Make Your Own Choice When It Comes to Video Poker

Author: Neha Agrawal

Deciding what kind of video poker game to play is up to you. Do you want to collect more often, even if the returns aren’t that large? Or, do you want to win more coins and have the possibility of bigger payoffs, though you will be collecting less often? These are the questions you have to ask yourself before you decide which games to play.

Virtually all video poker games have a similar return to the players, they pay off at 98-100%. Of course, the percentage you will win depends on how good a player you may be. But remember, there are some machines which don’t pay as well, even though they seem to otherwise be identical video poker machines and are being offered by the same casino. These machines are not programmed differently. The odds of winning are exactly the same on both machines. It’s just that one of them pays better than the other.

The reason for the discrepancy may be that the machines were installed at different times or they may be designed by different video poker software makers. Whatever the reason, it’s up to the player to take note of the difference and find the best machine.

For Jacks or Better, the standard for payoffs is called the “9-6 rule.” That means that a full house will return a total of 9 coins, while a flush will give you back 6 coins. These payoffs are well-known among experienced video poker players. It is highly unlikely you can find machines paying more than that, but unfortunately, you are likely to find some that are paying less.

Joker Poker games are not as clear-cut. There is no famous standard such as the 9-6 rule. This is also true of video poker machines offering other versions of the game, including sequential Royal Flush. These machines pay off an enormous jackpot if you’re able to hit a royal flush and it is in order from left to right. The odds of you hitting this are enormous, but so is the payoff.

So there are many options for video poker, and you can choose if you want to play the conventional Jacks or Better machine, or if you want to win more often, if for less money, with some Joker Poker variations. You can also choose to go for the huge payoffs in the sequential royal flush machines, which don’t pay as well for other bets, but will give you a much larger maximum payoff.