Why Play Video Poker?
Video Poker is a game that brick and mortar Casinos are surely grateful for every day, as Video Poker machines can be found everywhere; from the main bar in the middle of the playing floor to the restaurant table. It’s incredibly easy to access and people will happily play £10 or £20 whilst sitting, having a beer or waiting for their lunch to arrive. A genius invention for the Casinos, but even though they are machine only (there is no such thing as a live Video Poker game…hence ‘Video’ Poker…), the game does have a certain strategy which if adopted, can reduce the house edge to as low as 0.5%. There are numerous variations of Video Poker such as Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Aces & Faces, etc, but for the purpose of this strategy, we’ll focus on the most popular – Jacks or Better.
The first thing to remember is to always play the maximum number of coins – typically five. This is because the house edge is drastically reduced by playing the maximum bet. Some operators also offer a ‘Jackpot’ for hitting the best available hand which is only available when playing ‘Max Bet’.
The Wizard of Odds states that a player should always play for the best potential hand, based on the odds of the targeted outcome. This effectively means that if you have a high pair which is guaranteed to win, but also have four cards of the same suit, you should hold the four suited cards and aim for the flush. It is this strategy of aiming for the best possible hand that reduces the house edge. Have you ever wondered why a game ‘auto holds’ your paired hands? It’s because they want you to take the smaller payout and not gamble for the bigger one. Remember though, the odds of hitting that 5th card are not 1 in 4 as you already have 4 of the available suited cards showing, they are in actual fact slightly more than 1 in 5.
The double up bet is also a feature that most Video Poker Games offer. This feature actually has zero house edge – it is entirely random and no system can determine what card to present to the player. This is apparent when you get shown an Ace and you have no way of winning – only a true RNG could do this and the system is approved by licensing jurisdictions across the globe. Whether or not you play the Double feature is up to you. If you want to maximise your playing time then it is probably best to avoid. If you want to maximise the opportunity to win then it is a good way of doing this, as you are only ever risking your original stake.
Where can I play on Video Poker?
All of our awesome Online Casinos offer Video Poker. Remember, Video Poker is always an RNG game, meaning you will always be playing against a machine. You can’t play Live Video Poker, so don’t try to look for it! Try out Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and even more variations of Video Poker at these great Casinos.
