Video Poker Strategy

Let’s face it. What all video poker players hope (and pray) for is that the next hand will give them a royal flush because that results in an immediate 4,000 coin payoff. But did you ever wonder what the chance that this will happen when you hold, say, four cards to a royal flush?

Every video poker game has its strategy quirks dictated by their pay table. How to play video poker and get the most out of the game is different when you’re playing Jacks or Better, with a 2-for-1 payoff on two pairs, compared to Double Bonus Poker, with bigger pays on four of a kind but only 1-for-1 on two pairs.

Multi-Strike Poker has been with us since the early 2000s – multiple lifetimes as electronic casino games go. That it’s held onto a niche in casinos and is also available on online casino after all this time speaks to the quality the concept. 

Standard video poker machines are called single-play because the player plays only one game at a time. However, single-play games are not the only type of video poker game available in a casino (or online). There are also games that play three, five, 10, 50 and even 100 hands at a time. 

Many video poker articles that explore specific games will include a strategy chart showing the reader the best way to play the game. However, only an extremely small percentage of video poker players tend to use strategy charts while playing their favorite video poker game. There are several reasons for this.

High pairs, low pairs, any pairs are powerful - more powerful than many video poker players realize.

It's not merely that after a draw, pairs can turn into three of a kind, full houses or four of a kind to boost your credit meter.

Shockwave Video Poker is a unique style of Jacks or Better video poker. There are two different modes of play – normal and Shockwave. The normal mode is exactly what it sounds like – normal Jacks or Better play. It accounts for well over 90 percent of play. The game operates in normal mode until a four-of-a-kind hit.

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer once quipped, “It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.” There is a whole lot of truth to what he said. Practice is important in developing and honing any skill.

Those who play video poker with any regularity generally have one or two favorite games they play. It may be some of my favorites such as Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, or Double Bonus Poker – games which have a high payback and low variance. Others prefer a bit higher risk, if it gives them a shot at more “jackpot” sized payoffs – such as Double-Double Bonus Poker.

Let's have a little straight talk about straights - specifically, one-card draws that attempt to complete straights in video poker.

Most video poker games have a fixed pay table, meaning the pays for each winning hand never change. For example, a high pair always pays 1-for-1, a 4-of-a-kind always pays 25-for-1 or some other fixed number, and a royal flush always pays 800-for-1 with 5 credits played.

Getting the most out of video poker requires learning to recognize the best possible draw on every hand.