Basic Video Poker Strategy

In addition to the player understanding the basics of 5-card draw they must understand there are differences between live poker and video poker. For example, with video poker players need not concern themselves with bluffing, keeping what is called a “kicker” (holding an extra card in order to hide that the player discarding cards has a pair), and a 3-of-a-kind is the same in video poker regardless of its card ranking of a 3, 8, or even a King. The player receives the same payout for any pair.

In relation to 5 Card Draw it is important to know the odds of receiving a particular hand from the original drawing. This will give you an understanding of what is achievable when striving for a particular hand.

Rankings of Hands

Original dealt Hand Odds of Receiving a Hand
Royal Flush 1 in 665,000
Straight Flush 1 in 73,000
Four of a kind 1 in 4200
Full House 1 in 700
Flush 1 in 500
Straight 1 in 250
Three of a kind 1 in 50
Two Pair 1 in 21
High Pair 1 in 8
Low Pair 1 in 3
No Pair 1 in 2

Frequency of Hands

Hand Payout Frequency
Royal Flush 4,000 1 in 40,390
Straight Flush 250 1 in 9,148
Four of a kind 125 1 in 423
Full House 45 1 in 86
Flush 30 1 in 90
Straight 20 1 in 89
Three of a kind 15 1 in 13
Two Pair 10 1 in 7
Jacks or Better 5 1 in 4

Therefore, with an understanding of the above odds the player can determine the correct decision of how to play the hand originally drawn.

Basic Strategy

Initial Hand Decision
4 of a kind draw none
4 card royal draw 1
Full House draw none
Flush draw none
3 of a kind draw 2
4 card straight flush draw 1
Straight draw none
2 Pair draw 1
Pair (Jacks or Better) draw 3
3 card royal draw 3
4 card flush draw 1
Low Pair draw 3
4 card straight draw 1
3 card straight flush draw 2
2 card royal(10, no ace draw 3
1 high card (J,Q,K,A) draw 4
Mixed low cards draw 5

It is important that the player understands how a machines payout schedule affects the odds of the player. This is crucial to succeeding at video poker. The payout schedule should consist of at least these minimum components.

video poker pay scale

Looking at the first column for betting 1 unit this should read:

a.) returns of the players original bet for a pair of Jacks or better

b.) A payout of 9 units for a full house and 6 units for a flush. This is called a Jacks or better 9/6 and has a higher payout than an 8/5 or 7/5 etc.

c.) A non-progressive machine that pays out at least 4000 units for a royal flush if the maximum coins are played.

The following are the odds between the different machines relating to their payout schedules.

Odds of different machines

Machine Payout
10/7 (double bonus) 100.2%
9/7 100.7%
9/6 99.5%
8/5 97.3
7/5 96.3%
6/5 95.2%

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Filed under Micellaneous by Syntium Interactive.
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