Video Poker Strategy
There are many different variations of video poker. For each of them there is its own winning poker strategy to get the maximum possible prize (or, rather, a minimal loss). Here we will give basic information about video poker and its advanced poker strategy by the example of such its variation as Jacks or Better.
Video poker strategy for Jacks or Better
So, as we have already said, there are many variants of video poker, and for each of them there is a specific table of payoffs, showing different probabilities of winning and, therefore, a different poker strategy. Let’s start with the most popular and interesting version of video poker – Jacks or Better (JoB). The table below shows the variants of payoffs and the corresponding mathematical expectation for this game:
Royal flush 940 800 800 800 800 800
Straight flush 50 50 50 40 50 50
4 of a kind 25 25 80 20 80 25
Full house 9 9 8 9 8 8
Flush 6 6 6 6 5 5
Straight 4 4 4 4 4 4
3 of a kind 3 3 3 3 3 3
2 pair 2 2 1 2 1 2
Pair of Jacks or higher 1 1 1 1 1 1
ME 99.9% 99.54% 98.49% 98.25% 97.4% 97.3%
Royal flush 800 800 1000 1000 800
Straight flush 50 50 50 50 50
4 of a kind 80 25 25 20 25
Full house 7 7 6 7 6
Flush 5 5 5 5 5
Straight 4 4 4 4 4
3 of a kind 3 3 3 3 3
2 pair 1 2 2 2 2
Pair of Jacks or higher 1 1 1 1 1
ME 96.25% 96.15% 95.51% 95.48% 95.00%
And as for the video poker strategy, it was created for full pay JoB (also known as 9 / 6 JoB VP – the second column in our table). We would like to offer you an advanced poker strategy with house edge of 0.54%. You should continue the game if you have such hands as:
1. Full House and higher
2. 4 cards of a Royal Flush
3. Street, Three of a Kind or Flash
4. 4 cards of Straight Flush
5. Two pairs
6. Pair of high cards (Jacks or higher)
7. 3 cards of a Royal Flush
8. 4 cards of a Flush
9. The pair of lower cards (Tens and lower)
10. 4 cards of an outside Street
11. Two high cards of the same suit
12. 3 cards of Straight Flush
13. Two high cards of different suits (if more than two high cards are dealt, then save the lower ones)
14. 10/Jack, 10/Queen, 10/King of the same suit
15. One high card
16. Flop
High cards – from Jack to Ace;
Outside Street – four cards in sequence (for ex., 5,6,7,8) as opposed to an inside straight (for ex., 5,6,8,9).
If you don’t want to spend your time to learn the video poker strategy, you can use a free program Casino Adviser, which will automatically make recommendations for optimal play at video poker.
But if you have a good memory, you’d better to remember this winning poker strategy.