Video Poker Strategy and Pay Tables
How to read a video poker pay table, why 9/6 and 8/5 machines differ by 2.2%, and the complete hold-priority strategy for Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild.
Video poker is the only machine on a casino floor whose exact return you can calculate before you insert money. The deck is 52 cards, the pay table is printed on the glass, and the game is fully solved.
Which means the important skill is not playing hands well. It is reading the glass.
The pay table is the game
Jacks or Better, per coin bet, five coins played:
| Hand | 9/6 (full pay) | 8/6 | 9/5 | 8/5 | 7/5 | 6/5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Full house | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Flush | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Straight | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Two pair | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Return | 99.54% | 98.39% | 98.45% | 97.30% | 96.15% | 95.00% |
Two lines change. The return moves 4.5%. Everything else on the machine — the cabinet, the sounds, the animation, the denomination — is identical.
The 9/6 machine costs $0.46 per $100 wagered. The 6/5 machine beside it costs $5.00. At 600 hands an hour on a $1 machine playing five coins, that is $13.80 an hour against $150.00 an hour.
Read the full house and flush lines before you sit down. That single check is worth more than every strategy refinement below it.
Always bet five coins
The royal flush pays 250 per coin for 1 through 4 coins, and 800 per coin for 5. That non-linear jump is worth roughly 1.4% of total return.
If five coins on a dollar machine is more than you want to bet, move to a quarter machine and bet five coins there. Never play short coin.
Jacks or Better — hold priority
Find the highest item on this list that your five cards contain, and hold exactly that. Discard everything else.
- Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind — pat, hold all five
- 4 to a royal flush
- Full house, flush, straight, three of a kind
- 4 to a straight flush
- Two pair
- High pair (jacks, queens, kings, aces)
- 3 to a royal flush
- 4 to a flush
- Low pair (twos through tens)
- 4 to an outside straight
- 2 suited high cards
- 3 to a straight flush
- 2 unsuited high cards — if you hold three, keep the lowest two
- Suited 10 + J, 10 + Q, or 10 + K
- One high card
- Discard all five
This list plays 9/6 Jacks or Better within about 0.05% of theoretical optimum. That is close enough that the remaining gap is smaller than the difference between two adjacent machines.
The decisions people get wrong
Break a flush or straight to draw at a royal. Item 2 sits above item 3 for a reason. Holding four to a royal and discarding a made flush is correct — the royal is worth 800 and you have an 1-in-47 shot at it.
Hold a low pair over four to a flush? No — item 8 beats item 9. Four to a flush is worth more than a pair of fives.
Hold a low pair over three to a royal? No. Item 7 beats item 9.
Never hold a kicker with a pair. Holding a pair plus an ace instead of a pair plus three draws is a common habit that costs real money on every occurrence. Draw three.
Never break a made high pair to draw at anything except a four-card royal.
Deuces Wild
All four deuces are wild. Full-pay Deuces returns 100.76% with optimal play — a positive-expectation game, and the reason the pay table is now uncommon.
| Hand | Full pay | Common short pay |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush (natural) | 800 | 800 |
| Four deuces | 200 | 200 |
| Wild royal | 25 | 25 |
| Five of a kind | 15 | 16 |
| Straight flush | 9 | 10 |
| Four of a kind | 5 | 4 |
| Full house | 3 | 4 |
| Flush | 2 | 3 |
| Straight | 2 | 2 |
| Three of a kind | 1 | 1 |
| Return | 100.76% | ~97.6% |
The line that matters is four of a kind. Full pay gives 5; almost every machine on a modern floor gives 4, and that one change costs over 3%. If four of a kind pays 4, you are playing a 97.6% game with a Deuces Wild sign on it.
Deuces strategy is genuinely different from Jacks or Better — there are no high-card holds, because a pair of jacks pays nothing. Count your deuces first, then play the rest of the hand by a deuce-specific chart.
What does not affect the outcome
- Speed of the draw button. The result is determined when the cards are dealt.
- Which cards you hold in what order.
- Playing “cold” or “hot” machines. Each hand is independent.
- The machine’s history with previous players.
- Progressive meters, except for the return. A royal-flush progressive raises the return in a calculable way; when it crosses the break-even point the game is positive, which is why serious players track meters and casual players do not.
Slot club and cashback
Video poker returns are high enough that comps and cashback are a meaningful fraction of the result. A 0.3% cashback rate on a 99.54% machine takes the effective return to 99.84%. On a 97.30% machine the same cashback is noise.
This is the cheapest way for a casual player to improve their result: find the best pay table in the building, always use the card, and always bet five coins.
Full comparison: house edge across every game.