CasinoGaming.com

Introduction to Video Poker

Video Poker

• Back to Learn to Play index

By Bob Dancer
Video poker is a beatable game. It is one of the few casino games where the knowledgeable player can have an advantage over the casino on every bet.

In most casinos, however, at least 80%+ of all video poker games contain a built-in house edge, and in some casinos 100% of the games have a house edge.

Video Poker Pay Schedules

A B C D E

Royal Flush 250 800 800 800 800

Straight Flush 50 50 50 50 50

Four of a Kind 25 25 25 80/40/25 160/80/50

Full House 9 9 8 8 10

Flush 6 6 5 5 7

Straight 4 4 4 4 5

Three of a Kind 3 3 3 3 3

Two Pair 2 2 2 2 1

Jacks or Better 1 1 1 1 1

The most important factor in identifying those games that are beatable and those games that are not is found by looking at the pay schedule --- which by law is prominently displayed on the front of every machine.

At first glance, the chart above looks like a pay schedule, but it actually represents five different pay schedules. Notice the final hands are listed down the left side.

A. 9-6 Jacks or Better --- played with 1 thru 4 coins --- 98.37%
B. 9-6 Jacks or Better --- max coins --- 99.54%
C. 8-5 Jacks or Better --- max coins --- 97.30%
D. 8-5 Bonus Poker --- 99.17%
E. 10-7 Double Bonus --- 100.17%

A. 9-6 Jacks or Better --- played with 1 thru 4 coins --- 98.37%

Column A represents the one-coin pay schedule for the best commonly found Jacks or Better game, which is also called Draw Poker. It is also the basic game found on "Triple Play", "Five Play" and "Fifty Play" machines.

The two most important numbers are the 9 listed beside "Full House" and the 6 listed beside "Flush". These numbers are so important that we call this the 9-6 version of the game.

The next most important number to look at in Column A is the amount the game returns for "Two Pair". If it says 2, you are on the correct game. If it says 1, it means you are on a 9-6 Double Bonus game (which is a lousy schedule on a good game) or a 9-6 Double Double Bonus game (which is the best schedule on a game always avoided by knowledgeable players).

Beside "Royal Flush", you usually see 250 or 300 on the one-coin pay schedule. That is the amount you receive if you hit the royal while paying fewer than "maximum coins" --- which is usually 5 coins, but can be a different number. As a general rule, always play maximum coins. If you cannot afford to play maximum coins, find a machine in a lower denomination with the correct pay schedule.

At the bottom of the chart you will see that playing one-coin 9-6 Jacks or Better returns 98.37%. The machine doesn't automatically give this to you. Skill matters a lot. Playing the hands correctly is vital. And the strategy isn't written down anywhere.

B. 9-6 Jacks or Better --- max coins --- 99.54%

Rather than worrying about the strategy differences between one-coin and maximum-coin play, just play maximum coins at all times. Column B shows the pay schedule for this. Everything is the same between Column A and Column B except the amount returned for the Royal Flush. Column B says 800. To be sure, you will not see a machine saying it pays 800 for a Royal Flush. What you will see, however, are plenty of machines saying they return 4,000 coins for a 5-coin bet. This means they return 800 coins per coin bet, as long as you play maximum coins.

When you do play maximum coins, the game returns 99.54% for perfect play. The 99.54% figure is for computer-perfect play. Every hand has a unique best play. There are occasional ties (where two different plays have identical expected values) but they are rare in most games.

Another point to get clear here. If you ask a slot director how much one of these machines pay back to the customer, he will give you an answer around 97.8%. So how come I tell you it is worth 99.54% percent and he tells you it actually returns much less. Who's lying?

Actually, we are both telling the truth. I am talking about your long run return if you play perfectly. The slot director would be talking about the long run return of actual players --- playing some mixture of maximum coin and short coin and using whatever strategy they think is best.

The public plays almost 2% less than optimal on this game. Other games, such as Joker Wild, will find the public playing at about 3% less than optimal.

Also, note that even at best, the game returns under 100%. I for one never play video poker games unless they return over 100%. This can happen on a Jacks or Better machine, but only when you have a generous slot club or you have a lucrative promotion going on.

C. 8-5 Jacks or Better --- max coins --- 97.30%

Column C shows 8-5 Jacks or Better. This is exactly the same as 9-6 Jacks or Better, except it returns less for both a full house and flush. It's only one unit each, did I hear you say, so it's not a big deal? That one unit represents 5 coins (since you are playing maximum coins, aren't you?). And you hit about 7 full houses per hour and 7 flushes per hour.

In round numbers, then, 8-5 Jacks or Better returns 70 coins less per hour than 9-6 Jacks or Better. (7-5 Jacks players give up another 35 coins per hour and 6-5 Jacks players give up still another 35 coins per hour.) The 8-5 Jacks returns 97.30%, and frankly are the best machines at a number of casinos.

D. 8-5 Bonus Poker --- 99.17%