Video Poker FAQs
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What is the main difference between video poker and slot machines? |
A slot machine is a game of luck and video poker is a game of skill. When you play a slot machine there is no decision you can make which will affect the outcome of the game. You put in your money; pull the handle; and hope for the best. In video poker, however, it is your skill in playing the cards, which definitely affects the outcome of the game. |
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What is the other major difference between video poker and slot machines? |
You never know what percentage a slot machine is set to pay back, but you can tell a video poker machine’s payback percentage just by looking at it. And video poker machines almost always offer you better returns than slot machines (provided you make the right playing decisions). |
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Are the cards dealt on a random basis? |
Gaming regulations require that gaming devices must have random outcomes of game play results. In order to satisfy this requirement, games of all types use a random number generator (RNG) software algorithm to determine game outcome. While the game is in the idle state, i.e. waiting for someone to deposit a coin or push a play credit button, the RNG algorithm is called hundreds of times every second. The RNG has approximately 16,000,000,000,000,000,000 (16 quintillion) possible outcomes and, depending on the game type, there will be many billions of outcomes that map into any set of cards, or keno balls, or slot machine symbols. This ensures that all IGT games are completely random, just as if the cards were dealt from a perfectly shuffled deck. |
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When does the shuffling actually stop? |
On all game types, when the start, deal or bet button is pushed, the randomly selected outcome is determined. This result is determined solely by the RNG and is not dependent on any factors of game play, such as how many coins are bet, or on what happened in the last game played or on how many seconds you wait before deciding what cards to draw. |
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Is there a draw card assigned to each dealt card? |
No, the first five cards dealt are displayed and additional cards are taken from the top of the deck as needed. So, if you discard one card it doesn’t matter which card you discard, the draw card will be the same. |
Jacks or Better (Draw
Poker)
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Tips Best full-pay: 9 coins for full-house, 6 coins for a flush as designated under one coin line. AKA-9/6 See pay schedule charts. |
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Pay-out with optimum play: 99.5% 8/5 Jacks+ pay 8 coins for full-house and 5 coins for a flush: 5% less payout than 9/6's. |
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If you don't play maximum coins on a VP quarter version, the return for hitting a Royal Flush is 250 coins = $67.50, but play nickels at max = 25˘ per hand and a Royal Flush pays 4000 coins = $200, better wager management play. |
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PRACTICE! |
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The actual frequency for winning hands, following a deal and draw, are as follows:
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Jacks or Better Strategy (other VP games) To use the following chart, look at the hand that you are dealt. Start at the top of the chart, look down until you come to that hand. The hand closet to the top of the chart is the correct play. The color-coding of the hands make it easier to see the objective of the correct play. The colors and abbreviations are as follows: Red for Royal Flush
(RF) Blue for Straight
Flush (STFL) Pink for Flushes Green for Pairs,
Full House (FH), 4-of-a-kind and 3-of-a-kind Brown for Straight (ST) The small letter (s) that means the cards is the same suit. Example, QJs would be the Queen and Jack of the same suit. Example Jacks or Better strategy: You are dealt the following hand: 3 of hearts, 9 of hearts, 3 of clubs, and 6 of hearts and Queen of hearts. You have a low pair but you also have a four-card flush. Looking at the chart you see that the four-card flush is closer to the top of the chart than the low pair. The four-card flush is your correct play. |
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Right click to down load Pilot Version of this table (VideoPoker.PRC) |
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800.0000 |
Pat Royal |
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50.0000 |
Pat Straight Flush |
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25.0000 |
Pat Four of a Kind |
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18.4255 |
4 Royal |
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9.0000 |
Pat Full House |
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6.0000 |
Pat Flush |
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4.3080 |
Three of a Kind |
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4.0000 |
Pat Straight |
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3.4282 |
4 STFL, Open, 2345s-9TJQs |
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2.5957 |
Two Pair |
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2.2307 |
4 STFL, Inside |
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1.5405 |
High Pair JJ-AA |
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1.3201 |
3 Royal |
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1.2447 |
4 Flush |
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0.8723 |
TJQK |
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0.8237 |
Low Pair 22-TT |
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0.7979 |
9TJQ |
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0.7447 |
89TJ |
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0.7280 |
QJ9s |
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0.7216 |
JT9s |
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0.6809 |
4 ST, Open, 2345-789T |
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0.6300 |
3 STFL, Open, 345s-89Ts |
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0.6253 |
KQ9s, KJ9s, QJ8s |
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0.6096 |
QT9s, JT8s, J98s |
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0.6079 |
QJs |
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0.5938 |
AKQJ |
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0.5858 |
KQs, KJs |
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0.5774 |
AKs, AQs, AJs |
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0.5319 |
4 ST, Inside, 3 Hi Cards |
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0.5318 |
3 STFL, 2 Gaps, 1 Hi |
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0.5260 |
3 STFL, 1 Gap, 0 Hi, +234s |
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0.5153 |
KQJ |
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0.5059 |
QJ |
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0.5008 |
JTs |
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0.4901 |
KQ, KJ |
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0.4804 |
QTs |
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0.4783 |
AK, AQ, AJ |
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0.4749 |
KTs |
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0.4742 |
Jack |
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0.4704 |
Queen |
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0.4682 |
King |
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0.4622 |
Ace |
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0.4376 |
3 STFL, 2 Gaps, 0 Hi |
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0.3598 |
Redraw |
Video Poker Jacks or
Better Pay Schedules
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Machine |
9/6 |
8/5 |
6/5 |
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Royal Flush |
250/4000 |
250/4000 |
250/4000 |
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Straight Flush |
50 |
50 |
50 |
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4 of-a -kind |
25 |
25 |
25 |
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Full House |
9 |
8 |
6 |
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Flush |
6 |
5 |
5 |
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Straight |
4 |
4 |
4 |
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3 of-a-kind |
3 |
3 |
3 |
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2 Pairs |
2 |
2 |
2 |
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Jacks |
1 |
1 |
1 |
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Return |
99.5 |
97.3 |
95 |
Other Video Poker Machines
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Deuces Wild |
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Double Bonus Poker |
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Joker Wild (Kings or Better) |
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Bonus Deuces |
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Loose Deuces |
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Deuces Deluxe |
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All-American Poker |
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VPSM Double Bonus Strategy |
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800.0000 Pat Royal |
