Video poker is praised by those in the know for its relatively high RTP. Video poker is an arcade game, adding the skill elements of basic random poker to random numbers and video slot machine screens. It’s a great game for people who don’t like social gambling, as you can play completely on your own without the need for dealers.
In this post, we’ll take an in-depth look at three video poker pay tables and discuss the ways in which they are similar and different. The goal is to prepare people for playing video poker by showing them how the game’s paytable has a huge impact on its chances.
Traditional Video Poker Hand Ranking
When I say “traditional video poker,” I’m talking about Jacks or Better. The default video poker game is Jacks or Better. It is what I think of when I hear the words “video poker”.
- Royal flush – odds of 1 in 41,666 – payout of 800 credits.
- Suitable hand containing a ten, jack, queen, king and ace.
- Straight Flush – chances 1 in 10,000 – payout 50 credits.
- Five consecutive cards of the same suit, not counting Royal Flush, which has a higher payout.
- Four of a Kind – chances 1 in 423.7 – win 25 credits.
- Four cards of the same value.
- Full House – odds 1 to 86.9 – winnings are 9 credits.
- A hand consisting of a three and a pair. Remember that a pair in full house does not necessarily contain jacks or better cards.
- Flush – odds of 1 in 90.9 – winning is 6 credits.
- Any of five matching, non-consecutive cards.
- Straight – odds of 1 in 89.2 – payout is 4 credits.
- Five consecutive non-matching cards.
- Three of a Kind – chance 1 in 13,4 – payout 3 credits.
- Three cards of the same value.
- Two Pair – chance 1 to 7.7 – payout 2 credits.
- Two sets of two cards of the same value. Note that no pair has to contain Jacks or Better to qualify.
- One Pair (Jacks or Better) – chance 1 in 4.6 – payout is 1 credit.
- Two Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces.
Double Bonus Poker Hand Rankings
I’d like to take a look at hand rankings, odds and payouts for another popular video poker variant so you can see the differences between hand rankings in a standard video poker game and what you might find in other variants of the game.
I decided to share the rankings, odds and payouts for the best Double Bonus Poker machines, the so-called 10-7 pay table.
- Royal flush – odds of 1 in 47,619 – payout of 800 credits.
- Suitable hand containing a ten, jack, queen, king and ace.
- Straight Flush – chances 1 in 9,090.9 – payout is 50 credits.
- Five consecutive cards of the same suit, not counting the Royal Flush, which has a higher payout.
- 4 Aces – odds of 1 in 5,025.1 – winnings of 160 credits
- Four Aces with one card out of the hand.
- 4 of a Kind (2-4) – chance 1 in 1,908.3 – payout 80 credits.
- Four cards of the same value between 2 and 4.
- 4 of a Kind (5-K) – chance 1 in 625 – payout 50 credits.
- Four cards of the same value between 5 and a king.
- Full House – odds of 1 in 90.09 – payout of 10 credits.
- A hand consisting of a three of a kind and a pair. Remember that a pair in a full house does not necessarily contain jacks or better cards.
- Flush – odds of 1 in 67.11 – payout is 7 credits.
- Any of five matching, non-consecutive cards.
- Straight – odds of 1 in 66.6 – payout is 5 credits.
- Five consecutive non-matching cards.
- 3 of a Kind – chance 1 in 13.8 – payout 3 credits.
- Three cards of the same value.
- Two Pair – chance 1 in 8 – payout is 1 credit.
- Two sets of two cards of the same value. Note that no pair has to contain Jacks or Better to qualify.
- One Pair (Jacks or Better) – chance 1 in 5.2 – payout is 1 credit.
- Two Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces.
With this paytable, Double Bonus Poker can be played to your advantage as long as you follow the optimal strategy and don’t make any mistakes. Over time, you have a 0.17% advantage over the casino, making Double Bonus Poker in this arrangement one of the very few gambling situations with positive expectations.
The 10-7 layout is also the reason why you won’t find many 10-7 double bonus video poker machines. But these machines exist and are open for play even as I write this post. You can find them all over Vegas, but they are being moved, so you’ll have to do some hunting for pay tables or rely on the friendly video poker community for guidance.
Deuces Wild poker hand rankings
Wild card game variations are popular in video poker, so I wanted to share the payout and odds table for the most popular wild card video poker game – Deuces Wild.
Below is the standard payout and odds table for Deuces Wild as found in US casinos.
- Natural Royal Flush – odds of 1 in 45,454.5 – payout of 800 credits.
- Royal flush without any wild cards (deuces).
- Four Deuces – chances 1 in 5,000 – win 200 credits.
- Four cards with a value of 2.
- Wild poker – odds of 1 in 531.9 – payout is 25 credits
- Royal flush with at least one wild card (two).
- 5 of a Kind – odds of 1 to 333.3 – payout is 15 credits
- Five cards of the same value (requires at least one wild card).
- Straight flush – odds 1 to 181.8 – payout is 11 credits.
- Five consecutive cards of the same suit, not counting Royal Flush, which has a higher payout.
- 5 of a kind – odds 1 to 16.5 – winnings are 4 credits.
- Four cards of the same value between 5 and King.
- Full House – odds of 1 in 38.3 – payout is 4 credits.
- A hand consisting of a three and a pair. Remember that a pair in full house does not have to contain jacks or better cards.
- Flush – odds of 1 in 47.1 – payout is 3 credits.
- Any of five matching, non-consecutive cards.
- Straight – odds of 1 in 17.6 – payout is 2 credits.
- Five consecutive non-matching cards.
- 3 of a Kind – chance 1 in 3,7 – payout 1 credit.
- Three cards of the same value.
Note that the lowest hand in this game is a three – the presence of wild cards makes two pairs and jacks or better too common to reward with any credit. To compensate for this, you’ll get higher payouts than usual for those all-important mid-range wins.
Summary
Understanding hand rankings is as crucial to success in video poker as it is in traditional head-to-head poker.
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