Most people already realize that blackjack and video poker are the 2 best casino games for the player. That’s because these 2 games have the lowest house edge – the statistical average amount the casino expects to win per bet.
But it’s not enough to just PLAY video poker.
If you want to see those big returns and that low house edge, you need to learn a little bit about the game.
Here’s how to increase your chances of winning at video poker by understanding the game better than everyone else.
Video Poker Games Are NOT Slot Machines
And that’s not a nitpicky difference, either. I’m not being pedantic.
The difference between video poker games and slot machines is a hugely practical consideration.
Both games are powered by a computer program called a “random number generator” – RNG for short. But the RNG for a video poker game is designed to imitate the probabilities you’d see from a deck of cards.
In other words, you know that there are effectively 13 cards in each suit, and if you have 4 of them already, 9 of them are left in the deck. This affects the probability of getting a flush.
With some calculations, you can calculate the payback percentage for a video poker game’s pay table.
This isn’t something you can do with a slot machine game.
Here’s why:
The probability of getting a specific symbol on a slot machine reel is unknowable for the average player. You can face 2 identical slot machines with identical pay tables, but you might be facing entirely different payback percentages.
One of those games might have a 1 in 8 probability of giving you a cherry on a reel, while the game next to it might be programmed to give you a 1 in 16 probability of getting the cherry.
Obviously, being able to calculate which games have better payback percentages than other games can help you improve your probability of walking away from a casino as a winner.
The Pay Tables Vary From Game to Game
Not all video poker games have the same pay table. In fact, the ONLY difference from one game to another is often the pay table.
Jacks or Better is the basic video poker game everyone should be familiar with, and it’s one of the easiest pay tables to understand. When casinos and video poker game designers want to change the payback percentage for a Jacks or Better game, they adjust the payouts for 2 hands:
- The full house
- The flush
The best possible pay table for Jacks or Better – a “full pay” game – pays out 9 for 1 for a full house and 6 for 1 for a flush.
When played with the mathematically optimal strategy, a Jacks or Better game with this pay table has a payback percentage of 99.54%.
This means the house edge is only 0.46%. (Subtract the payback percentage from 100%, and you’ll get the house edge.)
But if you play a different Jacks or Better game – one that pays off at 8 coins for a full house and 5 coins for a flush – and the payback percentage is only 97.3%.
These numbers sound high because they’re so close to 100%, but the difference between the 2 games is dramatic.
After all, the house edge has increased by a factor of more than 5.
Imagine playing a game where your estimated losses are $5 per hour.
Then imagine playing the same game where your estimated losses per hour are $25.
Obviously, it pays to be able to discern between pay tables.
It’s Not Enough to Just Pick the Right Game With the Right Pay Table
All the payback percentage and house edge estimates related to video poker assume mathematically optimal play, though. If you play your hands wrong, the payback percentage drops dramatically.
In video poker, you’re dealt a 5-card hand at the beginning of the game.
You get to discard between 0 and 5 cards and replace them.
This means you have 32 different ways to play each hand – you have 2 options for each card, and you have 5 cards, which means that your number of options are 2 to the 5th power.
How do you know what the right play is?
In a lot of cases, it’s obvious. Some of the time, you’ll be dealt a hand that’s going to win something. Most of the time when you get a hand like this, you’ll keep those cards and enjoy your win.
One of the rare exceptions is when you have 4 cards to a royal flush. You’ll always draw to the royal flush because the payout is so big – even if it means you have to break up a paying hand to do so.
This is true in every video poker variant I’m aware of.
If you have some card sense, you can probably get within 1% or 2% of the optimal payback percentage just by playing using your good sense.
But why give up 1% or 2% when you could be getting a house edge as low as 0.5% — or better?
Video Poker Strategy Cards Are the Answer
They consist of ranked lists of hands. You compare the hand you’re dealt with the ranked list of hands on your strategy card, and you keep the cards that the strategy card suggests.
This has the added benefit of slowing you down.
After all, the more hands you play per hour, the more you’re exposing yourself to the house edge.
If you can find a technique to slow down your rate of play AND lower the house edge, you should take advantage of it every time.
Read Books and Practice With Video Poker Software
You can find a wide variety of books about video poker. You can also easily find video poker software that will quiz you on correct strategy. Bob Dancer and Jean Scott both produce excellent guides to video poker strategy.
Learning how to play video poker well takes some knowledge and some practice, but it’s something anyone with average intelligence and a little gumption can achieve.
Start with Jacks or Better. It’s an easy game to find, and it’s an easy game to play. The strategy isn’t hard to learn, either, and you’ll find plenty of books and software covering the subject.
Some of the more obscure video poker games might be harder to find information on, and even when you do, you might have a hard time finding those games with good video poker pay tables.
But finding full pay Jacks or Better isn’t that hard.
Don’t Play Without the Slots Club Card Inserted
Some people are convinced that inserting your slots club card into the video poker machine interferes with the odds of the game. They think that the casino wants them to win less because of the rewards they’re offering.
Not only is this untrue, it doesn’t even make sense.
The casinos offer the slots club to incentivize you to play more. When you play more hands, you lose more money – the house has a mathematical edge already. They don’t need to make it better to win more of your money.
They need to get you to play more hands more often.
What Does the Slots Club Card Do for You?
Generally, a casino rewards its gamblers at a rate of between 0.1% and 0.3% of their total action. They offer these rewards in the forms of rebates, comped meals, free travel, and entertainment.
You’ll notice that the rate they’re offering rewards is still considerably lower than the house edge for the games.
But the casinos offer these rewards at retail value, even though they’re paying wholesale for the perks.
A $30 comped meal only costs the restaurant in the casino $10 to prepare, effectively lowering the amount of rewards that they’re having to pay out.
The slots club is a huge win for the casino, but it’s also a big win for you – as long as you don’t gamble more than you would otherwise just because you’re trying to climb the player club points ladder.
I have a friend who gambles a LOT more than he should just to try to earn rewards points.
He’s lost a lot of money this year, but he’s had some fun.
If you’re going to lose money playing real money video poker – and you will if you play long enough – you should at least have some fun doing it.
Conclusion
Video poker games are some of the easiest games to win money from in the casino. In fact, the only game that compares is blackjack.
If you like video poker, learn how to play it well. This starts with identifying the games with the best pay tables.
It ends with learning and implementing the correct playing strategies for those games.
That’s how you increase your chances of winning at 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. …
