Jacks Are Better Video Poker
- Draw Poker Jacks Or Better
- Video Poker Odds Jacks Or Better
- Free Video Poker Jacks Are Better
- Jacks Or Better Video Poker Strategy
- Video poker is a great combination of two of the most popular games - slots and poker. Poker is a game which is loved by millions of players and thus video poker has also become quite a huge hit. Most love is given to Jacks or Better video poker as this games offers the.
- How to Win at Jacks or Better Video Poker Discard the fifth card whenever you have four cards to a Royal Flush, even if that card gives you a Pair or a Flush. Three of a Kind, a Flush, a High Pair, and a Straight all outrank three to a Royal Flush. Play three to Royal Flush when. Keep a High Pair.
With the advent of internet technology, the game has now gone digital and video poker is currently one of the most popular online games played online around the world. Poker is usually played with a full deck, each player receiving a hand of five cards. Many variants of the original game exist. One of the most common of these is calledJacks or Better. In this version, normal poker hand ranks apply, but only winning hands of a pair of Jacks, or better. BE OBSERVANT – MAKE SURE YOU FIND A TRUE FULL-PAY JACKS OR BETTER GAME.
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.
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.
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.
Draw Poker Jacks Or Better
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:
| Coins/Hands | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000* |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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:
- Any open straight draw
(4 cards) - Any 2 high cards of
the same suit (You’re hoping for a high pair, flush, straight flush, or
royal) - Any 3 cards to a
straight flush. - Any 2 high cards that
are NOT of the same suit. - J 10, Q 10, or K 10,
of the same suit. - One high card.
- 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%
| Coins/Hands | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000* |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 8 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Video Poker Odds Jacks Or Better
8/5 Jacks or Better – 97.3%
| Coins/Hands | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000* |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 8 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Flush | 5 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
7/5 Jacks or Better – 96.14%
| Coins/Hands | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000* |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 7 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Flush | 5 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
6/5 Jacks or Better – 95%
| Coins/Hands | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000* |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| 4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 6 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Flush | 5 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| 3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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.
Table Of Contents
- This article is for those who don't know how to play Jacks or Better video Poker
- Read the best Jacks or Better strategy tips before you play real money games
Today, I am going to share some useful Jacks or Better video poker strategy tips that will help you increase your win rate and enjoy more this exciting casino game.
Did you know that video poker has the highest payout percentage of all casino games?
While the house edge for typical casino games varies between 90 and 97 percent, video poker can offer up to 99.54 percent.
But only if you know what you're doing.
And for that, you need a good video poker strategy.
In this article, we will delve into my favorite variation of video poker - Jacks or Better (Draw Poker). I like it because of how simple and straightforward the game is.
(Another great game to play is Deuces Wild, but we'll keep that to another article.)
To play successfully (aka. to win), a sound Jacks or Better strategy is a must.
That's why today you are going to find out a few important things like:
- how to reduce the house edge
- how to make the best out of the cards you get
- how to maximize your chances to win
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The Importance of Poker Hands at Jacks or Better Strategy
If you want to become good at Jacks or Better video poker, you need to understand its card combinations.
It comes without saying that you must know the basic video poker rules for a solid start, and I recommend this article for that.
Now, let's check out the possible poker hands that result in winnings.
- Royal Flush. It can't get any better than that. This hand has to include these cards: . Most games don't require them to be consecutive. All cards must be in the same suit.
- Straight Flush. Five consecutive cards from the same suit. Example:.
- Four of a Kind. Nothing complicated here: four cards of the same value. Example: .
- Full House. You collect Full House when you receive five cards that are comprised of one pair and three of a kind. Example: .
- Flush. Five cards of the same suit. Example:
- Straight. Five cards that form a consecutive sequence. The suits are mixed.
- Three of a Kind. You get Three of a Kind when you receive three cards of the same value. Example: .
- Two Pair. Two pairs of two cards of the same value. Example: .
- Jacks or Better. The easiest one to collect, this combination includes only one pair of jacks or a higher value. Example:
Suit abbreviations:
Spades (s)
Hearts (h)
Diamonds (d)
Clubs (c)
Don't worry if you can't remember them all - these video Poker machines online include a table with the winning combinations and payouts.
And if you really want to go deeper on the subjects, here's the most complete poker hands chart on the internet.
The most important thing is to choose the casinos with the highest payment possibilities.
Tip: If a game has full payouts, it should pay two times your bet for Two Pairs.
How to Actually Play Jacks or Better Poker
If you've ever played Jacks or Better, you know that this is a casino game that depends on both luck and your choices - a characteristic, this one, that is common to all online poker machines.
It goes like this:
You get five cards and must choose the ones that you want to keep for the next round. You click 'deal', and get your final combination.
The problem is:
Which cards should you hold?
Luckily, this choice is not as difficult as it might seem. Below, I prepared an easy Jacks or Better strategy for beginners that you should use when dealing with your cards.
Jacks or Better Strategy Made Easy
Here are the main tips for a basic Jacks or Better poker strategy:
- When you have four cards to a Straight or a Flush, hold all four of them and draw only one additional card.
- When you have three cards to a Royal Flush, keep them! Draw two additional cards and you might be lucky.
- Need only two more cards for a Straight Flush? Hold the three lucky cards you have and draw two more.
- When you get a pair of cards, hold them and draw three additional cards. However, this tip is not always applicable.
- If you have no matching cards in your hand, hold a card that is higher or equal of value to Jacks.
- No combinations and no Jacks or higher? Draw five new cards.
The Problem of Low Pair Vs. High Pair
A couple of the main questions that most video poker players have are as follows:
When is it best to hold a low pair?
When should I hold a high pair?
Let's take a look at what you should do in different situations.
Jacks or Better Poker Strategy: Low Pair
Usually, I suggest you keep all the low pairs you receive. However, there are certain situations when it's better to skip them.
Free Video Poker Jacks Are Better
This is when you should keep a low pair:
Jacks Or Better Video Poker Strategy
- When you have four to a Straight, always keep the pair that you got. Example: 55678. In this case, hold 55 and discard 678.
- When you have three to a Straight Flush, keep the low pair. Example: 3h4h5h5s9c. Hold 5h and 5s.
- When you have a low pair and two cards that could result in a Royal Flush… you should still hold the low pair! Example: 6s6h2cKhAh. Hold 6s and 6h and discard the rest.
Here are the cases when you should discard your low pair:
- When you have three to a Royal Flush. The probability to get the best outcome is simply too high to keep the low pair. Example: 2sJhJsQsKs
- In case you have four to a Flush, break that low pair! Example: 5d5h8d9dQd
Jacks or Better Game Strategy: High Pair
The crucial difference between a low pair and a high pair in video poker is that the latter is a guaranteed win.
However, there will be certain situations when you'll think that you need to break the pair for a bigger win.
BUT - a seemingly right decision can cost you your bet.
Here are the cases when you have to keep your high poker pair no matter what.
Note: A high pair consists of two cards of the same value (Jacks or higher).
- If you have four to a Flush and a high pair, hold the pair and draw three other cards. When an identical situation occurs with a low pair in hand, you should break it.
- When you have four to a Straight, keep your high pair to have a higher chance to win.
- If you have three to a Royal Flush, it is still better to hold the pair! The odds to get a Royal Flush are not high enough in this case.
- It's more beneficial to keep the high pair when you have three to a Straight Flush. Over time, this will produce better results.
On the contrary, there is one case when you should break your high pay in Jacks or Better poker game:
- When you have four to a Royal Flush. In this situation, it would be a waste not to do it as the odds are simply too high for that sweet winning sequence!
Note: As soon as you decide to use a video poker game strategy, stick to it. Whether you play online or at a land-based casino, discipline is your truest friend when it comes to beating Jacks or Better.
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