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Video Poker Strategy

An introduction to basic video poker strategy for Jacks or Better.
What do you do if you're hankering for a game of poker but can't find anyone to play? You might try video poker! It takes the chance and risk-taking of poker and narrows it down to a you can play by yourself for as long or as short as you like! This article will teach you some of the basic strategy you need to dominate any video poker machine at any casino online.

For the most part, good video poker strategy is the same as good draw poker strategy, you want to play the odds that give you the best chance at a quality hand. The key factor in Video Poker is that you are working towards the best paying hand. In most common video poker machines, only hands containing a pair of Jacks or better will be paid, thus the popular name “Jacks or Better” video poker. So in this format, unlike regular poker, a pair of Jacks is infinitely better than a pair of tens.

The line between paying hands and non-paying is a very important one in video poker, and the times when you’ll want to throw away a paying hand are few and far between. There’s essentially one basic rule you should follow with regards to when you should throw away a paying hand.

Unless you have four cards to a straight flush, don't throw away a paying hand.

It’s a simple enough rule, and you shouldn’t have any trouble following it. There may be times when you have four to a straight or four to a flush when you think about throwing away a pair of jacks, but you just can’t afford to do this. The odds just aren’t worth giving up the sure thing.

Also, if you have just a pair in your hand, it can easily improve to two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind. In addition to being a paying a hand, a high pair is also a solid draw, so hold on to it!

For pairs belor the payout line, you have to start thinking of them as draws, just like a straight or a flush. It is just as likely as a higher pair to become two pair, three of a kind, or four of a kind, it just doesn’t have the benefit of still paying even if the hand doesn’t improve. This makes for the next important video poker strategy rule you should remember.

A pair is always better than 3 to a draw, but worse than 4 to a draw.

What this means is that any time you have four cards to any draw, whether it be flush, straight, or straight flush, it is better than a pair. However, when you only have 3 cards to a draw, keeping the pair is the right idea. This becomes a borderline decision when the three cards are sequential parts of a straight flush, but you will generally want to keep the pair unless it’s three cards to a royal flush.

A royal flush also creates certain shifts in the video poker strategies you should use. Depending on the machine and the casino, some video poker games offer a jackpot for players that hit the royal flush, and if this is the case, you should probably try to take advantage and definitely keep the three cards to the royal flush over a lower pair. When there's a jackpot involved, it pays to shoot big!

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