Basic Strategy Wins It In Jacks or Better

Video poker is a skill game that can be beaten by combining strategy and mathematics. The most important piece of data that you need to find out when looking at the payout table is the cost of winning a Full House against a Flush.

For seasoned video poker players, beating a 9/6 machine, which pays out 9 coins for a Full House and 6 coins for a Flush, is likely by utilizing the perfect basic strategy. Deuces and Wild is another machine that provides huge payouts when playing video poker. This fact was proven by computer modeling results.

In other machines, it is not possible to win even if one utilizes the best video poker strategy. There are fixed rules that define the basic strategy used in video poker whether you are playing on the Internet or in a land-based casino.

Nevertheless, here are some guidelines on how you can win in Jacks or Better.

• Unless your hand has a winning combination, hold on to your Jack.

• If your hand has a single card that is higher than a Jack, hold on to that card and then discard the remaining cards so that you can replace them with new ones.

• In hands consisting of a pair that has a lower value than a Jack, maintain the pair and discard the other cards except when only one card is needed to make a straight or flush.

• If your hand has a couple of pairs, hold on to them and discard the other card.

• For hands with 3 of a kind, keep the three cards and discard the other two.

• If your hand has 4 cards leading to a Straight, hold on to the cards and draw another one. The only exception is when your hand is not an open-ended straight and contains a Jack.

• With hands that needs one more card to become a flush, maintain all the cards. However, if there are 3 cards leading to a royal flush, you should discard two cards and aim for the higher paying hand.

• In cases when your hand contains a 4-of-a-kind, stick to the 4 cards since drawing one card will not boost the winnability of the hand.

• Finally, if three of your cards are leading to a Royal Flush, discard everything and aim for the Royal Flush except when your hand is already a Straight Flush.

Try to master these basic strategies while playing Jacks or Better video poker. Go on, aim for that Royal Flush.