Video Poker Strategy
Written July 10, 2008 by Jack Jones
Video poker made its entry to the casino in the seventies and is today one of the most popular forms of gambling. For the player who likes a game of skill, a low house edge, the possibility of large wins, and the anonymity of playing alone there is nothing else that can compare to video poker. The rules of video poker are simple; you play 1 to 5 coins, the machine give you five cards, you choose which to hold and which to discard, the machine replaces your discards and pays you off according to the value of your hand.The serious player can find opportunities with a player advantage. As in any form of gambling, if attaining an advantage were easy then everybody would be doing it. It is a volatile game where the ups and downs in the short term require a strong stomach and a big bankroll. There are numerous variations of the game and each one requires its own strategy. The successful player must know what the best pay tables are for each game, where to find them, and how to play them.
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The number of variations of video poker is constantly increasing. Wild cards have been introduced, some games feature multiple decks, bonuses for certain four of a kinds are common, and payoff tables can vary from one machine to another. To have an edge the player must play correct or near-correct strategy appropriate to their game and payoff table. The player who picks a machine at random and plays by common sense is going to lose over the long run. Serious players trust in strategy that is the product of computer analysis and make the best play near or at 100% of the time. In general the more complicated and long a strategy is the closer to 100% accuracy it will come. Serious players also don’t just play any machine but are diligent about researching and finding ones that have the most generous payoff tables.
Playing Strategy
A book the size of the yellow pages could be writen about video poker strategy. Due to the numerous different games, different pay tables, and levels of complexity in the strategy it would be a neverending task to try to cover the topic completely. I offer three video poker strategies as follows.
- Jacks or better simple strategy (return of 99.46%)
- Jacks or better intermediate strategy (return of 99.52%)
- Jacks or better optimal strategy (return of 99.54%)
- Deuces wild simple strategy (return of 100.71%)
- Deuces wild optimal strategy (return of 100.77%)
Other good sources for video poker strategy:
- Strategy cards by Bob Dancer and Liam W. Daily.
- Video Poker Strategy Master by Tom Ski.
House Edge
To quickly look up the house edge for various common pay tables for video poker visit my video poker small tables. For complete video poker probability tables select your game of choice below.
Miscellaneous Advice and Comments
- Always play the maximum coins. I have never seen a machine that didn’t offer va bonus on the highest hand for five coins played. If you are uncomfortable playing five coins then drop down to a lower coinage.
- The cards are chosen at random. There is no switch inside the machine that can make the machine loose or tight.
- A royal flush can come along at any time with equal probability. A machine is never “overdue” in the sense that it become more likely to hit. Theories such as that a machine will get very tight right before hitting a royal are simply not true. Given no change in strategy a royal is just as likely to be hit right after the last one as a million trials since the last one.
- Always use a slot club card if there is one, and there usually is. This is free money for playing and can often make the difference in having an edge or not.
- Do research on where the most generous machines are. Jeff Lotspiech’s Video Poker Page has a good list.
Better known as “The Wizard of Odds”, Michael Shackleford uses math and computer analysis to determine optimal playing strategy for all casino games. His work can be found on his website, WizardofOdds.com with player strategies and probabilities on most of the casino games. Michael lives in Las Vegas and in his spare time likes to college license plates and gamble.
You can read more about Michael’s work at his website, WizardofOdds.com