Video Poker seems to be one of those games that people are a little dubious about until they give it a whirl, and the concept of it being worth it, of being able to gain an advantage is the biggest cause of this dubiousness.

I was recently assured of a way of gaining the advantage in a progressive jackpot video poker game: Of course strategies vary from game to game, particularly between wild and no-wild games. However, on a machine that pays out 8-1 on a full house and 5-1 on a flush, there is, or so I’m assured, a means of gaining the advantage.

First, locate a progressive jackpot machine whose jackpot is greater that the maximum bet x 1750; the reason that this is important is because it is only once the jackpot gets this high that the game is even with the house, therefore if the game isn’t even there is no way of gaining an advantage. Now, in theory, or at least this is what I’ve been told; with each 350 x max bet addition to the jackpot, the players advantage increases by 1%. Therefore if you come across a progressive jackpot with a jackpot 2100 x the maximum bet, you have a 1% advantage; if you find one with a jackpot 2,450 x the maximum bet you have a 2% advantage.

Unfortunately, getting to this stage of play requires a lot of time and a lot of money; more of both than most people have. Therefore short of building up the advantage as suggested above, it might be best to simply be familiar with the frequency of video poker hands, and from that determine the likelihood of gaining an advantage. The following statistics were given to me a by a guy in the industry, who claims they are the average frequency of video poker hands:

A royal flush, which is of course what we all want appears once ever 32, 680 hands; a straight flush every 10, 163 hands; four of a kind every 425 hands; a full house every 87 hands; a flush every 90 hands; a straight every 89 hands; three of a kind every 14 hands; two pair every 8 hands; and a pair every 5 hands. Now, in terms of timing, based on these statistics the average video poker machine will therefore produce a royal flush ever 60 hours of constant rapid play; a straight will appear every 6 hours or so, as will a flush; whilst a 4 of a kind will pop up on a more or less hourly basis.

Therefore the majority of the time the video poker player is playing at a disadvantage, however this will be somewhat compensated for by the more regular smaller hands. Is it possible to manipulate the outcomes, to create an advantage? In all honesty probably not, but isn’t it fun trying?

Whether you’re playing video poker in the casino or at home online it’s worth being able to differentiate between video poker myth and video poker truth. There are a bunch of things that have over the last few years been sworn as true with regard to video poker - here are some of the most common misconceptions.

First of all, video poker machines, like slot machines do not have a ‘right time’ for pay out. They simply don’t work like that! It’s been long believed that if you watch a machine and note that it hasn’t paid out for a while then it is ‘due’ for a pay out. Really? You think that these complex gaming machines work on the “oh, I’m full” approach? Be serious! Equally, a machine being opened or closed doesn’t effect the payout of it, it also doesn’t effect what you’re going to be dealt next - there is no, “give the next guy a good hand” button!

Secondly, the cards you’re dealt come from a random number generator - a particular flash of lights, or the timing of your button pushing has no effect on what these cards are going to be.

Thirdly, the amount you bet doesn’t effect the cards you’re dealt. Sometime in the 1990’s it became ‘common knowledge’ that if you bet higher you would get worse cards. Obviously this is ridiculous. The system that takes your money, is completely independent of the RNG that gives you your cards; the RNG doesn’t know if you bet 5c or $50.

Finally, it makes no difference whether you insert coins or notes. It’s been argued that coins will result in a faster pay out: I refer you again to the stupidity of the “oh, I’m full” logic. Also, following the same track, higher denomination machines are no looser than lower denomination ones - they are set to their percentage pay out, it has nothing to do with the amounts accepted.

Having said all of that, some of those ‘urban myths’ about video poker are actually true. For instance…
You can figure out the likelihood of a machine’s payout, but from the odds not the weight of money inserted. However, you must bear in mind, that the odds of the machine are over its life time; if it has a 99% payout that doesn’t apply to your games, but rather to all of its games.

Video poker, like a roulette wheel, provides mutually exclusive events each time. This means that that guy who told you he got 3 royal straight flushes in a row may not have been lying - because each deal is independent of the last one such a result would be possible - unlikely, but possible.

The video poker random number generator deals each combination from a regular deck, so your chance of being dealt a specific card is 1 in 52; the odds are the same as with a physical deck. I’m sure this isn’t all of them - if you’ve heard any other wacky and wonderful ideas, true or not, please share; I would love to hear them.

Video-poker is a popular way of playing an old favorite in a more private atmosphere. With video poker it is you against the machine without the hassle of dealing with other players. Of course, in video poker there is no element of bluffing as with paper card poker however there is still a lot of fun to be had as well as a certain amount of skill. When you play video poker your strategy starts before you even put a coin in the machine. There are many different video poker machines and they play with different odds and returns. You should always compare the odds and returns with other machines and aim for the ones that give you at least a 98% return. Once you have found a machine that you like take a good look at the payout per hand. This will affect how you play your cards because sometimes it is worth you while giving up a lower hand in a gamble to get a higher hand. Here are some of the more popular video poker machines and how to play them.

Jacks or Better machines have a payout of 98% to 100% so go for the highest you can find. Generally you can expect the game to be fairly even in terms of wins and losses and not have he highs and lows that you get with some other machines. There are different kinds of Jacks or Betters and you should head for the Easy Money variety as these usually give the best odds of winning. Don’t confuse with the Jack’s Back variety. The odds may look similar but in the long run this machine with not give you as chances of winning. Also, the Crawdad variety which gives you better odds on Four of a Kind does not give you as good odds of winning in the long run.

Joker Poker machines are very popular because they can give returns as high as 102%. However, because the wild cards increase the chances of higher hands the minimum hand required for a win is also higher, usually a pair of kings or two pairs. Four of kind is the most common big win hand on this machine and if you get one of those during a session you should come out on top. Don’t confuse with Joker’s Wild that only has a 92% return.

Finally Deuces Wild is another common video poker machine. The key point to remember on this machine is that your twos are valuable cards to don’t discard them. Played right, a Deuces Wild machine can give a 102% return but your wins and losses can swing wildly.

One general rule applies to all video poker machines: Always play the maximum credits! The payoffs increase depending on how many credits you make and it will break your heart to get waste a royal flush on a bet of only one credit.