Video Poker rules and strategy
Learn to play in just 4 minutes. Video Poker is simple to learn and has a mathematically optimal strategy for playing it. Features one of the highest Return To Player value of any casino game.
Learn to play in just 4 minutes. Video Poker is simple to learn and has a mathematically optimal strategy for playing it. Features one of the highest Return To Player value of any casino game.
Video poker is only similar to actual poker in that the winnings are distributed based on poker hands, also known as poker formations. We've already made a video and a cheat sheet about poker hands.
Video poker can be played on a slot machine or in an online casino. You always play against the casino, not against other players.
There are quite a few types of video poker, and most of them have a Return To Player (RTP) value of over 99%, which is much higher than most other gambling games, such as slot machines, lotteries, or scratch cards. It's important to know that the return value can vary even within a specific type of video poker, depending on the paytable used by the machine. The paytable is always displayed on the screen, so it's always worth choosing one with better payouts.
The most widespread version of video poker is Jacks or Better. When applying an optimal strategy and paytable, its return is 99.5%.
The game is simple. In the first step, the machine deals you 5 cards. After this, you can choose which cards you want to keep and which ones you'd like to replace. Of course, you can decide to keep all of them or none of them. After this, the cards are evaluated, and you receive winnings corresponding to your poker hand. The steps in pictures:
The value of the winnings ranges between 1x and 800x your bet. The less likely the poker hand, the higher the winnings associated with it. It's important to know that the paytable depends on how many virtual coins (coins) you are playing with. This seemingly odd concept of virtual coins has remained because of the history of the game. The bottom line is to always choose the maximum number of coins (usually 5) to have the highest return value. Also, it's crucial to play with a Jacks or Better variant that has a good paytable. The example shown in the picture is such a variant.
What you might still need for optimal play is a calculator. In this calculator, you have to enter the type of game, the paytable, and the cards you were dealt. After this, the calculator will tell you which cards to keep and which ones to ask to be replaced.
The calculator works by calculating the probabilities of the poker hands and multiplying them by the associated winnings multiplier. Thus, it gives the expected return value of our different actions. This return value only applies to the given round, and naturally, a result greater than 100% can occur (for example, if you already get a winning hand in the first deal).
How to use the calculator in pictures:
We recommend using this calculator. If you're using the Jacks or Better variant mentioned in the previous chapter, use these initial data:
In this section, you can find the return to player (RTP) values for different video poker variants (for example, "Jacks or Better" or "Deuces Wild"). As we've mentioned, the return depends on the paytable used by the game. Therefore, we've calculated the return values for several common paytables here. The RTP value assumes that you're applying the optimal strategy perfectly.
Paytable variants you can find in online casinos for the Jacks or Better game. RTP is shown for each variant.
| Poker Hand | V1 | V2 | V3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Full house | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Flush | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Straight | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Two pair | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Pair | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Return | 99.54% | 98.45% | 98.39% |
Paytable variants you can find in online casinos for the Deuces Wild game. RTP is shown for each variant.
| Poker Hand | V1 | V2 | V3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural royal flush | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| Four deuces | 200 | 200 | 200 |
| Wild royal flush | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Five of a Kind | 15 | 15 | 16 |
| Straight flush | 9 | 11 | 10 |
| Four of a kind | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Full house | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Flush | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Straight | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Three of a kind | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Return | 100.76% | 99.96% | 99.73% |