Video Poker

Video Poker is often confused with slots because they are graphically-driven games. But video poker's apparent simplicity is deceptive. Video poker games require far more thought and strategy.

General rules to improve your video poker game experience are:

• When you find a video poker game like, stick with it. The longer you play, you will become more comfortable and be able to develop a strategy that works best for you .
• If you're new to video poker, start off with the Jacks or Better game. It has a very basic strategy that is easy to understand, and this makes it the game best suited to players new to Video Poker.
• Resist the temptation to hold on to a Kicker. Holding an unpaired card with a pair adds no value to your hand. For example, if you have a pair of 4's and one ace, keep the pair and don't hold the ace.
• Higher payouts such as 9/6 for Jacks or Better and 9/5 for Deuces Wild offer the best payouts for players. (I explain this in more detail below).

Video Poker Pay Schedules Before choosing any video poker casino to play at - either offline or online - you need to be aware that not all are created equal. There are video poker payback setups that are less profitable than others. Video Poker Pay shedules can differ from casino to casino.

Let me explain this. A Video Poker Game with a full-pay schedule offers a 9/6 for Jacks or Better, and a and 9/5 for Deuces Wild: 9x payback for a full house and a 6x payback for a flush. On a 9/6 Video Poker game, if you wager $5.00 and hit a full house, your return will be 9x the original bet, or $45.00 in this case. If you hit a full house with the same wager on an 8/5 machine, your return will only be 8x the original bet, $40.00 in this case.

While this may not seem like much difference, if you spent a whole evening playing an 8/5 machine, the difference becomes enormous. The casino gains a whopping 5% advantage on a partial-pay video poker game.

Finding a 9/6 VP casino is easily done. The video poker game you can use to use to test it is Jacks or Better. Start up a Jacks or better game, and look at the pay schedule displayed above the cards. On a 9/6 machine, the schedule will look like this:

• 4000 (with max coins, 250-1 without) for a royal flush
• 50-1 for a straight flush
• 25-1 for four-of-a-kind
• 9-1 for a full house
• 6-1 for a non-sequential flush
• 4-1 for a straight, not same suit
• 3-1 for three-of-a-kind
• 2-1 for two pairs
• 1-1 Pair of Jacks or better.

Important: You must bet the maximum if you want to win the maximum royal flush jackpot. If you can't afford to bet the max at, say, a $5.00 video poker machine, move on and select one with a smaller minimum bet.

Online Casinos who have Video Poker games with 9/6 Pay Schedules:

All Online Casinos powered by Microgaming Software feature full-pay Video Poker. If you're at a new online casino, and want to determine what the video poker pay-schedule is, look for a 9/6 payout on Jacks or Better, and a 9/5 payout on the Deuces Wild games.

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