Video Poker Strategies

Video Poker is a great, enjoyable online casino game. Winning video poker depends partially on the luck of the draw, but it also depends a lot on following good video poker strategies.

Play Video Poker Online for Practice

If you intend to play video poker online, it is a good idea to play a few free rounds before committing your own bankroll. Most online casinos allow you to try out the games before actually playing for real money. It’s a good idea to take them up on this so you can become fully familiar with the video poker rules and comfortable with your video poker strategy before you make any real money bets.

Play Maximum Coins for Maximum Video Poker Jackpots

It is a good video poker strategy to always bet the maximum number of coins in order to be eligible for the top-paying jackpots. In Jacks Or Better, for example, if you bet 1 coin and get a royal flush, you win 250 coins. A payout of 250-to-1 is not bad, of course, but it could be better. If you bet 5 coins and get a royal flush, you win 4,000 coins, or a payout of 800-to-1. Now that’s a whole lot better. When you win at video poker, you naturally want to win big.

By the way, if you don’t want to bet so high, you can always decrease your coin size. Instead of betting one €5 coin, bet five €1 coins. The amount of your wager stays the same, but betting five coins makes you eligible for the 800-to-1 payout in online video poker.

Playing Your Video Poker Hand

The most important element in video poker strategy is deciding which cards to hold and which cards to trade in. Making the right decision often spells the difference between losing and winning at video poker. The decision is not always obvious, and it often entails making difficult tradeoffs. Let’s consider an example.

Suppose you are playing Jacks Or Better and you get a 10-jack-queen-king of clubs and a queen of diamonds. You must decide between keeping the four clubs or keeping the two queens. If you keep the two queens, you have a pair and you are certain of winning; trading in the other three cards could net you an even better win, such as three or four of a kind or a full house. On the other hand, if you keep the four clubs, then any 9 or ace will get you a straight, any clubs will get you a flush, and the ace of clubs will get you the dream hand of every poker player: a royal flush. It is also possible that you will draw neither a 9 nor an ace nor a clubs, in which case you lose the hand.

Now you see the dilemma. If you play one way, you are sure of winning at least “something.” If you play the other way, you might win nothing at all, but you could win the best hand that exists in video poker.

So how should you play your video poker hand? There is no absolutely right answer. It depends on your temperament, your bankroll, and your over-all goals in playing video poker. The important thing is to be aware of your options in Video Poker, understand the risks and rewards of each one, and make an intelligent and informed decision.

Try Progressive Jackpot Video Poker

To really try to maximize your online video poker winnings, try playing a progressive jackpot video poker game such as Jackpot Deuces or SupaJax. In a progressive online video poker game, the payout for the best combination is not a fixed amount. Instead, every time someone plays the game in any online casino, more money is added to the jackpot, without limit. The amount of the current jackpot is displayed on the screen; you can see the numbers spinning as the jackpot grows before your eyes. So if you want to play for the biggest jackpots available in video poker, play a progressive jackpot video poker game.

Play Online Video Poker and Have Fun

Keep these ideas in mind as you begin to play online video poker. Remember, of course, that you are playing to win, but also playing to have fun! No matter how good your video poker strategy, there will be times that you win at video poker and times that you lose. So keep a clear head, take your wins with good cheer and take your losses in stride, and have fun playing online video poker.