Pairs are strong in almost every game type. Classical poker card rankings apply with payouts relating to odds. Familiarise yourself with the poker hands rankings. Beginners advice provided.

How to Play Video Poker

Video poker is in essence a machine version of the popular table game of poker. Video Poker has set paytables and you are playing a machine so there is no bluffing.

Pairs are strong in almost every game type. Classical poker card rankings apply with payouts relating to odds. Familiarise yourself with the poker hands rankings.

Start with Jacks or Better video poker as the strategy is straight foward with a great return.

Video Poker Odds

Video poker paytables are the payout figures expressed on top of the video poker machine and are the much ignored key to getting the upper hand in video poker play. They display the return for hands won from a bet of 1 to 5 coins on an average machine. We always bet 5 coins (max bet) as that is the only way to achieve the maximum payout.

The paytable on the right is what you will see on a Jacks or Better 9/6 machine. The paytable is not just eye candy to show what could be won, it is in fact the key to determining how you would play any chosen game.

There are other Jacks or Better games offering different payouts and lower percentages than 9/6 (NINE coins for a FULL HOUSE and SIX coins for a FLUSH). We are looking at the 9/6 game as it is the most popular of the Jacks or Better and offers a return of 99.5%. There are 32 ways to hold any dealt hand and it is the probability of winning combinations that give us the return percentage for any given game.

Dont worry about getting your calculator out as we have presented all the payout percentages, strategy and analysis for the various video poker games. So, in the above paytable you could play $100 on a 5c machine at a 5 coin bet, giving you 400 hands of play. At 99.5% return you would expect at worst to lose 50c. At best you might pull a Royal Flush. You might now be starting to see the attraction of video poker to the enthusiast! Why bet 5 coins (maximum bet)? This is a golden rule of video poker and it is the only way to reach the maximum payout of a chosen game. The aim here is for perfect play, no errors, and is the goal of the budding video poker player.

How to Play Video Poker - In a Nutshell

By now you should have an understanding that it is the different winning hand combinations and variations that create the video poker strategy you would use and determine from the paytables for any chosen game.

It is also these different combinations that determine the probability and payout percentages for any given game. Find the game you wish to play, become familiar with the paytables that will be the basis of your video poker strategy. Have fun and may the Royal Flush come your way.