Online Video Poker Basics

Winning Video Poker      

      by Roger McIntyre

   Most video poker machines offer returns of over 95% and some even offer
      returns over 100%! But you must play these machines correctly in order to
      get these returns. Here’s how:
   Learn the rules of the game.
   Make sure you know the rules of the game before you sit down to play.

      Learn the different types of payout hands.
   Different video poker machines offer payouts for different types of poker
      hands. Generally, the more wild cards there are in a game, the better the
      poker hand has to be in order to receive a payout. Usually the games which
      have no wild cards offer a payout for a pair of Jacks or better. The Joker’s
      Wild games usually offer a payout for two pair or any hand with a joker.
      The Deuces Wild games usually don’t payout unless you have three of a kind
      or better.

      Know who your opponent is.
   You are playing against the machine, not other players. Your goal is to
      get the highest payout hand possible. Therefore it makes no sense to try
      to bluff the machine by keeping unwanted cards or discarding favorable cards.
      You should always keep only the cards that have the best chance of yielding
      the largest payout.

      Pick out the machine that you are going to play.
   All video poker machines are not equal. Different machines offer different
      returns so it’s a good idea to pick a favorable one. Also, it is a good
      idea to learn how to play one machine before learning another one since
      the playing strategies are different between the machines also. So how do
      you find out what the expected return is on a particular machine? There
      is a video poker program that can do this for you.

      Always bet the maximum amount when favorable.
   All the progressive payout machines and even many of the others offer more
      favorable payouts when the maximum bet is placed. On these machines, your
      expected winnings will increase when you place the maximum bet. You can
      tell if a machine offers a statistical advantage for maximum bets by multiplying
      the payout for a single coin by five. If the payout for five coins is greater
      than this then it offers a statistical advantage. For example, if a Royal
      Flush offers a payout of 500 coins when you bet one coin and 4000 when you
      bet five coins, 4000 is more than 500 * 5 = 2500 therefore you should always
      bet five coins.

      Learn how to play the hands for maximum profits.
   This is the hardest step because there are 2,598,960 possible different
      poker hands in a standard 52 card deck. To make matters worse, the type
      of game (Standard Draw, Joker’s Wild, and Deuces Wild) and the payout table
      for each of these games can alter which cards are the best ones to discard
      for maximum expected returns. Probably the best way to learn is to have
      a tutor watching you play who tells you which cards are the best to discard.
      There is a video poker program that can do this for you. This program also
      can automatically create a set of rules that you should follow in order
      to realize the maximum returns of a particular video poker machine.