones and your video poker experience can get expensive. For a standard game of Jacks or Better, follow the rules below and you'll be on your way to success.
I’ll go through each possible starting hand and guide you to the best payoffs, but keep in mind that the “jackpot” on a video poker machine is a royal flush. When possible, you’ll keep cards that can make a royal, or choose the next-best option to get a payoff. When presented with a hand like K-clubs, Q-clubs, T-clubs, Q-spades, and 4-hearts, what would you guess is the best play?
Well, it would be fun to hold the K, Q and ten of clubs and go for the royal, and that's how some people play. If you want more royals, go for it; I understand. If you miss and don't make a royal, you're going to occasionally make a flush, a straight, or a high pair that pays off.
However, if you want the best odds, hold the high pair of queens because it's a guaranteed winner every time. The odds of getting the jack and ten of clubs to make a royal are .00923, or about once in 923 tries. Trust me, that's forever in video poker land. All Video Poker strategy decisions are based on the best overall payoffs according to the mathematical probabilities presented for each starting hand.
That's a fancy way of saying follow the strategy because it pays the most, plain and simple. Don't play on hunches, and don't deviate from your strategy and save an ace while throwing away a small pair because it might make a royal. It might, but it probably won't in your lifetime of playing.
So, here’s another example. You press the Deal button, and the machine gives you a new hand. This time, you get the worst starting hand: one that has only two of a single suit, no straight draw, and all cards are below a jack. Yuck, this is as bad as it gets. As I mentioned before, you need to toss all your cards and draw new ones. You do this by pressing the Draw button without using the Hold option on any cards, or by pressing the screen. Newer video poker machines in land-based locations all have touch screens.
After pressing the draw button, you will be dealt five new cards. Most of the time you'll miss, but if you catch something like a big pair, you'll get a payoff. Either way, your decisions for this hand are over. So press Deal and let's move on to the next hand. The second worst starting hand has only one high card. It's still a dog, but at least you get to keep the only Jack, King, Queen or Ace and discard the other four cards. Press the Hold button under the card you are holding and cross your fingers. You're going to need some luck to survive.
You keep the high cards of Jacks or better because that's where the payoffs start. When you make a high pair or better, the machine automatically adds your payout to your existing credits and waits for your next play. So what do you play each hand? Keep the good cards and trade up to improve.
For example, if you have no pair and no four straight or four flush, but you get two suited face cards, you can keep them (that would be a king, queen, jack, or ace). If you get A-T, discard the ten and keep the ace. With these high suited cards, you can make a big pair or better, a straight, or even a flush.
- Two unsuitable high cards with no pair, straight or flush draw is another hand that comes up a lot. If you are dealt three high cards, keep only the two lowest (J-Q, Q-J, K-Q) and discard the higher card to improve your chances of making a straight. Here are the other cards in ascending order that you want to keep, assuming you do not have a big pair. The way to play them is to go through the list and play the highest possible option (closest to a royal flush)
- Three suited cards that can make a straight flush. Keep those and discard the junk
- Any four cards to make an outside straight. You'll see hands like 4-5-6-7 quite often. Drawing a single card to make an outside straight will pay off 8 times out of 47, or about once every six tries
- You'll also get a small pair (twos through tens) quite often. Hold them and hope for trips or four of a kind. What you'll usually get is three random cards. If you catch another pair, you get paid 10 coins. Not too shabby
- If you get four cards of the same suit without a pair, discard the off-suit and prepare to make a flush. Assuming there is no straight flush draw and you have a pair, keep the pair and discard the four straight
- Any three cards to make a royal flush is great. Keep them and discard the rest unless you have a higher starting hand listed below
- A pair of jacks or better is a guaranteed payoff. That's a great start, so discard the junk.
- Any two pairs can easily make a full house. Discard the rag and keep the two pairs
- Four cards to make a straight flush is fun and profitable. You can make a straight, a flush or even the elusive straight flush. Sometimes you won't make a paying hand. Call for cocktails
- Three of a kind pays well. Toss any other non-pair and draw two cards. You'll often make a full house or even four of a kind
- A five-card straight should always be saved. Hold all your cards
- A five-card flush should also be saved. Hold all your cards
- A full house should be saved
- Four cards to a royal flush has many possible payoffs. You'll hit a royal one time in 47 draws for the big payoff. You'll also hit a non-royal flush eight times out of 47 and several straights. As a consolation prize, you'll hit several paying pairs.
- Four of a kind can't be improved, so enjoy it.
- A straight flush pays 250 coins/credits. Just hold all your cards.
- A royal flush that's called only happens once in about 630,000 hands, but I was lucky enough to see it happen on my video machine!
Pay Tables
Although the payouts listed above are for Jacks or Better, variations of Video Poker such as Double Bonus and Deuces Wild have different paytables. Each casino has the option of offering higher or lower payouts for straights, flushes and full houses.
The payoffs are adjusted to produce varying casino win rates. The 9/6 pay table shown above has a terrific payback for players, with 9 credits per coin wagered (45 credits for 5 wagered) for a full house and 6 credits per coin wagered (30 credits for 5 wagered) for flushes.
If you find a Jacks or Better game with a 7/5 payout table (35 credits for a full house and 25 for a flush), the house edge is closer to 96%. On the other hand, you may find a 10/7 payout game. To compensate for the higher full house payoff, the two pair only pay 1 to 1. This reduces the total casino edge to close to 98%. Another example is the Double Double Bonus video game.
Double Double Bonus
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 aces with any A,2,3,4
400
800
1200
1600
2000
4 aces
160
320
480
640
800
4 2,3,4 with any A,2,3,4
160
320
480
640
800
4 2s, 3s,4s
80
160
240
320
400
4 5s through Ks
50
100
150
200
250
Full house
7
14
21
28
35
Flush
5
10
15
20
25
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
1
2
3
4
5
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
This is a very popular video poker game. As you can see, jacks or better and 2 pair pay the same. The flush and full house payouts are also reduced to allow for the maximum payouts when you get four of a kind, especially 4 aces with a small card.
Unfortunately, these changes reduce the overall payoffs to about 95.5%, so the house edge climbs to 4.5%.
Online Video Poker Versus Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
Not usually. The games at the D aren’t much different than those at the Nugget or across the street at the Fremont casino. However, you may find slightly better payoff tables on the higher-denomination video poker games. Quarter and dollar slots are often better than nickel slots.
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
Your internet provider and computer graphics card will also have an impact on your graphics. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the Flash version of most casino sites. That means I can connect and play very quickly without a drive to a local casino.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.
A Few Final Notes
You will probably find a wide variety of different Video Poker games, and each will have a slightly different strategy. So consider reading specific strategies for other video poker games. Some machines like Double Double and Aces and Faces offer bigger payouts for poker hands like four aces or four deuces. They also have different strategies for trying to preserve your bankroll while you wait for a big payoff.
While you are getting your feet wet, stay away from multiple-hand games like Triple Play or multi-play-level games where you bet 18 credits per spin. That takes a larger bankroll, and any mistakes you make will get multiplied by however many hands you are playing!
You should also know that once you become proficient at Video Poker, you'll find that hands fly by at an incredible rate. In fact, you may find yourself playing more than 300 hands per hour. This is great for earning comp points, but it's also hard on your bankroll.
So take your time, follow the simple strategy listed here, and have fun. When you are ready to learn other forms of video poker - some of which have almost no house edge when played perfectly - check out the links below to other great games.
You have to make decisions every hand. Make good ones and you will win more. Make bad ones and your video poker experience can get expensive. For a standard game of Jacks or Better, follow the rules below and you'll be on your way to success.
Well, it would be fun to hold the K, Q and ten of clubs and go for the royal, and that's how some people play. If you want more royals, go for it; I understand. If you miss and don't make a royal, you're going to occasionally make a flush, a straight, or a high pair that pays off.
However, if you want the best odds, hold the high pair of queens because it's a guaranteed winner every time. The odds of getting the jack and ten of clubs to make a royal are .00923, or about once in 923 tries. Trust me, that's forever in video poker land. All Video Poker strategy decisions are based on the best overall payoffs according to the mathematical probabilities presented for each starting hand.
That's a fancy way of saying follow the strategy because it pays the most, plain and simple. Don't play on hunches, and don't deviate from your strategy and save an ace while throwing away a small pair because it might make a royal. It might, but it probably won't in your lifetime of playing.
After pressing the draw button, you will be dealt five new cards. Most of the time you'll miss, but if you catch something like a big pair, you'll get a payoff. Either way, your decisions for this hand are over. So press Deal and let's move on to the next hand. The second worst starting hand has only one high card. It's still a dog, but at least you get to keep the only Jack, King, Queen or Ace and discard the other four cards. Press the Hold button under the card you are holding and cross your fingers. You're going to need some luck to survive.
You keep the high cards of Jacks or better because that's where the payoffs start. When you make a high pair or better, the machine automatically adds your payout to your existing credits and waits for your next play. So what do you play each hand? Keep the good cards and trade up to improve.
For example, if you have no pair and no four straight or four flush, but you get two suited face cards, you can keep them (that would be a king, queen, jack, or ace). If you get A-T, discard the ten and keep the ace. With these high suited cards, you can make a big pair or better, a straight, or even a flush.
- Two unsuitable high cards with no pair, straight or flush draw is another hand that comes up a lot. If you are dealt three high cards, keep only the two lowest (J-Q, Q-J, K-Q) and discard the higher card to improve your chances of making a straight. Here are the other cards in ascending order that you want to keep, assuming you do not have a big pair. The way to play them is to go through the list and play the highest possible option (closest to a royal flush)
- Three suited cards that can make a straight flush. Keep those and discard the junk
- Any four cards to make an outside straight. You'll see hands like 4-5-6-7 quite often. Drawing a single card to make an outside straight will pay off 8 times out of 47, or about once every six tries
- You'll also get a small pair (twos through tens) quite often. Hold them and hope for trips or four of a kind. What you'll usually get is three random cards. If you catch another pair, you get paid 10 coins. Not too shabby
- If you get four cards of the same suit without a pair, discard the off-suit and prepare to make a flush. Assuming there is no straight flush draw and you have a pair, keep the pair and discard the four straight
- Any three cards to make a royal flush is great. Keep them and discard the rest unless you have a higher starting hand listed below
- A pair of jacks or better is a guaranteed payoff. That's a great start, so discard the junk.
- Any two pairs can easily make a full house. Discard the rag and keep the two pairs
- Four cards to make a straight flush is fun and profitable. You can make a straight, a flush or even the elusive straight flush. Sometimes you won't make a paying hand. Call for cocktails
- Three of a kind pays well. Toss any other non-pair and draw two cards. You'll often make a full house or even four of a kind
- A five-card straight should always be saved. Hold all your cards
- A five-card flush should also be saved. Hold all your cards
- A full house should be saved
- Four cards to a royal flush has many possible payoffs. You'll hit a royal one time in 47 draws for the big payoff. You'll also hit a non-royal flush eight times out of 47 and several straights. As a consolation prize, you'll hit several paying pairs.
- Four of a kind can't be improved, so enjoy it.
- A straight flush pays 250 coins/credits. Just hold all your cards.
- A royal flush that's called only happens once in about 630,000 hands, but I was lucky enough to see it happen on my video machine!
Pay Tables
Although the payouts listed above are for Jacks or Better, variations of Video Poker such as Double Bonus and Deuces Wild have different paytables. Each casino has the option of offering higher or lower payouts for straights, flushes and full houses.
The payoffs are adjusted to produce varying casino win rates. The 9/6 pay table shown above has a terrific payback for players, with 9 credits per coin wagered (45 credits for 5 wagered) for a full house and 6 credits per coin wagered (30 credits for 5 wagered) for flushes.
If you find a Jacks or Better game with a 7/5 payout table (35 credits for a full house and 25 for a flush), the house edge is closer to 96%. On the other hand, you may find a 10/7 payout game. To compensate for the higher full house payoff, the two pair only pay 1 to 1. This reduces the total casino edge to close to 98%. Another example is the Double Double Bonus video game.
Double Double Bonus
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal flush
250
500
750
1000
4000
Straight flush
50
100
150
200
250
4 aces with any A,2,3,4
400
800
1200
1600
2000
4 aces
160
320
480
640
800
4 2,3,4 with any A,2,3,4
160
320
480
640
800
4 2s, 3s,4s
80
160
240
320
400
4 5s through Ks
50
100
150
200
250
Full house
7
14
21
28
35
Flush
5
10
15
20
25
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 pair
1
2
3
4
5
Jacks or better
1
2
3
4
5
This is a very popular video poker game. As you can see, jacks or better and 2 pair pay the same. The flush and full house payouts are also reduced to allow for the maximum payouts when you get four of a kind, especially 4 aces with a small card.
Unfortunately, these changes reduce the overall payoffs to about 95.5%, so the house edge climbs to 4.5%.
Online Video Poker Versus Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
Not usually. The games at the D aren’t much different than those at the Nugget or across the street at the Fremont casino. However, you may find slightly better payoff tables on the higher-denomination video poker games. Quarter and dollar slots are often better than nickel slots.
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
Your internet provider and computer graphics card will also have an impact on your graphics. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the Flash version of most casino sites. That means I can connect and play very quickly without a drive to a local casino.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.
A Few Final Notes
You will probably find a wide variety of different Video Poker games, and each will have a slightly different strategy. So consider reading specific strategies for other video poker games. Some machines like Double Double and Aces and Faces offer bigger payouts for poker hands like four aces or four deuces. They also have different strategies for trying to preserve your bankroll while you wait for a big payoff.
While you are getting your feet wet, stay away from multiple-hand games like Triple Play or multi-play-level games where you bet 18 credits per spin. That takes a larger bankroll, and any mistakes you make will get multiplied by however many hands you are playing!
You should also know that once you become proficient at Video Poker, you'll find that hands fly by at an incredible rate. In fact, you may find yourself playing more than 300 hands per hour. This is great for earning comp points, but it's also hard on your bankroll.
So take your time, follow the simple strategy listed here, and have fun. When you are ready to learn other forms of video poker - some of which have almost no house edge when played perfectly - check out the links below to other great games.
Although the payouts listed above are for Jacks or Better, variations of Video Poker such as Double Bonus and Deuces Wild have different paytables. Each casino has the option of offering higher or lower payouts for straights, flushes and full houses.
If you find a Jacks or Better game with a 7/5 payout table (35 credits for a full house and 25 for a flush), the house edge is closer to 96%. On the other hand, you may find a 10/7 payout game. To compensate for the higher full house payoff, the two pair only pay 1 to 1. This reduces the total casino edge to close to 98%. Another example is the Double Double Bonus video game.
Double Double Bonus
| Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 aces with any A,2,3,4 | 400 | 800 | 1200 | 1600 | 2000 |
| 4 aces | 160 | 320 | 480 | 640 | 800 |
| 4 2,3,4 with any A,2,3,4 | 160 | 320 | 480 | 640 | 800 |
| 4 2s, 3s,4s | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
| 4 5s through Ks | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Full house | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 35 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pair | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
This is a very popular video poker game. As you can see, jacks or better and 2 pair pay the same. The flush and full house payouts are also reduced to allow for the maximum payouts when you get four of a kind, especially 4 aces with a small card.
Unfortunately, these changes reduce the overall payoffs to about 95.5%, so the house edge climbs to 4.5%.
Online Video Poker Versus Land-Based Casinos
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
Not usually. The games at the D aren’t much different than those at the Nugget or across the street at the Fremont casino. However, you may find slightly better payoff tables on the higher-denomination video poker games. Quarter and dollar slots are often better than nickel slots.
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
Your internet provider and computer graphics card will also have an impact on your graphics. Personally, I don’t have a problem with the Flash version of most casino sites. That means I can connect and play very quickly without a drive to a local casino.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.
A Few Final Notes
You will probably find a wide variety of different Video Poker games, and each will have a slightly different strategy. So consider reading specific strategies for other video poker games. Some machines like Double Double and Aces and Faces offer bigger payouts for poker hands like four aces or four deuces. They also have different strategies for trying to preserve your bankroll while you wait for a big payoff.
While you are getting your feet wet, stay away from multiple-hand games like Triple Play or multi-play-level games where you bet 18 credits per spin. That takes a larger bankroll, and any mistakes you make will get multiplied by however many hands you are playing!
You should also know that once you become proficient at Video Poker, you'll find that hands fly by at an incredible rate. In fact, you may find yourself playing more than 300 hands per hour. This is great for earning comp points, but it's also hard on your bankroll.
So take your time, follow the simple strategy listed here, and have fun. When you are ready to learn other forms of video poker - some of which have almost no house edge when played perfectly - check out the links below to other great games.
Land-based casinos compete with other casinos nearby, so the payouts on slots and video poker are usually similar. If you play in downtown Las Vegas, where the casinos are side-by-side and across the street from each other, there are plenty of game choices, but are the payouts significantly different?
In a gambling town like Vegas, you can often find better payouts at some of the outlying casinos that are considered "local" properties, where a lot of effort is made to accommodate players who play regularly throughout the year.
You'll also find a good selection of games when you play online. Look for Jacks or Better, American Poker, Double Double Bonus, Joker Poker and Deuces Wild. You'll also find the denomination you want. It's easy to change most online video poker games from a nickel to a dime or quarter, or even a penny. Just click on the coin slot or denomination and see if it changes to what you want.
This is one of the good things about playing online. A bad thing about playing online is that the payout percentages are more dependent on the software used than the casino. The software can also give you a very realistic experience at most sites, but you'll have to check for yourself to see what you like.
If you like triple play, you won't find exactly what IGT offers in their live casinos. However, there are several varieties of multi-line games to choose from.
Be careful with both multi-line and multi-credit games. Although you will win more for a royal flush if you play more than five credits per spin, your variance will be much higher. This means that your bankroll is likely to take a hit before you catch four aces or a royal flush. You may want to stick with the minimum bet that will get you 4,000 credits for a royal when you start playing.