11 Quick Tips for Amateur Jacks or Better Players

It’s never listed in the most popular games in the casino, but Jacks or Better should be high on your list of the top casino games to play. The game is easy to learn and has a simple strategy. When you find the right pay table, it also has a higher return to player percentage than all but a few other games.

On the other side of this, if you don’t use the right strategy and get stuck with a bad pay table, the return to player can be worse than almost every other gambling option. As a new Jacks or Better player, you might not know how to find the best machines and play them well.

Here are 11 quick tips to help you get started on the right foot playing Jacks or Better.

1 – 9/6 Pay Table or Nothing

I don’t like to present too many hard and fast rules when it comes to gambling, but when you play Jacks or Better video poker, there is one rule that I consider unbreakable. I refuse to play Jacks or Better unless the pay table is a 9/6 return table.

It’s easy to tell if a Jacks or Better video poker machine is using a 9/6 table. Look at the returns listed under the five-coin wager, which is all the way to the right. The payment for a royal flush is listed as 4,000 coins. The payment for a full house is listed as 45 coins. And the payment for a flush is listed as 30 coins.

If the pay table has anything different than these three payment amounts, you should refuse to play on that machine.

2 – Small Denominations

The nice thing about a 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machine is that the return to player is over 99.5% if you use good strategy. I’m going to cover strategy in other sections in this article. But even with a high return to player, you’re still going to lose a little over time.

This is important to know because how much you lose depends on how much you risk. The smaller the coin denomination on the machine you play, the less you’re going to lose. Common denomination amounts for Jacks or Better video poker machines are .05, .25, $1, $5, and $10.

In the next section, you’re going to learn why this is true, but you always need to bet five coins. So, your wager amount is going to be five times the denomination amount. You risk .25 on a .05 machine and $1.25 on a .25 machine.

3 – Always Max Coins

You have the option to bet from one to five coins when you play a hand of Jacks or Better. If everything was equal, the best strategy would be to bet one coin. But all things aren’t equal.

Look at the pay table again. The 4,000 coins payment for a royal flush with five coins is much higher than when you bet four coins.

The five-coin bet unlocks this special bonus, and this is why you need to always use the five-coin max option when you play Jacks or Better.

4 – Know the Pay Table

It doesn’t take long to get to know the pay table, but you need to make sure you understand it before you start playing hands. The lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks. When you get a pair of jacks or higher, but not two pairs or better, you’re basically breaking even on the hand.

Breaking even is better than losing, but you don’t start making a profit on a hand until you get two pairs or better. The payment amount for each hand goes up based on how hard it is to complete each hand. You’re going to learn more about hand rankings in the next section.

5 – Understand Hand Rankings

The Jacks or Better pay table shows that you get a bigger win amount as the hands go up in ranking. And the hand rankings are solely based on how hard it is to complete each hand.

A royal flush requires five specific cards, so it’s the hardest to complete and offers the highest payment. A pair of jacks, queens, kings, or aces is the easiest of the paying hands to complete, so these hands offer the lowest payments.

6 – Know the Simple Odds

You don’t absolutely need to understand the simple odds of playing Jacks or Better, but it’s a good idea. The good news is that when I say the odds are simple I mean they’re simple.

Everything in Jacks or Better is based on a regular deck of 52 cards. When you understand what cards are in the deck, you can get an idea of how likely you are to get a card or cards you need when you draw.

If you have an open end straight draw, you’ve seen five cards and haven’t seen 47 cards. The remaining cards include eight cards that complete your straight. This means that eight out of 47 times, you’re going to get a card you need for the straight.

Use these simple odds calculations when you need to draw for a better hand.

7 – Speed Control

The best thing about playing Jacks or Better, whether you enjoy playing on a mobile device, on your computer, or in a regular casino, is you have complete control over how fast you play.

You remember how, in the earlier section abovem I explained how playing more leads to higher losses? What do you think happens when you play slower?

That’s right. When you play Jacks or Better slower, you play fewer hands, which also means you’re risking less. And this means that you’re going to lose less. Control the speed at which you play Jacks or Better to help control your losses.

8 – Always Set a Win Limit

A win limit is simply an amount that you’re shooting for during a Jacks or Better playing session. If you get on a profitable run and get ahead by your win limit, you can stop playing Jacks or Better for the day.

This might sound a little silly to some gamblers, but how many times have you been gambling and had a nice win, only to lose it all back because you kept playing instead of ending your session ahead?

Of course, with no plan, you have no idea when the best time to stop is. But when you have a win limit, you know exactly when you need to stop playing.

9 – Progressive Jacks or Better Machines

A few Jacks or Better machines have a progressive jackpot instead of a static payment amount for a royal flush. These machines are okay, but the problem with most of them is they don’t pay 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush.

If you find a progressive 9/6 Jacks or Better machine that has a jackpot amount over 4,000 coins, you should play it. I avoid any other progressive Jacks or Better machines.

10 – Online Bonuses Might Be Profitable

Plenty of online Jacks or Better bonuses aren’t profitable. They aren’t profitable because they require you to play so many hands that the casino wins back all of the bonus before you clear the requirements. Although, it’s possible to find a good Jacks or Better bonus that you can profit from.

Be sure to look at the terms and conditions to see how much you need to risk before you clear the bonus to get an idea if it can turn a profit or not.

11 – Memorize the Best Strategy

When you play Jacks or Better video poker, there happens to be a single right way to play any hand you receive. The best way isn’t always obvious, so you might need some help.

You can get the help you need when you use a Jacks or Better strategy card or chart. You can find these online and in casino shops. Get a chart, and use it when you play until you have all of the correct plays memorized. This won’t take long, and it helps you get the highest return to player percentage available.

Conclusion

The two most important things you need to know about Jacks or Better are to always play on a 9/6 machine and use the correct strategy. Other things are important, but these two things set you up for the best odds you can get.

When you bet five coins on each hand, you’re eligible for the extra bonus when you get a royal flush, so this is always a good strategy. Understand the basic odds of playing video poker and see if you can find a profitable online video poker bonus.