The best video poker players are able to break even on their play, or even make a little bit of a profit. This might sound unrealistic, but if you use the right strategies it’s possible. It’s possible, but it’s not easy.
I’ve put together the top 7 quick strategies that every video poker player needs to use. This list includes the best machines to play, the best way to see if you’re playing a good pay table, how to know if you’re always using the best strategy, and every way you can use promotions to offset the casino edge.
1 – Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better
You have plenty of options when it comes time to pick which video poker game you want to play. Your available machines depend on if you play online or if you’re playing video poker in a land based casino.
When you play real money video poker online you can choose from just about any type of machine that you want. When you play in a live casino your choices are limited to the machines they have on the floor.
I recommend learning how to play Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better video poker. These are both popular machines, and most casinos have them available. They both have a pay table available that has a very low casino edge as well. You’re going to learn more about pay tables in the third section on this page.
Jacks or Better is a simple 5 card draw game where you need to get at least a pair of jacks to have a paying hand. Deuces Wild is also a 5 card draw game, and all of the 2’s or deuces are wild.
In addition to both of these games being popular and available, the other reason why I recommend them is because it’s easy to find the correct strategy for both machines. Learn more about video poker strategy in the next section.
2 – The Only Strategy
Most video poker players either go with their gut or guess about the best play when they gamble. Sometimes they can easily determine the best play and sometimes they guess the best play. But sometimes they make mistakes.
You can’t afford to make mistakes when you play video poker. Every starting hand you receive has a single best strategy. If you don’t make the correct strategy play it costs you money. You might get lucky and win even when you make the wrong play, but in the long run your mistakes cost you money.
You can learn more about video poker strategy here, but the simple solution is to use a strategy card or strategy chart for the game you’re playing.
In other words, if you take my advice and play Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better, you need to have a strategy card for each game. Strategy cards are easy to find. You can buy them in most casino gift shops or buy them online. You can even print out free ones from your computer or access them on your phone.
Don’t play another video poker hand before you get a strategy card or strategy chart. You can use free online video poker to practice using your card, and if you spend enough time practicing you can memorize the best plays for every hand.
3 – Know Your Pay Tables
The payback percentage for every video poker machine is based on the pay table. Not every pay table is the same, even from 1 Jacks or Better machine to another. You need to learn about the available pay tables for Deuces Wild machines and Jacks or Better machines.
The good pay tables for each of these machines, when combined with using a strategy card, have a payback percentage of over 99.5%.
I like Jacks or Better a little more than Deuces Wild, but I keep a strategy card for both games. I know that Jacks or Better pay table that I want to play pays 45 for a 5 coin wager for a full house and 30 for a flush. Any other pay table on a Jacks or Better machine means I don’t play.
Start doing a little research before you start playing so you know which pay tables you want to use. Then start keeping track of where the machines with the best pay tables are located. This way you can quickly find them every time you play video poker.
4 – Control Your Bankroll
No matter how you play video poker, it’s difficult to play without losing in the long run. Even if you do everything right, your best hope is to break even playing most games. This is why it’s so important to control your bankroll.
The 2 main ways to control your bankroll are to limit the amount of your wagers and limit the number of wagers you make.
You control the amount of your wagers by playing on machines that have a lower per coin value. You can find video poker machines that have a coin value of a nickel, quarter, dollar, 5 dollars, and higher. In the last section on this page you’re going to learn why you should always make a 5 coin wager.
A 5 coin wager on a nickel machine is a total wager of 25 cents. On a quarter machine it’s $1.25.
Play on the lowest coin value machine you can find that has the pay table you want to use.
The other way to control your bankroll is to limit the number of hands you play. You can play slower to reduce the number of hands you play whether you play online video poker or live video poker.
5 – Player’s Club
When you play video poker in a land based casino, the first thing you need to do is get a membership in the player’s club. It might be called something different, but whatever the casino calls the club that gives comps to gamblers is the club you want to be a member of.
The comps in the casinos industry aren’t as good as they used to be, but you still want to earn them every time you play video poker. Even if you just earn a free dinner from time to time it helps you offset the casino edge.
Most online casinos don’t have a comp system, but if the 1 where you play has 1, you need to sign up for it.
6 – Bonuses and Promotions
Instead of offering comps like land based casinos, most online casinos offer bonuses. Not every online casino has a video poker bonus, but when you play online you need to find a bonus.
Read the terms of each bonus to make sure it’s good for video poker.
You can also find promotions for video poker play, both for online casinos and live casinos. Promotions can be coupons, free play, or free entry into special tournaments or drawings.
7 – Always Max Coins
I usually recommend wagering the minimum amount when you gamble. Most of the wagers you make are going to have a casino edge, so the way to lose less is to risk less. But video poker is unique because the only way to play with the highest payback percentage and the lowest casino edge is to bet the maximum number of coins.
On most video poker machines this is a 5 coin wager. The reason why this is important is because when you get the top paying hand, which is usually a natural royal flush, you get a bonus pay out.
Look at a Jacks or Better pay table.
The 1 coin win for a royal flush pays 250 coins. But the 5 coin win pays 4,000 coins. A regular progression would pay 1,250 coins for a 5 coin wager, so this bonus is worth an extra 2,750 coins.
You don’t get a royal flush often, but when you do this extra 2,750 coins makes up for a lot of losses along the way.
Conclusion
Playing winning video poker isn’t hard, but most gamblers don’t know the correct strategies to use to do it. All you have to do is use the 7 strategies listed on this page.
The first step is finding the best video poker machine. Once you find the best game, you have to make sure the pay table is good.
When you have the right machine and the best pay table, then all you have to do is use the correct strategy. The good news is that the correct strategy is easy to find and use. Everything else is finding ways to offset the casino edge when you play video poker.
Michael Stevens
Michael Stevens has been researching and writing topics involving the gambling industry for well over a decade now and is considered an expert on all things casino and sports betting. Michael has been writing for GamblingSites.org since early 2016. …
