Basic Strategy: Video Poker for Beginners

Best Betting Strategy

There is one chance at a better payoff in video poker, and it's the reason that we always want to “Bet Max” when placing our bet. This is the bonus payoff on the 5-coin Royal Flush. Look at the following table, which is the payoff chart for the standard Jacks or Better game.

	1st Coin	2nd Coin	3rd Coin	4th Coin	5th Coin
Royal Flush	500	1000	1500	2000	5000
Straight Flush	50	100	150	200	250
4 of a Kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full House	6	12	18	24	30
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
3 of a Kind	3	6	9	12	15
2 Pair	2	4	6	8	10
Pair (Jacks or Better)	1	2	3	4	5

Notice that the payoff rates are the same across the board with one major exception; the 5-coin Royal Flush. All the others pay off at 500-to-1, but the 5-coin pays off at 1000-1.

A Royal Flush is the best possible hand in poker. It looks like this: 10-J-Q-K-A (all clubs, all diamonds, etc.) The odds of getting one of these are about 31000-to-1. But, if we do hit this big hand, we'd rather get the 5-coin payoff than any of the lesser ones.

Here's an example of how to bet this. Say I have put $25.00 in a multi-denominational machine. I want to place 100 bets with my money, so I have a choice; I can choose 5 cent bets and hit “Max Bet” each time (5 x 5 cents = 25 cents) or I can select the 25 cent bet and use the “Bet One” button.

Either way will pay me exactly the same if I win any other hand, but let's see the difference if I hit the Royal Flush. My one-coin, 25 cent bet (total bet = 25 cents) will pay me 500-to-1, so I'll get 500 quarters, or $125.00. Now, if I was betting a 5-coin, 5 cent bet (total bet = 25 cents) the machine will pay me 5000 nickels, or $250.00.

Now, the basic betting strategy is to look at the first draw, and hold or discard cards as necessary to get the best winning hand off the second draw.

Here's how it works:

Deal: Trash hand (no pairs, no matching suits, no partial straight)

Hold: Nothing. Deal 5 more cards.

 

Deal: One small pair (less than Jacks)

Hold: Both pair cards. Draw 3 more cards, looking for a 3-of-a-kind or another pair.

 

Deal: Large Pair (Jacks, Queens , Kings, Aces) – ALREADY A WINNER!

Hold: Both pair cards. Draw 3 more cards to possibly improve the hand.

 

Deal: 3 or 4 to a straight. This would be 3-4-6-7-K, for instance.

Hold: Straight cards 3,4,6,7. Draw to try to get the 5 for the straight.

 

Deal: 3 or 4 to a flush. This would be 3 spades, 4 hearts, etc…

Hold: Flush cards (spades, hearts.) Draw to try to get the remaining suit cards for a flush.

 

Now that you can see the basic strategy, let's talk about maximizing our wins.

Suppose you are holding a hand like: K(spades) K-5-9-3 (all clubs.) Now it's a good time to sacrifice the King of Spades for a chance at the flush. We're giving up a definite winner (1-to-1 payoff) for a 5-to-1 payoff if we get another heart for the flush. The odds of getting another heart are 4.5-to-1. In this case, since the payoff odds are better than the odds against us, we'll take the chance.

One place we'll definitely make a sacrifice like this is if we had a hand like this A(clubs)-A-K-Q-J (all diamonds) – here, we just need one more card, the 10 of diamonds, for the Royal Flush. We'll definitely take the chance here, because the 5000:1 payoff will be worth it if we can make this biggest of hands.

When you need two or more cards to make a good hand, it's a lot trickier. For the Royal Flush, it would still be worth sacrificing a small hand, but for a smaller payoff like a straight, you are probably best taking a lesser, guaranteed win and seeing what the next deal gives you.

Summary

Let's review. We know the basics of operating any video poker game, and are aware that all video poker games are negative expectation ; that is, if we play for long enough, the house will always win.

However, we've seen that by strategically picking which cards to hold and which to discard, and by making some occasional sacrifices of a guaranteed small hand for a chance at a big one, we can improve our odds of making money in the short run.

And that's the big key; we're going to try to make our money quickly in video poker; once we've hit one big hand, or several mid-sized ones, we probably want to walk away from the machine with bulging pockets.

Otherwise, statistics tell us that we'll end up losing it all back and paying the casino for those “free” drinks.

 

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