Video Poker Strategy 2026: Pay Tables, Holds & Best Variants

🕑 7 min read

Last updated: June 2026

Last verified 4 days ago (7 June 2026)

Video poker is the rare machine game with real skill, and real value. Play full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better with correct strategy and the return climbs to 99.54%, miles better than any slot. Two rules carry most of it: read the pay table and only play the good ones, and always bet max coins so a royal flush pays its full 800x. Get those right and your decisions actually matter. Here’s how video poker works, the strategy that lowers the edge, and the variants worth your time.

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How video poker works

Video poker is five-card draw against a pay table, no other players, no bluffing. You’re dealt five cards on the screen, you keep the ones you want and discard the rest, and the machine deals replacements for the ones you threw. Your final five-card hand is then paid out by rank, the better the poker hand, the bigger the payout. In the most common game, Jacks or Better, you need at least a pair of jacks to win anything, and it climbs from there to the royal flush at the top.

What makes it special is that one decision, which cards to hold, genuinely changes your odds. Unlike a slot, where you just press spin and hope, video poker rewards knowing the right hold for every hand. That’s why it draws a different crowd: patient players who treat it as a craft. The maths is fixed and known, the RTP is published in the pay table for anyone to read, and good play gets you very close to breaking even.

The pay table is everything

This is the part casinos hope you’ll skip, so don’t. Two Jacks or Better machines can sit side by side looking identical, yet pay completely differently, and the giveaway is two numbers: what they pay for a full house and a flush. A 9/6 machine, paying 9 coins for a full house and 6 for a flush, returns 99.54% with perfect play. An 8/5 machine, which looks the same at a glance, drops to about 97.3%. Same game, same strategy, a full percent and a half handed to the house for not reading.

So the first move at any video poker game, before you bet a cent, is to check the full house and flush payouts. Hunt for 9/6 on Jacks or Better, walk past anything worse, and you’ve already done more for your odds than any hold strategy will. The pay table is the single biggest lever you control, and it’s printed right there on the screen.

💡 Chip’s Tip

Always bet max coins, the full five. Here’s why it matters more than it looks: on most machines a royal flush pays 250 times your coin on bets of one to four, but jumps to 800 times when you play all five. That bonus on the top hand is baked into the published RTP, so betting short coins quietly drops your return below the number on the glass. If five coins a hand is too steep, drop to a lower denomination and still bet max. Never play four coins on a five-coin machine.

Basic video poker strategy

Once you’re on a good machine, the holds are the game. Serious players use a full strategy chart, and on Jacks or Better it is worth learning, but a handful of rules carry most of the value:

Keep any made paying hand, but break it to draw for a royal flush when you’re one card away. The royal is where the return hides.
Always hold a four-card flush or open-ended straight draw. The odds of completing it justify the hold.
Hold high cards over low ones. A lone jack, queen, king or ace is worth keeping; low cards that pay nothing are not.
Never hold a kicker. Keeping a high card alongside a pair just lowers your draw odds. Hold the pair, dump the rest.
Don’t hold three cards hoping for a straight or flush unless they’re high. The draw rarely pays off.

That covers the bulk of hands you’ll see. The full chart squeezes out the last fraction of a percent, and if you play a lot it’s worth the half hour to memorise. But even these basics, on a 9/6 machine, put you within a hair of even money, which no slot on earth can say.

🎲 Chip’s Vegas

I’ll tell you, when video poker hit the floor in the eighties it changed the place. Whole banks of machines, and a certain breed of regular who’d work one machine for ten hours with a coffee and a notepad, working the holds like a job. The sharp ones hunted down the full-pay 9/6 boxes and the old Deuces Wild machines that actually paid over a hundred percent if you played them perfect. The casinos figured it out and quietly tightened the pay tables, and that cat-and-mouse never really stopped. Those notepad fellas were the first advantage players I ever met. Respected every one of them.

The variants worth playing

Jacks or Better is the gold standard and where every beginner should start, simple, forgiving, and a near-99.5% return in full-pay form. From there, Deuces Wild is the one the sharps chase: all four 2s are wild, and a full-pay version can nudge just over 100% with flawless play, a genuine positive edge if you can find it and play it right. It’s harder to play correctly, though, so learn Jacks or Better first.

Then there’s the Bonus family, Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus, which dangle fat payouts for four-of-a-kinds. They’re fun and the big hands hit harder, but the trade-off is a lower base return and higher volatility, so your bankroll swings more. Worth a flutter once you know the basics. Whatever you pick, the rule never changes: check the pay table first. For where to play, see our best real money casinos guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best video poker game?

Full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better is the best starting point, returning 99.54% with correct strategy. Deuces Wild in its full-pay form can edge just over 100% but is harder to play perfectly. Whatever the game, the pay table decides its value, so always check the full house and flush payouts first.

What does 9/6 Jacks or Better mean?

It means the machine pays 9 coins for a full house and 6 for a flush, the full-pay version, returning 99.54% with perfect play. An 8/5 machine looks identical but pays less and returns about 97.3%. Reading those two numbers before you play is the most important habit in video poker.

Should I always bet max coins in video poker?

Yes. A royal flush pays 250 times your coin on one to four coins but 800 times on the full five, and that bonus is built into the published return. Betting fewer than five coins drops your RTP below the stated figure. If max is too pricey, lower the denomination and still bet five coins.

Is video poker better than slots?

On value, easily. A full-pay video poker machine returns over 99% with correct play, while a typical slot sits around 94 to 96% and offers no decisions. Video poker rewards skill, has a published pay table you can read, and gets you close to even money. It’s the thinking player’s machine game.

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