Video Poker Secret

1. Video Poker Secrets To Winning
2. Video Poker Secrets

Ask any veteran gambler about the best bets in the house, and you'll invariably be pointed to the video poker parlor.

The most important thing in video poker is learning which of your original five cards to keep or hold and which to discard. You should have a basic knowledge of what beats what and how to play five-card draw before getting into the nitty-gritty of strategy. New book takes you inside secretive high-stakes world. Starting credit in Video Poker is fixed to 100. If credit is 0, once you press Deal you will get screen with game credits, and after that you can click on chip in a right upper side of screen. Finding the Best Free Video Poker for You Whichever exciting online video poker game you play, you will always get a thrill. Don't miss out - play at the best online video poker casinos in 2021.

Video poker has long been favored by sharp players because it combines skill and strategy with an extremely average low house edge. You can use your knowledge and brainpower to make the best plays possible, and as a reward, the house extracts an edge of just 0.50 percent – or even lower in some cases.

In the world of casino gambling, this combination simply can't be beat outside of the blackjack tables.

With that said, winning consistently at video poker involves much more than simply showing up. Sure, the game is inherently player friendly, but without a firm grasp of basic strategy, pay table discrepancies, and game selection – you'll find video poker to be quite vexing indeed.

One reason for this gulf between expectation and reality is the average gambler's personal experience.

Video poker machines look, feel, and play very similarly to slot machines. Both games are one player affairs, use touch screens to display randomized results, and offer payouts on an escalating scale from your bet back to the jackpot. And in many casinos, the slot and video poker areas are one in the same.

For these reasons, a typical recreational gambler who enjoys the slots, before learning that video poker is extremely player friendly, doesn't put much into their preparation. Instead, they head to the nearest casino, park themselves at the first machine they see, and begin clicking buttons without a second thought.

And inevitably, these players walk away with their $100 bill claimed entirely by the house.

To help you avoid that fate, I advise taking full advantage of the only three things a player needs to know about winning at video poker: how to play (basic strategy), what to play (pay table discrepancies), and where to play (game selection).

Through those three tools alone, you'll set yourself apart from the masses of unprofitable video poker players by avoiding common mistakes.

Read on to learn more about polishing your video poker skills and getting the full bang for your buck out of this great game:

*For the sake of brevity, I'll be using Jacks or Better as my reference point for 'video poker' when offering examples and advice. That's because each of my three tips is applicable to all of the other video poker variants (Double Bonus, Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, etc.)

1 – How to Play

When I say 'learn how to play,' I'm obviously not talking about the rules of the game.

I'll assume any reader who found this page has already acquainted themselves with the basic rules and game play of video poker. Even so, if you don't feel completely comfortable with the rules just yet, take a moment to find a quick crash course before heading back here for the advanced lessons.

No, learning how to play video poker, for my money anyway is all about playing it correctly. Think for a moment about video poker's closest cousin on the casino floor: blackjack. Blackjack and video poker are both skill based bets, with players using partial information to help make informed decisions.

The sharp gambling community loves blackjack because an ironclad optimal strategy has been analyzed and outlined for the world to see. Rather than make guesses, rely on instinct, or play from the seat of their pants, the best blackjack players approach each hand like a puzzle to be cracked.

The same holds true for video poker.

As a skill based game, video poker presents players with a singular decision – which cards to hold and which to discard. This fundamental choice may appear basic at first glance, what with just five starting cards to work with on the screen.

After all, in a hand of blackjack, you'll know almost instantly whether to hit on 13 facing a 7 (yes) or when doubling down is preferable. These decisions are basically binary, lacking any sort of subtlety once you've mastered the game's basic strategy.

But upon closer inspection – and a few misplayed hands no doubt – you'll come to realize that many video poker drawing decisions aren't binary at all.

Picture yourself staring down at a starting hand of Kc Qc Jc Js 9c, which is a pretty sight if I say so myself. With these five cards onscreen, you'd have three possible drawing routes to choose from. Biggest video poker jackpots.

First, you could simply hold the pair of Jacks and lock up a guaranteed winner. This is a conservative play, but it's always nice to collect on qualifying winners when they are dealt your way. And of course, you could always score another pair for two pair, another Jack for three of a kind, a pair and a Jack for a full house, or two more Jacks to make four of a kind – so the possibility for a higher payout is definitely present.

You might also look down at that four card straight flush draw (Kc Qc Jc 9c) and think, 'why not take a shot?' Straight flushes pay 50 coins per coin wagered, a far cry from the minimum payout you'll earn for one pair of Jacks. It's a risky play, naturally, with only one card (10c) in the deck to make your hand. But any 10 is good for a straight, any club will make a flush, and if you find any face card you'll wind up with one pair – adding tremendous value to this seemingly long shot draw.

Finally, with the Kc Qc Jc combination already onscreen, you're just two perfect draws away from landing the mother of all poker hands – the royal flush. https://parsoft.mystrikingly.com/blog/what-is-the-come-line-in-craps. For max bettors, that triggers a video poker machine's massive 4,000 coin jackpot, and even folks betting lower than the max can claim huge bounties of 800 coins per coin wagered. Once again, hitting your exact Ac 10c run out to hit a royal is an extreme long shot, but you can always fall back on standard pairs, straights, and flushes to mitigate that risk.

With this example fresh in your mind, ask yourself one thing: how would you approach the Kc Qc Jc Js 9c starting hand?

For many players, the answer to that question lies in their gut instinct alone. Betsafe casino red. These 'feel' players don't subscribe to basic strategy, so they simply go with what their heart tells them at the time.

I'm not a feel player, however, and I advise you take a similar tack when grinding video poker. Final cut pro (mas) 10 1 1 intel download free.

Instead, I rely on the mathematical foundations of the game, which have been quantified, calculated, and analyzed over the years to create video poker's optimal strategy.

Take a look below to see how Jacks or Better basic strategy stacks up:

Video Poker Secrets To Winning

*Full pay

Signs of a gambling problem. A chart like this can be intimidating if you're not familiar with how they work, so I'll take a moment to explain.

With these rankings for Jacks or Better – or any other variant of video poker for that matter – players can assess the relative value of all possible starting hands and/or draws.

To use the chart, begin by assessing your five card starting hand for all possibilities – as I did above with the Kc Qc Jc Js 9c example. From there, simply locate your highest hand and/or draw on the list and make the corresponding optimal decision.

If you remember, in the example hand, you'd have three draws to choose from: hold the Jc Js for one pair; hold the Kc Qc Jc 9c for a four card straight flush draw; or hold the Kc Qc Jc for a three card royal flush draw.

Working up from the bottom through the chart, we find the three card royal flush draw ranked in seventh position, while one pair of Jacks or better is ranked just above it in sixth position. That means holding one pair of Jacks or better is the correct play compared to a three card royal flush draw.

However, in fourth position on the chart you'll find the four card straight flush draw – which even ranks higher than a made two pair (fifth position).

Thus, for that tricky Kc Qc Jc Js 9c example hand, the best possible play you can make based on optimal strategy is to hold the Kc Qc Jc 9c while discarding the Js.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, see for yourself. By visiting the invaluable VideoPokerTrainer.org website, and using their hand calculator tool, you can set up any five card starting hand to see a visual breakdown of all possible draws and their expected return rates.

I've taken the liberty of setting the calculator up with the example hand from above, so head here to take a look.

As you can see, holding the four card straight flush draw offers an expected return of 12.553 coins, with 20 possible winning combinations ranging from one pair to the straight flush.

And just as the optimal strategy chart suggested, the next best play would be holding the pair of Jacks (7.683 expected return), followed by the three card royal flush draw (6.933 expected return).

The goal for any thinking video poker player should be to memorize and master the basic strategy chart for their preferred game. I've covered the classic variant of Jacks or Better above, but you'll find the same sort of strategy guidelines for all versions of video poker.

Feel free to print out the chart, or purchase a hand held copy online, to bring with you while you begin the learning process. This is perfectly legal and permissible under casino rules, so you won't catch any stern looks from the floor staff for studying as you play.

Eventually, after putting in some hard work and practice, you'll become capable of choosing the correct play given any five card starting hand without consulting the chart.

At that point, you'll be playing video poker according to optimal strategy – which automatically puts you in the top tier of casino gamblers based on expected return.

2 – What to Play

Once you've developed your strategy and skill to the point of proficiency, it's time to use those talents to play top level video poker.

But if you're not careful, all of that hard work can be wasted due to an all too common mistake – playing the wrong machine.

I'm not talking about 'hot and cold' machines, 'loose' machines, or anything like that. This page is based on logic and common sense, not silly superstition.

Even so, a video poker player who can't tell the critical difference between certain machines will be doomed to severely lower payback percentages.

Take your typical Jacks or Better machine. For this game, everybody knows that one pair pays 1 coin per coin wagered, two pair offers a 2 coin payout, three of a kind jumps to a 3 coin reward, and so on up through the massive 800 coin per coin wagered jackpot.

But the key hands and payouts to keep an eye on are the flush and full house.

Take a look below to see how a standard 9 / 6 full pay Jacks or Better pay table stacks up:

Jacks or Better 9 / 6 Full Pay Table

I went ahead and bolded the payouts for a flush (6 coin) and full house (9 coin) for the sake of clarity.

When you find a Jacks or Better machine which uses the 6 coin for flush and 9 coin for full house setup, you've found what video poker players refer to as a 'full pay' game. This refers to the payback percentage figures found in the bottom row of the table above.

On a 9 / 6 Jacks or Better machine, you'll enjoy a payback percentage of 99.54 percent – which equates to a house edge of only 0.46 percent.

But take a closer look at that bottom row, which only shows 99.54 percent under the 5 coin betting column. When you bet 1 through 4 coins, the payback percentage falls significantly to 98.37 percent. This rule holds true across all variants of video poker, which is why experts advise betting the maximum of 5 coins at all times.

Leaving aside the max betting rule for a moment – which you should consider a point of basic strategy – this lesson is about the difference between full pay machines and their alternatives.

In the world of video poker design, manufacturers like International Game Technology (IGT) and Aristocrat have set their machines up with configurable pay tables. That means casinos and operators can adjust the payouts for certain hands if they choose – and many of them do just that.

By adjusting those 6 coin and 9 coin payouts for flushes and full houses downward – say to 5 coins on a flush or 8 coins on a full house – the casino can boost its own house edge tremendously. And of course, that comes at the cost of your own payback percentage.

Check out the table below, which shows several commonly found Jacks or Better pay tables, to see what I mean:

Jacks or Better Alternative Pay Tables

As you can see, changing just one payout – turning the 6 coin flush to a 5 coin flush – creates the 9 / 5 version of Jacks or Better. And what do you know? That version of the game offers a payback percentage of just 98.44 percent – a full 1.10 percent lower than the full pay game.

And as you move down the line, to 8 / 6, 8 / 5, and so on, Jacks or Better machines become progressively worse for the player. If you stumbled upon a 6 / 5 pay table, without knowing any better, you'd be playing Jacks or Better with a 94.99 percent payback rate.

That's almost as bad as double zero roulette, which is why knowing your way around the pay table system is critical to video poker success. The casinos count on unsophisticated players wandering in, sitting down at any old machine, and instantly sacrificing massive portions of their equity on inferior pay tables.

You should never be the sucker in that scenario, plain and simple.

For every video poker variant, you'll find a full pay version of the game, followed by several downgraded pay tables.

In the game of Deuces Wild, for example, the 1 2 2 3 5 9 15 25 200 800 full pay setup offers a positive payback rate of 100.76 percent – making it one of the most favorable games on any casino floor. For fans of Double Double Bonus, the 1 1 3 4 6 9 50 80 160 160 400 50 800 full pay setup creates a payback rate of 98.98 percent.

I've compiled pay table breakdowns for a few of the more popular video poker variants below:

ACES AND EIGHTS

*Full Pay

BONUS DEUCES WILD

*Full Pay

BONUS POKER

*Full pay

DEUCES & JOKER WILD

*Full pay

DEUCES WILD

*Full pay

DOUBLE BONUS POKER

*Full pay

DOUBLE DOUBLE BONUS

*Full pay

JOKER POKER

Video Poker Secrets

*Full pay

LOOSE DEUCES

*Full pay

TENS OR BETTER

*Full pay

Big win online. Your job as a savvy player is simply to keep your action on the full pay machines whenever possible.

And to accomplish that task, you'll need to know where to find the best video poker games in town.

3 – Where to Play

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done in today's rough and tumble casino industry.

Finally, with the Kc Qc Jc combination already onscreen, you're just two perfect draws away from landing the mother of all poker hands – the royal flush. https://parsoft.mystrikingly.com/blog/what-is-the-come-line-in-craps. For max bettors, that triggers a video poker machine's massive 4,000 coin jackpot, and even folks betting lower than the max can claim huge bounties of 800 coins per coin wagered. Once again, hitting your exact Ac 10c run out to hit a royal is an extreme long shot, but you can always fall back on standard pairs, straights, and flushes to mitigate that risk.

With this example fresh in your mind, ask yourself one thing: how would you approach the Kc Qc Jc Js 9c starting hand?

For many players, the answer to that question lies in their gut instinct alone. Betsafe casino red. These 'feel' players don't subscribe to basic strategy, so they simply go with what their heart tells them at the time.

I'm not a feel player, however, and I advise you take a similar tack when grinding video poker. Final cut pro (mas) 10 1 1 intel download free.

Instead, I rely on the mathematical foundations of the game, which have been quantified, calculated, and analyzed over the years to create video poker's optimal strategy.

Take a look below to see how Jacks or Better basic strategy stacks up:

Video Poker Secrets To Winning

*Full pay

Signs of a gambling problem. A chart like this can be intimidating if you're not familiar with how they work, so I'll take a moment to explain.

With these rankings for Jacks or Better – or any other variant of video poker for that matter – players can assess the relative value of all possible starting hands and/or draws.

To use the chart, begin by assessing your five card starting hand for all possibilities – as I did above with the Kc Qc Jc Js 9c example. From there, simply locate your highest hand and/or draw on the list and make the corresponding optimal decision.

If you remember, in the example hand, you'd have three draws to choose from: hold the Jc Js for one pair; hold the Kc Qc Jc 9c for a four card straight flush draw; or hold the Kc Qc Jc for a three card royal flush draw.

Working up from the bottom through the chart, we find the three card royal flush draw ranked in seventh position, while one pair of Jacks or better is ranked just above it in sixth position. That means holding one pair of Jacks or better is the correct play compared to a three card royal flush draw.

However, in fourth position on the chart you'll find the four card straight flush draw – which even ranks higher than a made two pair (fifth position).

Thus, for that tricky Kc Qc Jc Js 9c example hand, the best possible play you can make based on optimal strategy is to hold the Kc Qc Jc 9c while discarding the Js.

And if you don't want to take my word for it, see for yourself. By visiting the invaluable VideoPokerTrainer.org website, and using their hand calculator tool, you can set up any five card starting hand to see a visual breakdown of all possible draws and their expected return rates.

I've taken the liberty of setting the calculator up with the example hand from above, so head here to take a look.

As you can see, holding the four card straight flush draw offers an expected return of 12.553 coins, with 20 possible winning combinations ranging from one pair to the straight flush.

And just as the optimal strategy chart suggested, the next best play would be holding the pair of Jacks (7.683 expected return), followed by the three card royal flush draw (6.933 expected return).

The goal for any thinking video poker player should be to memorize and master the basic strategy chart for their preferred game. I've covered the classic variant of Jacks or Better above, but you'll find the same sort of strategy guidelines for all versions of video poker.

Feel free to print out the chart, or purchase a hand held copy online, to bring with you while you begin the learning process. This is perfectly legal and permissible under casino rules, so you won't catch any stern looks from the floor staff for studying as you play.

Eventually, after putting in some hard work and practice, you'll become capable of choosing the correct play given any five card starting hand without consulting the chart.

At that point, you'll be playing video poker according to optimal strategy – which automatically puts you in the top tier of casino gamblers based on expected return.

2 – What to Play

Once you've developed your strategy and skill to the point of proficiency, it's time to use those talents to play top level video poker.

But if you're not careful, all of that hard work can be wasted due to an all too common mistake – playing the wrong machine.

I'm not talking about 'hot and cold' machines, 'loose' machines, or anything like that. This page is based on logic and common sense, not silly superstition.

Even so, a video poker player who can't tell the critical difference between certain machines will be doomed to severely lower payback percentages.

Take your typical Jacks or Better machine. For this game, everybody knows that one pair pays 1 coin per coin wagered, two pair offers a 2 coin payout, three of a kind jumps to a 3 coin reward, and so on up through the massive 800 coin per coin wagered jackpot.

But the key hands and payouts to keep an eye on are the flush and full house.

Take a look below to see how a standard 9 / 6 full pay Jacks or Better pay table stacks up:

Jacks or Better 9 / 6 Full Pay Table

I went ahead and bolded the payouts for a flush (6 coin) and full house (9 coin) for the sake of clarity.

When you find a Jacks or Better machine which uses the 6 coin for flush and 9 coin for full house setup, you've found what video poker players refer to as a 'full pay' game. This refers to the payback percentage figures found in the bottom row of the table above.

On a 9 / 6 Jacks or Better machine, you'll enjoy a payback percentage of 99.54 percent – which equates to a house edge of only 0.46 percent.

But take a closer look at that bottom row, which only shows 99.54 percent under the 5 coin betting column. When you bet 1 through 4 coins, the payback percentage falls significantly to 98.37 percent. This rule holds true across all variants of video poker, which is why experts advise betting the maximum of 5 coins at all times.

Leaving aside the max betting rule for a moment – which you should consider a point of basic strategy – this lesson is about the difference between full pay machines and their alternatives.

In the world of video poker design, manufacturers like International Game Technology (IGT) and Aristocrat have set their machines up with configurable pay tables. That means casinos and operators can adjust the payouts for certain hands if they choose – and many of them do just that.

By adjusting those 6 coin and 9 coin payouts for flushes and full houses downward – say to 5 coins on a flush or 8 coins on a full house – the casino can boost its own house edge tremendously. And of course, that comes at the cost of your own payback percentage.

Check out the table below, which shows several commonly found Jacks or Better pay tables, to see what I mean:

Jacks or Better Alternative Pay Tables

As you can see, changing just one payout – turning the 6 coin flush to a 5 coin flush – creates the 9 / 5 version of Jacks or Better. And what do you know? That version of the game offers a payback percentage of just 98.44 percent – a full 1.10 percent lower than the full pay game.

And as you move down the line, to 8 / 6, 8 / 5, and so on, Jacks or Better machines become progressively worse for the player. If you stumbled upon a 6 / 5 pay table, without knowing any better, you'd be playing Jacks or Better with a 94.99 percent payback rate.

That's almost as bad as double zero roulette, which is why knowing your way around the pay table system is critical to video poker success. The casinos count on unsophisticated players wandering in, sitting down at any old machine, and instantly sacrificing massive portions of their equity on inferior pay tables.

You should never be the sucker in that scenario, plain and simple.

For every video poker variant, you'll find a full pay version of the game, followed by several downgraded pay tables.

In the game of Deuces Wild, for example, the 1 2 2 3 5 9 15 25 200 800 full pay setup offers a positive payback rate of 100.76 percent – making it one of the most favorable games on any casino floor. For fans of Double Double Bonus, the 1 1 3 4 6 9 50 80 160 160 400 50 800 full pay setup creates a payback rate of 98.98 percent.

I've compiled pay table breakdowns for a few of the more popular video poker variants below:

ACES AND EIGHTS

*Full Pay

BONUS DEUCES WILD

*Full Pay

BONUS POKER

*Full pay

DEUCES & JOKER WILD

*Full pay

DEUCES WILD

*Full pay

DOUBLE BONUS POKER

*Full pay

DOUBLE DOUBLE BONUS

*Full pay

JOKER POKER

Video Poker Secrets

*Full pay

LOOSE DEUCES

*Full pay

TENS OR BETTER

*Full pay

Big win online. Your job as a savvy player is simply to keep your action on the full pay machines whenever possible.

And to accomplish that task, you'll need to know where to find the best video poker games in town.

3 – Where to Play

Unfortunately, that's easier said than done in today's rough and tumble casino industry.

Competition and cost cutting has prompted many operators to ditch their full pay machines altogether. These venues spread lower paying machines because they know the average recreational gambler won't even recognize the difference.

Generally speaking, casinos that are the most popular with patrons will spread the lower paying machines. Conversely, locations that need a hook to get gamblers in the door have no problem offering full pay video poker.

You'll hear veteran video poker players swear that The Strip is a desert for full pay play – and they're right. Casinos located in the world's gambling mecca are guaranteed a steady stream of customers, day or night throughout the year. These venues could easily spread full pay machines, but why would they?

After all, 9 / 10 of their customers have no idea whatsoever about video poker pay table comparisons. They'll park themselves at a 9 / 5 Jacks or Better machine, or a 6/5 game, without ever considering the implication of those seemingly minor pay table adjustments.

On the other hand, casinos in the 'Off Strip' areas of Downtown Las Vegas or the Boulder Strip have to fight for their share of the local market. These venues aren't touted by the tourism board, and many visitors to Las Vegas never even consider heading their way.

To get gamblers interested, Off Strip casinos tend to offer full pay video poker machines – along with higher odds on craps, single deck blackjack, and other player friendly games. For this reason, Off Strip casinos are generally viewed as 'local joints,' favored by residents of Las Vegas and other veteran gamblers.

This pattern holds true wherever you are, so the major commercial casinos will tend to carry lower paying machines, while smaller venues, tribal gaming establishments, and others spread the full pay versions.

Those are general guidelines to work with, but I want to be sure you're able to find full pay video poker anywhere in North America at all times.

To make that possible, I introduce you to the vpFREE2 video poker database

Using the vpFREE2 search function, you can customize an inquiry however you'd like.
Want to see full pay Bonus Poker machines in Laughlin, Nevada?
Well, 32 of those bad boys can be found at the Aquarius Resort, covering all coin denominations from penny to $25. Other locations in Laughlin include Harrah's, the Pioneer Gambling Hall, and Tropicana.

Or how about full pay Double Double Bonus anywhere on the East Coast?
In this case, you'd have a bevy of options to choose from, including the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut, and Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina.
The tool above makes highly focused searches like this a breeze, thanks to a convenient dropdown menu that asks you for the following information:

• Game Type (Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, etc.)
• Pay Table (9 / 6 full pay, 9 / 5, 8 / 6, etc.)
• Coin Denomination (1¢, 25¢, $1, etc.)
• Hands Dealt (1, 10, 100, etc.)
• Region (Las Vegas Strip, West Coast, Midwest, etc.)

Once you've input your search terms, one click will bring up a full listing of all matching video poker machines in that area.
In a few years since discovering the vpFREE2 database, my video poker play habits have changed dramatically – and for the better. I don't waste time wandering through a casino, checking pay tables by hand until I locate a full pay game. Instead, I fire up the search tool, input my preferred variant and location, and see what's waiting for me.
Of course, you won't find full pay versions of every variant in every location. That's just the way of the world today, and us players have to bear with it.
Fortunately, the vpFREE2 search function includes all possible pay tables (complete with their corresponding payback percentages) – so if you can't find full pay, simply look for the next best thing.

And if your casino of choice isn't running your favorite game with favorable odds, search to see what that venue's top paying machines are.
The whole goal of game selection strategy is to put your money behind the best bets only. Full pay video poker is always the best bet, and some of those bets are better than others, so take your time to explore the vpFREE2 search tool to see what's out there.

Conclusion

By combining the tenets of optimal strategy with pay table comparisons and game selection theory, sharps are far more profitable than the average video poker player. In the world of casino gambling, every shred of equity you can claw back from the casino counts and these three tips will ensure that you're always deriving the maximum expected return on every hand of every session.