So far you have learned how video poker started and grew. You have learned the basics of video poker games including return, house edge, and variance. You have learned how randomness works. You have also learned about several categories of video poker games that are availajable today – both at the casino and online. Plus you now know some methods of determining how large a bankroll you will need to play your video poker game of choice.

You learned which video poker game has the best odds. The best video poker odds are from games that have the highest return. Because of this, the best video poker game to win at is the game with the highest return. But not all video poker players care only about winning. They also care about the personality of the game.

In this chapter you will learn about the “personality” of some video poker game types to help you decide just which type of video poker game you should play – both at the casino and online.

Are you ready to see what the games are all about?

Excellent! Let’s start.

Note: This chapter could also be titled “The Best Video Poker Games to Play,” Throughout the article the phrases “video poker game(s)” and “video poker machine(s)” might be used interchangeably. Some explanation of the difference is in order before proceeding to the “meat” of this chapter. 

Video poker games and video poker machines are not technically the same thing. “Video poker game” refers to a specific type of video poker. There is a fixed set of lines on the pay table. Always the same number and type (such as Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Four Aces with a 2, 3, or 4, Royal Flush with a Wild card, etcetera). The amount paid for each of these winning hands may vary from game to game, but it is the same video poker game – Jacks or Better, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, and so on. 

Decades ago, when video poker was in its infancy, each video poker machine had exactly one game on it. One of the earliest examples is Draw Poker. The machine was labeled “Draw Poker” and the only game that could be played on this machine was the game called “Draw Poker.” As time progressed, new games were introduced – Bonus Poker, for example. Each new game was on its own machine. A machine with a label of “Bonus Poker” had the game of “Bonus Poker” on it and no others. Each video poker machine in the casino had one, and only one, game on it. A player had to switch physical machines in order to play a different game.

As video poker became more popular, it was not all that long until casino management noticed a problem. Players would at times get tired of playing one specific video poker game. This obviously happened more often during losing streaks, but not exclusively. Players wanted to try a different game – which meant that had to play a different machine. 

Casino management likes to maximize the earnings potential for its casino floor space. If players get tired of playing one video poker game and want to switch games, but all the machines with the desired game are occupied, they might quit playing until the desired game becomes available. This is not conducive to maximizing the earning potential of the floor space. 

To solve this problem, video poker game manufacturers designed and began producing machines that had a selection of multiple video poker games from which the player could choose. With these new, multiple game video poker machines, a player who became tired of (or frustrated with) the current game, could switch to any of the other games available on the machine. There was no need to stop playing. There was no need to find a bucket and cash out the coins in the machine.

At that time there were no bill or ticket readers on the machines. The player had to insert coins (usually quarters or silver dollars) one by one into the machine. There was no need to take the time to find and move to an open machine having the desired new game. There was no need to insert the coins (one by one) into the new machine. The complete switch to the new game was accomplished by simply pressing a few buttons.

This feature not only helped the casino keep players at the machine, it made it easier and more enjoyable for the players as well. Today, many times the words "game" and "machine" are used interchangeably, there are certain features and characteristics that are applicable strictly to the machine and not to the game. 

One of these is denomination. The denomination is determined by the machine and only by the machine. Many, if not most video poker machines today are a single denomination. They are 25-cent, dollar, five-dollar, or some other denomination. A growing number of machines, however, are multiple denomination. The player can select the demonization they would like to play. Again, this characteristic is attributable to the machine – not the game.

Another machine characteristic tends to be multiple-play or single-play. Each multiple game machine contains several single-play games, or the machine contains several multiple-play games.

Ok, that is enough about games versus machines. Let’s move ahead.

So far you have learned how video poker started and grew. You have learned the basic aspects of video poker games including return, house edge, and variance. You have learned how randomness works. You have also learned about several categories of video poker games that are available today – both at the casino and online. Plus, you now know some methods of determining how large a bankroll you will need to play your video poker game of choice.

You learned which video poker game has the best odds. The best video poker odds are from games that have the highest return. Because of this, the best video poker game to win at is the game with the highest return. But not all video poker players care only about winning. They also care about the personality of the game.

In this chapter you will learn about the “personality” of some video poker game types to help you decide just which type of video poker game you should play – both at the casino and online. 

In this chapter you will also learn how to pick the best video poker game for your specific personality. That also means you will know how to pick the best video poker machine for your specific personality. Your best video poker machine is simply the machine that has your best video poker game or games on it.

Are you ready to see what the games are all about?

Excellent! Let’s start.

With the above information in mind, we now proceed to our first topic of this chapter.

Just what is a low variance video poker game? There is some fuzziness as to just where the boundaries between low, moderate, and high variance are drawn. For the purposes of this guide a low variance video poker game has a variance of 30 or less.

With that in mind, here is a list of video poker games that are included in the low variance classification along with their approximate variance (the actual variance changes slightly as the pay table changes).

As you can see, there are quite a few games that have a relatively low variance. Not all of these games will be available in every casino, but you should be able to locate several of these no matter where you play.

Unfortunately, returns from these games vary wildly, be sure to check the return before selecting the game to play.

As you learned in chapter 4.3, the lower the variance of the game you play, the lower the bankroll requirements. You do not need to have as much money to play the same amount of time as you would on higher variance games. For most people, this is a big plus.

Besides a low variance, what other characteristics do these games share?

Low variance means most winning hands pay in line with the frequency of the hand. They tend to have a more simple playing strategy. By simple, I mean that the number of lines in the video poker strategy chart is low – about 30 lines or so. And the fewer lines of strategy you need to remember, the easier it is to learn to play properly. It is also less likely that you will make a mistake when you are playing, especially if you are playing while tired.

It is not illegal to have a “cheat sheet” with you in a casino. A small copy of the playing strategy can be a boon to your play. It can help you if you are unsure of the proper playing strategy. You can use them just as you can use a blackjack strategy card at a live blackjack table. What you cannot use is an electronic device as they are specifically banned from use in casino play. If you only using a smart phone to store your strategy, it might presumably be okay since you would simply be replacing a piece of paper or card with the smartphone, but most casino management personnel do not see it that way. They feel you are using the device to cheat the casino. It is not worth the risk. If you want to bring your game strategy into the casino, bring it on a piece of paper.

• Note: While it is not illegal to use a “cheat sheet” you can be banned from playing in some jurisdictions such as Las Vegas. The innkeepers rule allows casinos to ban anyone for any reason. While most casinos do not see using cheat sheets as a threat, some due. Be careful, be discrete while using them.

So far you have seen two nice benefits of playing low variance games; smaller bankroll requirements and easier to learn playing strategy. These both sound great. So what is the down side? What are we not getting because of these two characteristics of low variance games?

As you recall, the reason for low variance is a small number of large paying but infrequent winning hands. That fact is true for all of these low variance games. The only high paying, low frequency hand in almost all of these games is the royal flush. The royal flush occurs, on average, once every 40,000 hands or so. If you played at a rate of 500 hands per hour, you would see one royal flush every 80 hours of play – on average. If your live casino playing sessions are four hour long, it would take 20 sessions, on average, before you saw your next royal flush. That is a very long time.

In between the royal flushes your bankroll is slowly going up or slowly going down as you continue using Jacks or better video poker strategy. The operative word is slowly. In these low variance games there is no real excitement. All you are doing is making the bets, holding the proper cards and hitting the draw button. You win a few credits – or you do not. That is the norm when playing low variance video poker games. There is very seldom any real excitement. Low variance games can be boring.

Every hand you win is just a few more hands that you can play in your quest to hit that elusive royal flush. Even when you hit a straight flush – which is the second highest paying hand in a Jacks or Better game – while it is very nice, in reality, it is only an additional 50 hands that you can play to try to hit that royal flush.

Okay, so low variance game is good for gamblers because they require a smaller bankroll and their play strategy is a bit less complex.

On the minus side, these games can be somewhat boring to play. In the early days of video poker, game manufacturers saw that the play on the Jacks or Better games slowly fell off.

They realized that the reason for this was the game they offered was too boring for some players. They decided to do something about it.

What happened next started a long and steady practice by video poker game manufacturers of introducing games with higher paying hands as well as more high paying hands. It started with Bonus Poker where the pays for hands of four aces, 2s, 3s, or 4s were increased. This added some excitement when the gambler hit certain four of a kind hands.

Double Bonus was introduced next. It doubled the pays that were on Bonus Poker for all four of a kind hands. Now several additional hands generated a bit of excitement. The pays for four aces, 2s, 3s, or 4s really helped get the gambler’s juices flowing.

In order to pay for all this added excitement, the pays for the more commonly occurring hands are reduced. What that means to you, the player, is that while you are not hitting the higher paying hands, you will be losing your money at a faster rate – in some cases a much faster rate.

When it comes to bankroll requirements to play these games, the large difference in variance between the low end and high end of the range will also make a big difference in how much money you need in order to play the higher variance games for the same amount of time as a lower variance games.

One of the advantages of low variance video poker games is that the playing strategy tends to be fairly simple. As different hands become more desirable, as is the case with medium variance video poker games, the playing strategy must be altered to properly save for these additional and more desirable hands.

In most cases, that means the strategy becomes more complex. A more complex strategy means that it is more difficult to memorize and play accurately because there are more lines in the strategy chart. It also means that you are more likely to make mistakes while playing. This is especially true when you become tired while playing. Every mistake in strategy that you make while playing video poker is more money taken from you and given to the casino.

Okay, let’s summarize the personality of a moderate variance video poker game. It is a game that can be considerably more exciting than a low variance game. But because the game is more exciting, it will cost you more to play it. Not only will it cost you more, it will be harder to get the most from it because of the more complex playing strategy.

Do these personality traits fit in with your likes and dislikes? Are you willing to pay more and practice harder in order to get the adrenaline rush of hitting high paying hands? If you can honestly answer “yes” to these questions, then you may be a good candidate to play some moderate variance video poker.

So far we have looked at low variance and moderate variance video poker games. Low variance games have the advantage of a smaller bankroll size requirement and relatively simple playing strategy. This comes at the cost of playing a somewhat boring game. Moderate variance video poker games are more exciting to play because they have more high paying winning hands. The excitement factor is offset, however, by higher bankroll requirements and somewhat more complex playing strategy.

In their efforts to attract even more video poker players and especially those who are adrenaline rush junkies, game manufacturers have developed games with very high paying winning hands. In many cases there is at least one additional royal flush sized winning hand in the high variance games, which significantly increases the chances of hitting a royal sized jackpot.

Just how high a variance do these video poker games have? Pretty high!

The variance of at least one video poker game exceeds 180. Yes, that is right – a variance over 180.

High variance video poker games in this guide are defined as those games that have a variance of more than 50.

The bottom three rows of the table above tell the whole story. Jacks or better has only about two percent of its total return tied up in high paying hands (actually hand). Almost 98 percent of the total return comes from lower paying but more frequently occurring hands. This tends to keep bankroll fluctuations (a.k.a. variance) lower.

Royal Aces Bonus Poker on the other hand has nearly 27 percent of its total return generated by four very high paying but infrequently occurring hands. The lower paying and more frequently occurring hands only contribute about 73 percent.

This means that while playing Jacks or Better strategy and not hitting a royal flush, you are playing with about a two percent disadvantage. You will lose about two dollars for every $100 you play through the game. On the other hand, while playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker you are playing at about a 27 percent disadvantage. When you are not hitting the high paying hands you will lose $27 for every $100 played through this game. Two dollars per hundred dollars played versus $27 per hundred dollars played? You will need a much larger bankroll to play Royal Aces Bonus Poker than you will to play Jacks or Better.

So far in this chapter of the guide you have learned about the personalities of video poker games that have different levels of variance. You have learned their advantages and disadvantages. Hopefully you have at least tentatively decided upon the level of variance you think you would most enjoy playing.

By making that decision you are in a better position to determine your bankroll size. As you know bankroll size is impacted by variance. But it is impacted more by the denomination of the goame that is being played.

In this section you will learn how to pick the best video poker machine based on your personal criteria. Denomination is a key factor in finding the best video poker machines to play. The best video poker machine for you is the machine that has the proper denomination for you. 

Read on to find out your proper denomination.
 

When I started playing blackjack as a card counter many, many years ago, I had a very hard time making the large bets that were required to get an edge at the game. I was very risk averse. I had a dedicated gambling bankroll (a.k.a. 401G), but I still had a problem with pushing out the big bet when I needed to. I knew that it was in my best interest to do so. I just had a hard time doing it.

There were a couple of reasons for this. The first (and major) reason was that I was raising a family and there were a lot of expenses. I was making good money, but nothing fantastic. Basically, most of my income was relegated to my daily expenses. Even though I had a separate gambling bankroll, money - even a small amount of it - seemed precious to me. I had a hard time accepting I could lose it on a blackjack bet. The second reason was that I still saw my bet as so many dollars. I did not see it as gambling chips that were covered by my gambling bankroll.

Ultimately I got over my hang ups and was able to bet whatever was required with little thought.

So why am I telling you this? No matter what game you play in a casino, if you are worried about the money you are investing in the game, you will not have any fun. Playing video poker should be fun. It is meant to be fun. In order to make that happen, you must bet at a level where you are unconcerned about your bets even though your bankroll may be sufcient to play at a higher denomination.

In chapter 4 you learned about establishing proper bankroll sizes. You need to have the proper trip and session bankroll or you are better off not even going to the casino. The biggest factor affecting the bankroll size is the denomination of game you want to play. Your bankroll requirements to play a 25 cent game will be one fourth of your bankroll requirements to play the same game at a dollar level for the same number of hands.

As you learned in chapter 4, the longer (meaning the more hands) you want to play, the larger your bankroll should be. When you go to a casino do you want to play for several hours a day even if it has to be at a lower denomination? Or would you rather play for a shorter time, if you needed to, in order to snag a larger jackpot to show for your investment of time and money?

Your honest answer to these questions will go a long way in determining what denomination of video poker game you want to play.

While you may want to win a $4,000 jackpot for a royal flush rather than just $1,000, if you don’t have the bankroll to fund that quest, you have no business trying. If you only have $100 available for gambling for your entire three day trip, there is no way you can afford to play dollar video poker. Actually, there is no way you can afford to play quarter video poker – that is unless you are willing to stop play after only a few hands because you have exhausted you daily session bankroll of about $33. On a quarter video poker game that could be as little as 26 hands played if you lose them all.

So far you have learned from this chapter the personalities of low variance, moderate variance and high variance video poker games. From this information you should have been able to narrow down the type of video poker game you want to play. You then learned about the importance of the denomination of the game you intend to play. With that information firmly in place, let us now take a look at how multiple play games work and some of the pluses and minuses of playing this type of video poker game.

In chapter 3.4 you were presented with an overview of how multiple play video poker games work. In chapter 4.4 you learned about bankroll requirements for playing multiple play video poker. Now you can supplement that information with what you will learn in this section. By combining everything, you should have a pretty good idea if you would like playing multiple play video poker or if you would rather stick to a single play game.

By the end of this section, you will have one more tool in knowing how to pick the best video poker machine for you.

To play multiple play video poker you must first bet the maximum number of credits (usually five) for each line (play) you want to activate. While it is not necessary, it is almost always the case that all available plays of a multiple play game are activated. That is, a bet equal to three times the single play amount will be placed for a three play game (normally 15 credits). A bet equal to five times the single play maximum bet will be placed for a five play game, and so on.

That means if you play a three play quarter game you will bet three times the standard five credit bet of $1.25 or 15 credits ($3.75) for every hand you play. The bet increases to 25 credits or $6.25 for a five play game. As you can see, you will bet more per hand on a 25 cent five play game than on a dollar single play game - $6.25 versus $5.00. You do get something in return, however.

With each originally dealt hand on a multiple play game, the player has multiple shots at completing a winning combination. For example, if you are originally dealt a three of a kind, that same three of a kind is on all plays of that hand. By saving the three of a kind and hitting the Draw button, you have three, five, 10, 50 or 100 chances to get one (or more) four of a kind(s). If you are originally dealt four of a royal flush you will have three, five, 10, 50, or 100 chances to complete it. That can be pretty exciting. However, if you are dealt a nothing hand, that same low return expectation is there on each of the multiple plays.

What most video poker players like about playing a multiple play game is exactly that. They have multiple shots at completing a winning hand. In order to play at the same total bet level, many players who would normally play a single play dollar game will play a 25 cent three play or five play game. They will drop to a 10 cent denomination if they play a 10 play game and to a five cent or penny denomination for 50 a play game. Most players who play a 100 play game will play it at the penny denomination in order to keep the total bet size equal to a dollar single play game. The downside of playing a multiple play game is when one of the play lines hits a winning hand it is paid at the lower base denomination.

A four of a kind on a single play dollar game pays $125. However, if one of the lines of a five play 25 cent game becomes a four of a kind, the winnings are only $31.25.

You learned in chapter 4 that the variance of a multiple play game increases as the number of plays increases. The variance of a specific 25 cent single play game is less than the variance of a 25 cent three play version which, in turn, is less than a 25 cent five play version of that same game. Your bankroll requirements will go up as the number of plays increases on games of the same denomination. This is true regardless of the denomination as long as all games compared are the same game (Jacks or Better, Double Bonus Poker, etc.) and denomination.

However, the variance expressed as a dollar bankroll requirement will be less for a penny 100 play game than it is for a dollar single play version of the same game.

Progressive games are different than any other type of game presented in this chapter of the guide. Any of the other games presented can be played at any time. The bankroll requirements will be the same. The variance will be the same. The strategy will be the same. They will all be the same regardless of when you start playing the game. They will be the same regardless of how long you play the game. Bankroll size, variance, and strategy will never change for the duration of your play because nothing about the game changes. Each winning hand pays the same for each hand on which it occurs.

Because of this, no matter which standard (non-progressive) video poker game you play, you can play it for as long as you wish. You will get the same results over the long term. If you decide to play nothing but 9/6 Double Double Bonus poker, you will be able to play it as soon as you locate a game. There is a good selection of this game in casinos so finding one of these games should not be hard.

The same cannot be said for progressive video poker games. By the very definition of the game, the progressive jackpot has to change. As the bank of progressive games is played, a small percentage (usually about one percent) of the money played through the games is added to the progressive jackpot. As the progressive jackpot grows, the variance grows. As the progressive jackpot grows, the strategy changes slightly by slowly favoring saving for the progressive hand over saving for some lower paying hand.

In addition to all these changes occurring, most progressive games return about two percent less than a standard non-progressive game. You will not want to play a progressive game until the progressive jackpot is at least 50 percent higher than on a standard game. Believe me when I tell you that this does not occur all that often.

There are several challenges if you choose to play progressive video poker. By far the most frustrating is not being able to find a playable game. It takes a good deal of play to get a progressive jackpot to a level where the game is worth playing. The progressive jackpot is prominently displayed for the entire casino to see. As the jackpot climbs, anyone interested in playing the game can see the meter and will switch to the progressive game once it is high enough for them. As the jackpot climbs further, more players will sit down and try their luck. More players on the bank of games means more hands are played and more hands played means a better chance that the jackpot will be hit. Once it is hit, the game reverts to the reset value where it once again returns about two percent less than standard games.

As you can see, there is only a very limited window where you will (or should) actually want to play the game.

Another challenge with progressive video poker is the variance of the game increases as the progressive jackpot increases. This means higher bankroll requirements, although they are somewhat remediated by the fact that you will most likely not play for a very long time. However, there is no guarantee of that, so I recommend having a large enough bankroll to play at least a few thousand hands. It would really suck if you played a couple of thousand hands and ran out of money, then a short while later someone hits the jackpot. If you were still playing you may not have hit it, but because you were not playing you did not even have a chance.

Along the same line of bankroll requirements and higher variance, most often someone else will hit the progressive jackpot. Because of the higher variance, your play while not hitting the jackpot will cost you more than playing a standard game.

Finally, as the progressive jackpot climbs, playing strategy needs to also change to start favoring the jackpot more often. This is a fluid requirement as the progressive amount is constantly changing. My recommendation is to make up several strategy charts using a video poker strategy program. On each successive chart, increase the jackpot amount by 1,000 credits. When playing the actual game in the casino use the chart that most closely matches the progressive amount. If you do not have a video poker strategy program or app (or you do not have access to one) you are definitely at a disadvantage when it comes to proper playing strategy. It is probably best to forego playing progressive video poker. However, you are risking your money, so that decision is up to you.

To summarize, with all of the issues inherent to playing progressive video poker, you may want to think twice about pursuing this type of video poker play. It is very rare that the progressive amount gets high enough to even come close to matching a standard game’s return. The only time you may want to even consider playing progressive video poker is when the progressive jackpot is five or six times the reset amount. That brings the games return above 100 percent, so it may be worthwhile to give it a go. At this high a progressive level, however, the games will be swamped. If you can get a seat, you may lose more than on a standard game, but you also stand to win more. It may be worth the risk.

In this chapter you learned the playing characteristics (personality) of five different types of video poker game: low variance, moderate variance, high variance, multiple play, and progressive games as well as the impact of the denomination of the game. You should now have a pretty good idea which of these games you would prefer to play. It is probably best to pick a game whose personality matches your own.

That may not be the actual case, however. I tend to take quite a bit of risk in life such as skydiving and fast driving. In the casino however, I am very risk averse. You should pick the type of game that you think you will have the most fun playing. After all, that is why we play video poker. Isn’t it?

You should now be well on your way to knowing how to pick the best video poker game. By knowing that, you also know how to pick the best video poker machine. The best video poker machines to play contain the best video poker game(s) based on your playing personality.

In the next chapter you will learn all about video poker playing strategy. What it is, how it is developed and how to use it. You will then have almost all the tools you will need to be a success playing video poker.