Game Rules

Video Poker

How the Game Is Played

To play a Video Poker machine, click the coin or bill slot and specify how many credits

you want to play with.You can add more credits at any time. The payoff scale for the

machine is shown in the lighted panel above the buttons and tells you how many coins

(credits) you receive for all possible winning hands. Typically, the winning hands in

Video Poker are the same type of hands you will find in a traditional Poker game, such

as a straight flush or four of a kind (see the section on Poker for more information

about winning hands).

 

You can bet anywhere from one to five credits at a time.You have two options in

betting:

1. Hit the bet one button for each credit you wish to bet.

2. Hit the bet max button to bet five credits.

 

When you bet five credits, the machine automatically deals you five cards. When you

bet less then five credits, you must hit the deal button to receive your first five cards.

Five cards appear on the screen after you hit the deal button. At this point you must

choose the cards you want to keep.You are allowed one re-deal, and one chance to

draw anywhere from zero to five new cards. Each card must be individually selected if

you wish to keep it.You can keep a card by selecting it, at which point the word held

shows up on the screen above the card. Cards marked by the word held will not be

replaced when you draw new cards.You can easily change your mind about keeping a

card by selecting it a second time. Make sure the held notation disappears when you

do so.

 

If you have a pat hand (five good cards), you can hit the hold all button to quickly mark

each card as held. Conversely, the discard all button unmarks each card.

 

When you’re ready to draw new cards, hit the deal button. The cards not marked by

the word held will be replaced, resulting in your final hand.

If you win, you accumulate credits. To collect your credit(s), hit the cash out button.

 

Strategies for Winning at Video Poker

A Video Poker machine generates piles of random numbers continually. When you hit

the right button, it stops generating numbers, turns the numbers into cards and

displays them onscreen. Some enthusiasts of Video Poker insist they can commune

with the machines during protracted playing sessions, kind of like Spock performing a

Vulcan mind-meld. Supposedly this helps them win. However, we are reluctant to say

you can beat Video Poker by utilizing any paranormal strategy.We prefer a more

earth-bound, mathematical means of maximizing returns.

 

Like Video Blackjack, you make the most important decision in Video Poker when you

pick your machine. Machine payouts differ, and thus your machine selection has a

significant impact on your long-term potential earnings. Video Poker machines in Hoyle

Casino vary from about a 93 percent return to 100 percent. To maximize your odds,

play the machines with the highest return. However, since you are not risking actual

money in Hoyle Casino, feel free to experiment with all the machines.

 

Before examining each machine in detail, it’s helpful to know the odds for obtaining the

various hands in Poker. The figures that follow are based on Jacks or Better games.

Because people play the games slightly differently, these figures are approximations.

 

Hand	Odds	Payoff
Royal flush	40,000+ to 1	1,000 to 1
(5 credits only)
Straight flush	9,200 to 1	50 to 1
Four of a kind	424 to 1	25 to 1
Full house	86 to 1	9 to 1
Flush	90 to 1	6 to 1
Straight	88 to 1	4 to 1
Three of a kind	13 to 1	3 to 1
Two pairs	7 to 1	2 to 1
Pair of jacks or better	4 to 1	1 to 1

 

A cursory glance at the above figures reveals a seeming imbalance. For example, your

odds of making a straight are 88 to 1, but the payoff is only 4 to 1.We also said there

is a machine with a 100 percent return in Hoyle Casino. This apparent contradiction is

easily explained: many of these odds are working simultaneously. Although your payoff

is small when you are going for one pair of jacks, you might also end up with two pair,

a full house, three of a kind, four of a kind, one pair of aces, or something else (even a

royal flush!). Thus, many of these odds are cumulative. The end result is that, on any

given hand, your chances of losing money on a Jacks or Better machine is only about

55 percent. At 55 percent, those are pretty good odds, especially considering that you can only lose five credits if you bet five credits. If you hit the royal flush, you’ll get 5,000 credits

back!

 

When we show the payoffs for the different machines, only the five credit payoffs will

be shown. This is because of a simple Video Poker truism–never play for less than full

credit! The reason for this is shown in following sample payoff chart for a Jacks or

Better machine.

 

Hand Credits:	1	2	3	4	5
Royal flush	250	500	750	1,000	5,000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	6	12	18	24	30
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pairs	2	4	6	8	10
Pair of jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

 

Read this chart, and you will see that payscale increases at a fixed rate as you move

from a one-credit to a five-credit game. For example, a flush pays five credits (coins)

on a one-credit play. It pays 25 (5x5) credits for a five-credit play.

 

The one glaring exception is the royal flush. This pays 250-1,000 credits on a one to

four-credit play but, 5,000 on a five-credit play. This is four times the expected rate and

is the Video Poker equivalent of a jackpot.You never want to play for less than full coin

(five credits), or you can’t truly hit the jackpot.

 

We will be studying the payoff scales for the various machines in the next section. Our

comments about the payoff scales are always based on the right-most column (the

five-credit column), since this is the only column you should ever play in Video Poker.

 

Jacks or Better

The Jacks or Better machines pay out 98 percent to 100 percent at the top end. Stick

to the best machines, and avoid anything that pays less than 96 percent. Expect an

even game when playing the Jacks or Better machines, with not as many extremes of

winning and losing streaks as you get with the Jokers and the Deuces machines.

 

1. Easy Money. Payoff: 100 percent. This machine is called a 9/6 Jacks or Better

machine. The 9/6 refers to the payoff for the full house (9 to 1) and the flush (6 to 1).

 

2. Jack’s Back. Payoff: 95.5 percent. This machine is called a 6/5 Jacks or Better

machine. The 6/5 means the full house pays 6 to 1, and the flush pays 5 to 1.

 

This machine appears nearly identical to the 9/6 machine at first glance; jacks or

better are required for a win, and the royal flush pays 5,000 (full coin). Comparing

this machine to the Easy- Money machine, we find a reduction in payoffs for the

full house (lowered from 45 to 30) and the flush (lowered from 30 to 25). These

reductions will be critical in the long run, making this machine a rather poor

investment.

 

3. Crawdad. Payoff: below 93 percent.

 

The royal flush is less profitable on Crawdad (its payoff of 2,500 for full coin is only

half what most Jacks or Better machines give you!), but this machine pays out big

credits for four of a kinds formed with face cards and aces. So, is it good machine?

 

No! The payoff is a mere 92.6 percent. One key factor is the reduction of the three of a

kind payoff to an abysmal 2 to 1. Three of a kind (like one pair and two pair) is one of

your bread-and-butter hands.You absolutely need these payoffs to extend your playing

time, to give you a chance to make the higher-scoring hands.

 

Hand Rankings for Jacks or Better Machines

Often, the choices you make in Video Poker are fairly obvious (i.e., no one dumps a

pair of queens in favor of three garbage cards). The critical decisions, however, are the

less obvious ones, such as when choosing between a high one pair and three cards to

a royal flush. Which cards should you keep? The following hands (dealt before the

draw) are ranked from highest to lowest in terms of scoring potential, starting with the

highest. What this means is that you always want to “protect” the hand that shows up

highest on the list and draw accordingly.

 

Hand rankings for 9/6 Jacks or Better machines are as follows:

1.	Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight (pat hand)
2.	Four cards to a royal flush
3.	Three of a kind
4.	Four cards to an outside straight flush
5.	Two pairs
6.	Four cards to an inside straight flush
7.	High pair (jacks or better)
8.	Three cards to a royal flush
9.	Four cards to a flush
10.	Four cards to an outside straight that include three cards ranked jack or higher
11.	Low pair (10s or lower)
12.	Four cards to an outside straight that do not include three cards ranked jack or higher
13.	Three cards to a straight flush, only one inside draw
14.	Two cards to a royal flush
15.	Three cards to a straight flush, two inside draws
16.	Four cards to an inside straight that include three cards ranked jack or higher
17.	One, two, or three cards ranked jack or higher
18.	Everything else: draw five new cards

 

Remember, these rankings reflect long-term potential winnings rather than immediate

gratification. This means that occasionally you may sacrifice a scoring hand in favor of

a hand with greater winning potential.

 

Notice also the value attributed to high cards (jacks through aces).You don’t want to

throw these out, as they have great winning potential. It is a victory even if you only

end up winning the five credits that you bet; it gives you one more chance to go for a

bigger win and the royal flush. Also, if you have two or three high cards in a potential

straight or flush, you can bump it up one level on the list.

 

Here are some examples of playing hands using the hand rankings chart:

1. You’re dealt a Q-J-10 of spades, a 10 of hearts, and a 2 of clubs. The 10-J-Q give

you three cards to a royal flush.You also have a pair of 10s. In the long run,

you’re better off discarding the low pair (ranked 11) and keeping the three cards

to a royal flush (ranked 8).

 

2. You’re starting hand is A-K-J-10-4, in different suits. The A-K-J-10 gives you four

cards to an inside straight, including three cards ranked jack or higher (16).

Keeping the inside straight beats out only keeping the three high cards (17).

Inside straights without three high cards don’t even make the rankings, and

shouldn’t be kept.

 

3. You are dealt a Q-J-10-9 of spades and the queen of diamonds.You have a pair of

queens and four cards to a straight flush. By all means, sacrifice your scoring queens

(7) for the outside straight flush (4). Even though you trade in a winning pair of

queens, you don’t often get a better shot at the mini-jackpot paid for a straight flush.

 

Deuces Wild

Some Deuces Wild machines offer great winning potential. Naturally, with four wild

cards, the minimum winning hand is going to change; expect Deuces Wild machines to

display three of a kind as a minimum hand. Expect a roller coaster ride of great

winning streaks sandwiched between losing streaks.

 

When playing Deuces Wild machines, make sure you never discard your 2s; it’s easy

to forget how valuable they are.

 

1. Wild Country. Payoff: below 94 percent.

 

2. Born To Be Wild. Payoff: below 95 percent.

These machines, characterized by a low return on the full house, seldom produce

winners. The exception is the progressive machines, which have a variable Jackpot

(for the royal flush) that can get very high, and may have a return over 100 percent.

 

3. Wild Thing. Payoff: below 96 percent.

This machine offers 1,000 credits for the four deuces, which will push up the

payoff to approximately 97 percent.

 

4. Wild Party. Payoff: 99 percent. In addition to the four deuces, a wild joker is also

included with this game.

 

At a 99 percent return rate, you can expect to do fairly well at Wild Party. Not many

other games offer better odds.

The correct strategies for deuces wild machines change depending on the payoff

scale, but following are the hand rankings for the Wild Party machine, the “wild” Video

 

Poker machine with the highest return in Hoyle Casino:

Non-Wild Card Hands

1. Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight (pat hand)

2. Four cards to a royal flush

3. Four of a kind

4. Three of a kind

5. Four cards to a straight flush

6. Three cards to a royal flush

7. Four cards to a flush

8. Two pairs

9. Three cards to a straight flush

10. One pair

11. Four cards to a straight

12. All other hands: draw five new cards

 

Wild Card Hands

1. Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight (pat hand)

2. Four deuces

3. Three deuces and a joker

4. Three deuces with no other help

5. Two deuces and a joker with no other help

6. Four of a kind with one or two wild cards

7. Four cards to a royal flush with one or two wild cards

8. Two deuces with no other help

9. One deuce and the joker with no other help

10. Four cards to a straight flush with one wild card

11. Three of a kind with one wild card

12. Three cards to a royal flush with one wild card

13. Four cards to a straight with one wild card

14. Four cards to a flush with one wild card

15. Three cards to a straight flush with one wild card

16. One wild card with no other help

 

You need big hands in Deuces Wild. Discard all five cards if you get anything that does

not appear on the above list. For example, don’t bother keeping four cards to an inside

straight; due to the prevalence of wild cards, you’re usually be better off taking five

new cards. Likewise, three cards to a straight and three cards to a flush is not worth

keeping. Discard all five in this situation.

 

Tens or Better

Some of the earliest Video Poker machines are Tens or Better machines. They are

usually some of the worst Video Poker machines in the casino, although it’s possible to

find some wheat among the chaff. A few machines may offer close to a 100 percent

return, but most are in the 90-95 percent range.

 

1. A-10 Shun. Payoff: 99.1 percent. This is one of the best 10s- or-Better machines

you will find.

You can expect the payoffs for a Tens or Better machine to be lower than the Jacks or

Better machine. This is natural, since a lower hand (one pair of 10s) brings a win in

the Tens or Better machines.

 

2. Hang Ten. Payoff: below 95 percent.

Comparing this machine to the preceding machine, you find a deceptively higher payoff

for the full house (45 credits) and straight (30 credits). However, the reduction of a two

pair to a five-credit pay-off erases the benefit you might have derived otherwise. The

result is that the Hang-Ten machine occupies the video “cellar” in terms of its return rate.

 

Here are the hand rankings for a Tens or Better machine with the A-10 Shun payoff scale:

1. Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight (pat hand)

2. Four cards to a royal flush

3. Three of a kind

4. Four cards to a straight flush

5. Two pairs

6. High pair (10s or better)

7. Three cards to a royal flush

8. Four cards to a flush

9. Four cards to a straight with a jack, queen or king high

10. Low pair (9s or lower)

11. Three cards to a straight flush with a 10 or jack high

12. Four cards to a straight

13. Two cards to a royal flush with jack, queen or king high

14. Four cards to an ace-high inside straight

15. Three cards to a straight flush

16. One, two, or three high cards

17. All other hands: draw five new cards

Tens or Better machines are played much like Jacks or Better machines. High cards,

however, now include 10s. Low cards are anything below a 10.

 

Multi-Hand Video Poker

Take the popularity of Video Poker and multiply it by fifty. What do you get? Multi-Hand

Video Poker, of course–one of the hottest casino games around. It plays just like

regular Video Poker, except you can play up to fifty hands at once! This is not as

overwhelming as it may sound. Really, you are playing one hand of Video Poker, but

getting up to 50 different results on the draw.

 

To play, first choose the number of hands you wish to play by clicking one of the

numbers across the bottom of the Video Poker screen: 1, 5, 10, 25, or 50. Then, place

a bet and click the Deal button. Clicking Bet Max will play as many credits as you can

afford for every hand you chose to play. The maximum bet is 250 credits, five credits

for each of 50 hands.

 

After you click Deal, you are presented with one large, face-up five card hand.You now

have the option to exchange cards, just like in regular Video Poker. Any additional

hands you are playing appear as small, face-down hands above the main hand. They

contain the same five cards as the main hand, and any cards you hold in the main

hand are held for each extra hand as well.

 

When you are ready to draw new cards, click the Deal button. A random set of

replacement cards is drawn for each hand, as if you played the same starting hand

many times in a row. As the final hands are revealed, your winning hands are tallied to

the left and right of the main hand. Each winning hand has a color-coded outline

representing the type of hand it is. Rolling the cursor over any of the small-sized hands

pops up an enlarged version of it for easier viewing.

 

Video Poker Strategy Highlights

·   Video Poker is not regular Poker! You are not trying to beat someone else’s hand, you are trying to make the highest ranking hands possible for this biggest payouts.

·   Play a machine with a high return rate, based on comparing the pay scales of different machines.

·   Learn the hand rankings discussed in this chapter for a certain type of machine (Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, or Tens or Better). Then, stick to playing that kind of machine. Knowing what hand to go for (Do I keep the two queens or go for the straight flush?) is critical to Video Poker success, and changes from machine type to machine type.

·   Always play maximum coin to minimize the house edge. If you play a quarter machine with a five-coin max, think of it as a $1.25 machine.

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