Video Poker Lessons
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The Wizard's Simple Strategy
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Remember that if you use this strategy for anything other than 9/6 Jacks or Better you're playing wrong, and that will cost you!
Let's go through some examples.
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The minimum hand you need to win is a pair of Jacks. So in this hand we'll hold the Jack, hoping that we'll draw another Jack. We hold the Jack by tapping the picture of the Jack on the screen, or pressing the corresponding button just below the screen. Then we'll tap the DRAW button to get four new cards, hoping that one of them is a Jack to match the Jack we held.
We could get even luckier. We might draw two more Jacks, and then we have a Three of a Kind. Or three more Jacks, and then we have a Four of a Kind. But those are unlikely; our most likely win would be a draw just one more Jack to make a pair of Jacks.
Okay, so how did we know that this was the proper play? Simple: We looked it up on the strategy list above. "One high card", #15, was the best hand we had on that list.
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This is similar to the previous hand. There's one high card -- a queen -- so that's what we'll hold.
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Oh boy, we have two high cards! We'll hold both of them, because then we can make a pair by drawing either a Jack or a Queen. True, we're only gonna get three more cards for a potential match rather than four this way, but our odds are still better for making our pair. We might also get a full house if we're lucky.
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Wow, three high cards! Well, hold your horses there, cowboy. We don't hold all three. That's because if we did then it would be impossible to get a full house. When we have three unsuited high cards, we'll take the lowest two -- in this case the Jack and the Queen. This is #13 on our list above.
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Three more high cards. But there's a big difference vs. last time: This time two of them are the same suit. When you have multiple high cards you hold the ones of the same suit, because they can turn into a Royal Flush, which is the jackpot. So in this case we hold the Jack and the Ace. This is #11 on our list above.
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Let's mix it up a little with a hand very different from the rest. I hope this one is easy for you. You have three 5's. This is a winning, paying hand, even before you draw for replacements! Hold the three 5's, and hope you're dealt another 5 for Four of a Kind.
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This isn't quite as good as our previous hand. We have a pair of 5's, but by themselves it's not enough to win. We'll hold the pair and hope to get another 5 to make a Three of a Kind. This is play #9 on our list.
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Here we have four to an outside straight -- 5, 6, 7, 8. Either a 4 or a 9 will turn it into a straight. We hold the four to an outside straight and draw a replacement for our useless 2.
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This is an inside straight -- 4, 5, 7, 8. There's a gap in the middle. Remember that we never draw to an inside straight with Jacks or Better.
So what do we hold here? Nothing. We don't have even the minimum hand in our strategy list. So we just draw five new cards. This isn't an uncommon occurrence -- you'll often get just plain bad hands where you have to throw the whole thing away.
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At first glance this might look like a junk hand, but look closer. Four cards are the same suit -- we have four to a flush. That's what we hold, throwing away the 5. This is play #8 on our list.
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Another seemingly-junk hand, but not. We have three to a straight flush -- the 5, 6, and 9, which is what we hold. We know that we'll never draw to an inside straight, but this is different because we're drawing to a straight flush. Take a look at the paytable and see how hefty a payout we'd get if we made the straight flush.
We probably won't make the straight flush, but all the occasional times with a hand like this that we turn it into a regular flush, regular straight, or three of a kind -- along with the infrequent straight flush -- make holding the three to a straight flush a better play than throwing everything away and hoping for a miracle from five brand-new cards.
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Here we have two choices: Hold the four to an outside straight and go for the straight, or hold the two 7's and go for a three of a kind or four of a kind. What to do?
Here's where our strategy list comes in. Notice that a low pair is #9, while four to an outside straight is #10. The low pair is higher, so we hold the pair. In fact, you almost always hold pairs in Jacks or Better. We'll discuss exceptions below, but in general, always lunge for a pair, and then do a quick check to see if you have anything better, since you probably won't.
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Here's one of those cases where something beats a pair. Namely, four to a flush. We'll hold those four cards and go for the flush.
Here's the way to remember it: A pair beats a would-be straight, but not a would-be flush.
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Another toss-up. Do we go with the pair or with the high cards? Remember what we said earlier: Always lunge for the pair. In this case we hold the pair. It's #9 on our list, vs. #11 for the two suited high cards.
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Overload! Decisions, decisions. Our possibilities are to:
- Go for the straight (10, J, Q, K)
- Go with the high pair (K, K)
- Go with the three to a royal flush (10, J, Q)
No popups, no download, no
registration, no B.S., just the game. One click and
you're in.
Strategy list to the rescue. The high pair
wins at #6 (vs. #7 for the three to a Royal, and #10 for the
four to an outside straight.)
Bodog
More Resources
Other websites have covered video poker in depth, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel here. Let me just refer you to the best websites on the subject.
Practice video poker. Bodog has video poker games that you can play with fake money. They work on both PC's and Macs, too.
The Wizard of Odds. The wizard has come up with simplified strategies that are very easy to play and remember, and which work almost as well as professional strategies. He's also got a bunch of other useful stuff on video poker.
Jeff Lotspiech's Video Poker. Strategies, risk of ruin calculator, practice on the web, more.
Skip Hughes VP. One of the video poker columnists for Casino Player magazine, so you know he knows his stuff. Good articles and lessons on VP.
See also how to play:
| a d v e r t i s e m e n t s |
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Online Casino Guide |
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Free Casino Bonuses |
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Online Gambling Guide |
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Top 25 Online Casinos |
Since my mission is to help the novice
gambler, I looked hard for a site that would make
it easy for you to practice the games.
And I found it with Bodog. Here's what I mean by easy: I know that some players will want to
practice with real money, so I also made sure
that the casino I picked is good for real-money
play too. Here's why I selected Bodog over the
others: Bodog also gives you free chips: Every time you
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account. Bottom line: I picked Bodog because it
was the best one I could find.
