Video Poker Basics
Why video poker is different from slots and can have better odds.
Video poker looks like a slot machine, but it plays like poker—and that's a crucial difference. Unlike slots, your decisions directly affect your expected return. With perfect strategy, some video poker games offer a house edge under 1%, making them among the best bets in the casino.
How Video Poker Works
- Insert credits and choose your bet (usually 1-5 coins)
- Five cards are dealt from a standard 52-card deck
- Choose which cards to hold and which to discard
- New cards replace discards from the same deck
- Your final hand is paid according to the paytable
Good to Know
Popular Video Poker Variants
Common Games and Their Payback
| Game | Full Pay RTP | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jacks or Better (9/6) | 99.54% | Most common, good for beginners |
| Deuces Wild (Full Pay) | 100.76% | Actually player-favorable! |
| Double Bonus | 99.17-100.17% | Higher variance, bigger jackpots |
| Double Double Bonus | 98.98% | Popular, lots of bonus hands |
| Joker Poker | 98-100.64% | Wilds make bigger hands easier |
RTP assumes optimal strategy play
Strategy Insight
Video Poker RTP by Paytable (Jacks or Better)
Pay table quality is the single biggest factor in video poker
Why Video Poker Beats Slots
Video Poker
- RTP: 97-100%+ possible
- Skill affects outcomes
- Known probabilities
- Visible paytables
Slot Machines
- RTP: 85-96% typical
- No skill involved
- Hidden probabilities
- RTP can change
Basic Jacks or Better Strategy
Memorizing perfect strategy takes time, but these simplified rules get you close:
- Hold any made hand (pair or better)
- Hold 4 to a flush over a low pair
- Hold 4 to a straight (open-ended) over nothing
- Hold 3 to a royal flush even over a low pair
- Hold high cards (J, Q, K, A) when you have nothing
- Keep suited high cards over unsuited
Hold the pair of Kings. A 3-card flush draw isn't worth giving up a locked-in result.
Hold A-K-Q-J suited. You have 4 to a royal flush—always chase that even over a single pair.
Always Bet Max Coins
Warning
Finding Good Pay Tables
The same game can have different pay tables at different casinos:
- Check the full house/flush payouts in Jacks or Better
- Look online for pay table databases before playing
- Avoid "Short Pay" machines (8/5, 7/5, or worse)
- Downtown/off-strip often has better pay tables than the Strip
Strategy Insight
Pro Tip
Try our Free Video Poker Game to practice strategy and learn optimal holds.
Key Takeaways
- 1Video poker involves skill—your decisions affect your return
- 2Full-pay games can offer 99%+ RTP with perfect strategy
- 3Always bet max coins to get the royal flush bonus
- 4Learn to recognize pay tables (9/6 is good, 8/5 is not)
- 5Use a strategy card—casinos allow them and they maximize your EV
Sources & References
- 9/6 Jacks or Better returns 99.54% with optimal play. This figure is derived from exhaustive combinatorial analysis of all C(47,5) = 1,533,939 possible draw outcomes for each of the C(52,5) = 2,598,960 initial deals — independently verifiable via computer enumeration.
- Optimal strategy derivation. Optimal video poker strategy is computed by evaluating the expected value of every possible hold combination (up to 32 options per hand) and selecting the hold with the highest EV. Computer simulation confirms these strategies converge to theoretical RTP over millions of hands.
- Full-pay Deuces Wild returns 100.76% with perfect strategy, making it one of the rare casino games with a positive player expectation — independently verifiable via combinatorial analysis of the 52-card deck with four wild cards.
- Pay table variations (9/6 vs. 8/5 vs. 7/5 Jacks or Better) reduce RTP by approximately 1.1% per unit reduction in the full house payout and 0.5% per unit reduction in the flush payout — independently verifiable from the payout probability distributions.
Mathematical claims are independently verifiable. BonusBell platform analysis reflects data from 220+ tracked platforms as of March 2026.