Video poker is a longtime casino favorite thanks to its simplicity and comparatively high return to player (RTP) percentage. But you have to know how to win at video poker to ensure you get the best possible odds of maximizing your prize amounts.
In this article, we’ll cover some advanced points that will help boost the profits of players who already understand the basics. These points include picking the right game, decision making for tough situations, and more.
Picking the Right Game
Winning at video poker over the long run requires one thing first, always: checking the paytables. Before you sit down and wager a single crypto coin, you’ve got to understand whether the payouts of a game are optimal or tilted a bit more than usual in the house’s favor. Video poker has one of the slimmest house edges of any game, rivaling even blackjack (with perfect strategy), but this doesn’t apply to all variations equally. Some games are quite skewed.
Quick look: RTP
The simplest way to check this, if you’re in a rush, is to look at the game’s RTP. At mBit Casino, we put these figures right on game tile icons when you’re selecting a video poker variation to play. A high RTP is better, as it represents the percentage of your wager that will be returned on average over many play sessions. A game with an RTP of 97% will return an average of $0.97 per $1.00 wagered.
After checking RTP, it’s time to get into paytables.
9/6 versus 8/5 (or worse)
One of the most basic payout terms people keep their eye on is the values of full houses and flushes. A “9/6” video poker game offers a 9x payout for full houses and a 6x payout for flushes. An 8/5 brings this down to 8x for boats and 5x for flushes on the same wager. Make sure you’re playing a game that offers industry standard payouts, and not something worse.
For games that feature wilds, like Deuces Wild (Betsoft Gaming), this changes. A full house is paid 4x and a flush is paid 3x, making it a 4/3 game. This is to compensate for the greater likelihood of achieving these hands. The initial payout is also different. The lowest paid hand is trips, and it pays 1:1.
Advanced Strategy Considerations
This information is for players who have already covered video poker basic strategy and the fundamental plays shown on any video poker strategy chart. If you don’t have that down yet, that is the place to start.
Flushes versus straight flushes – what to keep?
When you’re trying to figure out how to beat a video poker machine, this is one of the key considerations you’ll come up against over and over again. The biggest payout by far is the royal flush, and many advanced players will be trying to optimize for this while also playing high expected value video poker in the long run.
The best way to figure out which cards to keep is to use the established hierarchy. This one works for standard video poker games that pay for jacks or better. The way to use it is to check the top line. If you have anything described there, you keep it. If not, you move down a line. If you have that hand, you keep it. If not, you move down the next line. Repeat this pattern until you reach the hand you have and the optimal action:
- Royal flush, straight flush, quads. These you keep, no matter what. This is probably obvious, but if you flop a monster that can’t be improved, you keep it.
- 4 to the royal. If you’re one card away from a royal, you have to go for it. It doesn’t matter where the needed card is (open ended or gutshot) – the royal comes ahead of all other hands. PROTIP: did we mention that you need to bet the maximum amount for those eye-popping payouts? If you’re an advanced player, you’re probably already doing this, but it bears repeating. Don’t let the largest prize of your life pass you by. Bet max and go for glory.
- Trips and made straights, flushes, and full houses. If you have any of these hands made (and nothing from the above lines), keep them. You’re getting paid and this is where clean strategy helps you make money. Take the win when it’s right there in front of you. Don’t get crazy.
- 4 to the straight flush. Notice how 4 to the royal is in the 2 spot, but this is at 4? Remember that straight flushes are strong, but the royal is in a different class of payout. If you have trips and are 4 to the straight flush, you have to dump the s/f and keep the trips in accord with this strategy hierarchy.
- Two pair. Surprisingly high, isn’t it? It’s a solid hand that pays well. This is a bread-and-butter hand.
- High pair. Your most common paying hand is in the six spot. Keep pairs that pay over any hands listed below here, no matter how annoying it is to dump hands with monster potential. You need to keep these payments coming in to fund long term performance. This is a big key to how to win at video poker.
- 3 to a royal flush. No high pair? Fine, keep your 3 royal flush cards.
- 4 to a flush.
- Low pair. These are non-paying pairs that can improve to something better after the draw.
- 4 to an open-ended straight. 4 cards in sequence can be kept if there is nothing better happening in the hand.
- 2 suited high cards. We’re getting desperate but keep these cards together. They can come alive after a deal, even if they just pair up.
- 3 to a straight flush. Note that 3 to a royal is in the 7 spot, even ahead of low pairs. If it’s between this hand and a low pair, however, the low pair wins.
- 2 unsuited high cards. Take the lower two in your hand if you have multiple of these.
- High card. Hopefully, it will pair. You’ve got four shots at making it happen.
- Discard all. You got rags. Throw it to the wind and let fortune decide your fate.
In terms of video poker tricks, this listing pretty much covers it all. Once you get a feel for which hands to chase and when you’ve got most of the advanced game down.
Want a fun video poker variation to try?
Give live video poker a shot. You get the fun of video poker with the experience of a live dealer, streamed to you on demand. Click or tap to indicate which cards to keep and the rest will be redealt. The dealer talks while you play, and there’s also a chat box to make things even more social. It’s a very enjoyable take on this simple game.