The most basic video poker game currently availabe is Jacks or Better. In fact,
almost all other video poker games are based on this game.

1. Jacks Or Better Poker Machine
2. Jacks Or Better Poker Machine
3. Jacks Or Better Free Game
4. Jacks Or Better Poker Apps

BE OBSERVANT – MAKE SURE YOU FIND A TRUE FULL-PAY JACKS OR BETTER GAME.

This page includes the basics
for how to play Jacks or Better, the pay tables, and the right strategies to use
when playing. Use this guide to Jacks or Better video poker to improve your skills as
a video poker player.

If the machine you've chose is a 9/6 (full pay) machine, the full house payout for each coin would be 9, and payouts for a flush would be maximum 6. You should look out for this in a Jacks or Better machines. Most likely, the first box you sit down to won't be a full pay video poker machine. Increase your video poker winnings by identifying the best pay tables.This quick tutorial makes it easy to find the best Jacks or Better games in any casino.

Jacks or Better Basics and How It Differs from Slot Machine Games

We’ll assume for purposes of simplicity that you’re unfamiliar with video
poker in general. Jacks or Better (and all other VP games) are gambling machines
which base their rules on five card draw poker.

But instead of playing against a bunch of buddies at the kitchen table,
you’re playing against a machine with a pay table. You don’t have to beat any
other hands to win, either-you just need a hand of a certain strength or higher.
The better your hand, the more you win.

A JoB game resembles a slot machine without the spinning reels. Instead,
you’re faced with a video screen displaying 5 playing cards.

It’s hard to overstate how important this difference is. Slot machines use
computer programs called random number generators to determine their results.
Video poker games like Jacks or Better do, too.

But there’s a big difference.

Slot machines feature arbitrary symbols with arbitrary probabilities for
coming up. A cherry might show up on a pay line once every ten spins, or it
might show up once every twenty spins. It’s impossible for you as a player to
ascertain that probability.

In Jacks or Better, though, the random number generator is programmed to use
the same probabilities you’d see with a deck of cards. The odds of getting a
specific card is 1/52. The odds of getting a card of a specific suit is 1/4. The
odds of getting a card of a specific rank is 1/13.

Both slot machine games and Jacks or Better game feature pay tables which
indicate how much a certain combination pays out.

On a slot machine, getting three cherries on a pay line might pay 100 for 1.

But since you don’t know the probability of getting any of the symbols, it’s
impossible to determine the payback percentage for the machine. We know that the
average slot machine in Las Vegas has a payback percentage of something like 92%
or 93%, but it can vary wildly from casino to casino and from machine to
machine.

With Jacks or Better, though, the payouts are based on poker hand rankings.
We know the probability of getting a specific hand, so we can calculate the
payback percentage for the game if we play it with correct strategy.

Which brings us to the second big difference between Jacks or Better and slot
machines:

Jacks or Better is a game of decisions that matter to your outcome. Slot
machines are entirely random.

You get dealt a 5-card virtual hand in the first round of any Jacks or Better
game. You have the option of keeping or discarding each of those cards. You get
a replacement for any card you choose to discard.

Making the mathematically optimal decision on every hand is the challenge of
Jacks or Better video poker. You want to maximize the expected return for each
hand. Some of the correct decisions aren’t immediately obvious-although having
some experience as a poker player helps with “card sense”.

When you play poker versus other players, the hand rankings determine which
player wins. A royal flush beats a straight flush, a straight flush beats 4 of a
kind, 4 of a kind beats a full house, a full house beats a flush, a flush beats
a straight, a straight beats 3 of a kind, 3 of a kind beats 2 pair, and 2 pair
beats a pair.

In traditional poker, the ranking of the cards matters. A pair of aces beats
a pair of kings, for example. This is only partially true in Jacks or Better.

If you have a pair of jacks or higher, you get a payoff. A pair of tens or
lower doesn’t pay off at all.

A Jacks or Better Pay Table Example

This is a reasonably common Jacks or Better pay table:

The first thing you’ll notice is that you can play between 1 and 5 coins on
each round.

*You should ALWAYS play for 5 coins.

The payoff for the royal flush skyrockets when you play for 5 coins, and this
makes a big difference to your bottom line over time. You’ll only see a royal
flush once in every 40,000 hands, which is probably once every 67 hours or so.

But when you do, it makes up for a lot of your losses.

If you think you can’t afford to play for 5 coins, you should switch to a
lower denomination machine. If you can’t afford the dollar game, where a 5 coin
bet is $5, switch to the quarter machine. A 5-coin bet on it is $1.25.

We also need to point out the payoffs for the full house (9 for 1) and for
the flush (6 for 1).

Not all Jacks or Better games have the same payouts for hands.

But most of the time, the hands they adjust the payoffs on are the full house
and the flush.

VP experts refer to a Jacks or Better game like the above as a “full pay” or
“9/6” game.

If you can find a machine with this pay table and play with perfect strategy,
you can achieve a payback percentage of 99.54%.

This makes JoB video poker one of the best games in the casino, from a payoff
perspective.

You’ll find 8/6, 8/5, and 7/5 Jacks or Better games a lot more often. The
numbers refer to the payoffs for the full house and the flush, respectively.

An 8/5 Jacks or Better pays off at 8 for 1 for a full house and
5 for 1 for a flush. The payback percentage on that game-if you play with
optimal strategy-is about 97.3%.

A 7/5 game has a payback percentage of 96.1%.

If you compare any of those numbers with the average slot machine, you’ll
notice that Jacks or Better video poker is always the better game.

But it’s hard to overstate the effect of a change from 9/6 to 8/5 on the pay
table.

The difference between 99.54% and 97.3% doesn’t seem like much until you
compare it to your expected loss rate per hour.

If you play at an average speed (600 hands per hour), you’ll be putting $3000
per hour into action on a dollar Jacks or Better game.

The house edge (the amount the casino expects to win on every hand on average
over time) is 0.46% on the 9/6 game. (It’s just 99.54% subtracted from 100%.)

If you lose 0.46% of $3000 every hour, your expected loss is $13.80.

That’s not a crazy amount of money to pay for an hour’s worth of
entertainment.

But if you lose 2.7% of $3000 per hour (which is the house edge for the 8/5
game), you’re looking at an average hourly loss of $81.

These small percentage points add up over time.

An average gambler might spend 4 days in Vegas and spend 4 hours a day
playing video poker. At these loss rates, we’re looking at an average loss per
trip of $220.80 versus $1296.

On the other hand, if you’re playing slot machines, you’re looking at lose 8%
or so per hour, or $240 per hour. Over 4 days, that’s a massive average loss of
$3840.

Why Jacks or Better Video Poker Is SO Important

Jacks or Better is the basis for all other video poker variations. Most video
poker variations are just Jacks or Better with a dramatic change to the pay
table or Jacks or Better with the addition of wild cards. Of course, when you
add wild cards, the pay table is adjusted based on the new likelihood of getting
stronger hands.

Jacks or Better Video Poker Strategy

You probably remember that we mentioned the importance of playing the game
correctly, right?

Below we offer some guidelines for playing the game correctly.

The first thing to understand is that if you have a pat hand made up of a 4
of a kind, straight flush, or royal flush, you won’t discard anything. You’ll
collect your winnings and move on to the next hand.

The next thing to understand is that if you have 4 cards to a royal flush,
you will always draw one card to try to hit that royal. The only exception is if
you have a pat straight flush.

You have the 9TJQK of spades. That’s a straight flush. You could discard the
9 of spades and hope to get the ace of spades, giving you the jackpot. But the
correct move is to collect your sure thing.

Here’s why:

The probability of filling the royal flush is about 2%. That pays off at 800
for 1, for an expected value of 16 units.

But you also have a 100% chance of getting a 50 for 1 payoff. That’s an
expected value of 50 units

You always go with the option that offers the better expected value.

The next set of pat hands consists of 3 of a kind, straight, flush, or full
house. If you’re dealt any of these hands, you’ll hang on to them unless you
also can draw to a royal flush.

Of course, if you have 3 of a kind or a full house, it’s impossible to have a
4-card draw to a royal flush.

But suppose you have a straight, and 4 of those cards are of the same suit.
You should break the straight to draw to the royal flush, but not to just any
straight flush. The payoff for the straight flush isn’t high enough to make up
for the long odds of getting dealt the straight flush.

The next best hand after all these is a 4-card straight flush draw. It’s
worth going for if none of the other hands we’ve mentioned are an option.

Two pair, is, of course, a hand you should hold. You’ll obviously discard the
singleton to try to upgrade to a full house. But even if you miss, you’re
getting a payout.

If you have a high pair, you’ll hold onto it and discard the other three
cards to try to upgrade to 3 of a kind or something even better. Even if you
miss, you’re still getting a payout.

That’s it for the decisions between pat hands and drawing hands that might be
better than a pat hand. Notice that a lot of times, you’ll break the high pair
to go for a straight flush or a royal flush.

The hands you hold, if you have nothing better, are in the following order:

1. Any open straight draw
   (4 cards)
2. Any 2 high cards of
   the same suit (You’re hoping for a high pair, flush, straight flush, or
   royal)
3. Any 3 cards to a
   straight flush.
4. Any 2 high cards that
   are NOT of the same suit.
5. J 10, Q 10, or K 10,
   of the same suit.
6. One high card.
7. Start all over.

That’s not a perfect strategy, but it’s a lot closer to optimal than most
beginners will do. If you go through the preceding information carefully, you’ll
realize that Jacks or Better strategy has a lot to do with comparing one option
over another.

Jacks or Better Pay Tables

Below I’ve listed some other common pay tables for Jacks or Better along with
the payback percentage for each:

8/6 Jacks or Better – 98.4%

8/5 Jacks or Better – 97.3%

7/5 Jacks or Better – 96.14%

6/5 Jacks or Better – 95%

Conclusion

Understanding Jacks or Better video poker is THE critical first step in
learning how to play video poker. It’s the most basic game, and most other games
are just variations of one kind or another. If you can find the right pay tables
(9/6) and play with close to optimal strategy, you can play one of the lowest
house edge games in the casino.

Video poker is one of the most successful and popular games ever invented. After 30 years, the original Jacks or Better variety is still a favorite, probably because the house edge is less than half of a percent! Video poker came about in the 1970s when Si Redd’s little company in Sparks, Nevada, introduced Draw Poker. The original game was slow and clunky, but as technology grew, so did SIRCOMA, and his company became today’s International Game Technology. Much of the company’s early success was due to video poker’s popularity.

Also, some video poker games are linked together and offer a progressive jackpot. A 25-cent machine pays $1,000 for a royal flush, but in the 1980s, with many machines linked together in bars and other locations, jackpots often rose to more than $2500. Popularity was sky-high. Over time, new variations of video poker like Joker Poker, Deuces Wild, and Double Bonus were introduced. Triple Play came along later with a player option to play three simultaneous hands on the same machine.

Through all the changes and competition, Jacks or Better has remained the original and most popular game. And there are good reasons for the player loyalty. To begin with, it’s a game that can offer a return of 99.5% to the player. That’s terrific. To get that pay-off, you’ll have to follow the optimal strategy I’ll show you later. Another advantage of Jacks or Better is that it offers lower volatility in payoffs than other video poker games. That makes a difference in your cash flow or bankroll. Games with other high payoffs like Deuces Wild and Double Double Bonus have sneaky ways of making those payoffs.

Video poker is based on the poker game of five-card draw, but it is unlike the card game, where there is a pot to strive for, and the best hand wins. In video poker, a player makes a wager, usually five coins, and is dealt five cards. They may hold any or all cards or discard as many as five cards and draw new ones. To win, the player must make a final hand of at least a pair of jacks. Payoffs are shown at the top of the video screen and following this introduction.

Any hand with three of a kind pays 3 for 1, regardless of whether you start with that hand or draw cards to make the final combination. A straight is any five cards in sequence, such as A-2-3-4-5 or 7-8-9-10-J. They can be of any mixed suit, and the payoff is 4 for 1. A hand such as 3-4-5-6 is called an open-ended straight since you can make your hand by catching a card on either end with a 2 or a 7.

A gut-shot or close-ended straight draw is a starting hand like 5-6-7-9. To make the straight, you’ll need to catch an 8. A flush is any five final cards of the same suit, such as 3-6-8-9-Q of clubs. Making a flush pays 6 for 1. The next-best hand is a full house. You’ll be paid 9 for 1 when you get three of a kind and a pair, such as 2-2-7-7-7. If you make a hand like 2-7-7-7-7, you’ll have quads. You’ll get paid 25 for 1 when you make four of a kind.

It doesn’t matter what the order of the cards is on a video poker screen. You’ll be paid the same, even if they are mixed up. However, occasionally you’ll find a casino that offers a bonus for a sequential royal flush. The payoff for a sequential royal flush is usually 10,000 for 1. I’ve seen super jackpots or 10k on machines at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, the Atlantis in Reno, and in the past at online sites like Bovada and Jackpot City. You may have to search around, but the added payoff sounds fun.

What you can expect for payout hands on a Jacks or Better 9/6 video poker machine:

This payoff table shows all the possible combinations of video poker. The table is based on 9/6 payout, meaning that you receive 9 coins back for each wagered on a full house and six coins back for each wagered on a flush. You’ll hit two pairs a huge amount of the time. And your payout for that hand will be nearly 26% of your total returned while playing. That helps reduce variance, as you will get a small winning amount back quite often, as compared to getting just even money on two pairs at other games.

Station Casinos has this pay table at many of their casinos, including Palms, Red Rock, Boulder Station, Palace Station, Sunset Station, Texas Station, and Santa Fe Station. They are out there! Keep in mind that although the game has a great payback, your “luck” will have a lot to do with your results. That doesn’t mean varying from the best strategy; it means that when you are playing any gambling game, especially one that has a high payoff jackpot like video poker at 4,000 coins, it can be a long time between big hits.

If you look back at the payback table, you’ll see that the amount you receive over hours and hours of play is dictated greatly by the pair and two-pair hands. And while the royal flush is only about 2% of your total return, it will be your savior and catch you up for a lot of losses along the way. That’s what creates a variance, so you will still have times when you seem to be running bad because you can’t make any decent payoffs.

My first piece of advice is to always look for the best pay tables. When you play Jacks or Better, you’ll find plenty of machines, from IGT Game King to Bally Game Maker, and other suppliers. But what you’ll find most of the time is a payoff that is lower than 9/6. That wouldn’t keep me from playing, but I’d play more often with the best odds, wouldn’t you? Most of these odds are better than playing a game like roulette or Three Card Poker, so video poker isn’t bad. Just keep in mind that you’ll get a lot more hands at the slots and video poker than at a table game.

Jacks Or Better Poker Machine

In fact, you can play quickly and get as many as 300 hands per hour at video poker. Because of this, the game can be as expensive to play per hour as games like roulette with a slower pace and a higher house edge.

9/5 Jacks or Better

In this game, the payoff for a flush is reduced from 6 to 5. The reduction results in a maximum payout to the player of 98.45%.

8/6 Jacks or Better

At 8/6 Jacks or Better, the payoff for a full house is reduced from 9 to 8. That takes the maximum payout to the player down to 98.39%.

8/5 Jacks or Better

This game reduces both the full house and the flush payoff. You’ll get 8 for a full house and just 5 for a flush. Your maximum payout then becomes 97.30%.

7/5 Jacks or Better

At 7/5 Jacks or Better, a full house pays 7 credits, and a flush pays 5 credits per coin wagered. The maximum payout to the player falls to 96.15%.

6/5 Jacks or Better

The 6/5 Jacks or Better payout is found in many casinos these days. It is even found at many online casinos where I think the payouts should be much higher. The maximum payout to players with this configuration is 95%.

Personally, I try to avoid both the 7/5 and 6/5 Jacks or Better games. I will play these games when they are attached to a progressive jackpot, which increases my percentage payback over the long term. The higher the jackpot, the better the payback. And the more likely I’ll vary my strategy to hit that royal flush. My second piece of advice is always to play the maximum number of coins it takes to hit either the 4,000-coin payoff for a royal flush or the maximum number of coins it takes to hit a progressive jackpot.

Also, that royal flush payoff is only 2% of the overall payoff a machine makes, but you’ll need it to keep your payback percentage high. If you don’t, you can expect to take that 2% off the overall payback. That’s on you.

There is a very good, easy strategy you can use in video poker in the beginner’s guide to video poker. However, if you want to get serious and follow the optimal strategy, it is listed below. Regardless of which strategy you follow, keep in mind that even full-pay Jacks or Better video poker machines hold a lot higher percentage than the .5% the optimal strategy offers. Why is that?

The answer lies again in the murky world of variance and what gamblers believe about luck and skill. Well, that and the fact that most players don’t play anywhere near the best they can. Bad play is costly. That’s the bottom line. Play on hunches, and you can expect Jacks or Better video poker to return about 92% to you. Play less than maximum coins, and the house edge comes closer to 10%. It’s fun, but winning is much better!

Here are a few examples where players make mistakes. The first has to do with a low pair below Jacks and a straight draw.

A Low Pair and a Straight Draw

Suppose you are dealt 4-4-5-6-7. Your pair of threes won’t pay a dime if you don’t improve, and you’ve got an open-ended straight draw. What should you do? According to our optimal strategy, a non-paying low pair (twos through tens) has a higher overall return than an open-ended straight. How can that be, you might ask?

The answer lies in the fact that while the straight will pay 4 coins (20 total) when it hits, you’ll only draw the card you need eight times out of the remaining 47 unseen cards. On the other hand, if you dump the 5-6-7 and draw to your pair of fours, you’ll make two pairs quite often. And you’ll be able to make trips, a full house, and the occasional four of a kind. When all those possible hands are averaged out, the correct decision of keeping the small pair will pay you almost 25% more than drawing at the straight.

This example is shown below by comparing #16, the low pair, to #21, the straight draw.

Jacks Or Better Poker Machine

A Low Pair and a Flush Draw

Now suppose you are dealt that same pair of fours with a four-card flush draw. Now, what’s the best strategy? To start with, a flush pays better than a straight, 6 coins to just 4. Plus, you’ll make a flush more often in the 47 tries outlined above. Instead of making your hand eight times, you’ll make it nine times.

Jacks Or Better Free Game

With those improved odds and payoffs, you’ll want to keep the flush draw and toss those measly fours. Check the list below, and you’ll see the flush draw is listed higher, at #14, compared to the low pair at #16.

Guaranteed Payoff Versus a Big Draw

Sometimes the payoff is more dramatic than making a straight. Suppose you get a guaranteed winner in the form of a pair of jacks. However, your total hand is the jack of hearts with a ten, jack, queen, and king of spades. Now you’ve got a four-card draw at a royal flush. Should you toss the guaranteed payoff of the pair of jacks or toss the jack of hearts and go for the big payoff?

If you have three cards to a royal flush with a high pair, you should go ahead and draw three to the pair. On the other hand, if you have a low pair and a royal flush draw, toss the little pair and draw to the big bucks. If these examples make sense to you, the optimal strategy shown below will too. You will always draw to the biggest hand possible from the highest listed hand on the list.

What the strategy above insists is that you see what you are dealt, find the highest part of it on the list, and play from there. In other words, if all you have is five unsuited, unconnected low cards, you discard them all and draw five new cards. The next-worst starting hand is three cards to a straight flush with two gaps (a double gut shot) and no high cards. That would be something like 2-4-6 of diamonds with an 8 and a 9. It’s not much better than a single high card and no straight or flush draw.

Jacks Or Better Poker Apps

The final note is that although you might not be able to find the perfect 9/6 machine, you can always enhance your return by joining the casino players club. Most large casinos in the US and Canada offer complimentary rooms, food, and beverages for players. In Las Vegas, most casinos comp at 1 point per $1 in action. 1,000 points equals $10. If you are playing 25-cent video poker, your comp total for an hour of play with 300 hands played will be about $3.75. If you find a good 9/6 Jacks or Better video poker machine with the standard 99.5% payback, you’ll get more than 100% payback with your comps. It doesn’t get much better than that!