The Truth About Jacks or Better Revealed
Despite its simplicity, Jacks or Better is the most exciting and popular video poker game. Here we will find out some important information about the game.
Draw Poker is recognized as the authentic original video poker game. However, it did not attract much attention because the pay scale began at two pairs. There were only a handful of winning combinations to make the game more interesting.
Fortunately, someone came up with the concept of offering equal money pay on two Jacks or higher. This means that almost fifty percent of the hands had payouts, although equal money does not count as a true win. This idea clicked and transformed video poker into one of the most popular casino game exceeded only by slots and blackjack.
Jacks or Better is played like any other video poker game. At the onset, you will receive five cards. From there, you decide which ones to retain or dispose of, new cards are dealt to you in exchange for the ones you chose to replace. Corresponding payouts are paid depending on the pay schedule.
Full pay video poker provides the best payout for specific game variations. They can be obtained from 9/6 machines which offers a payout of 9 and 6 coins for a full house and a flush respectively. The payout rate can reach up to 99.5 percent.
Majority of Jacks or Better games do not offer the full pay but instead give out 8/5 payouts. In this variety, there is a considerable drop from 99.5% to 97.3%. In fact, the pay for the 7/5 machines are so horrible. In some instances, however, 8/5 machines provide progressive jackpots in order that players can have something positive to look forward to.
Although this might seem insignificant, but when computed in the long run the amount it will cost to play on these machines, it can build up indeed. At 0.5% edge, the casino can earn $3.75 an hour on a quarter video poker machine which is the reason why in the long run you will lose. However playing on an 8/5 machine can greatly boost the loss to more than $20 an hour.
This is computed by multiplying the amount of the bet with the number of wagers made in an hour multiplied with the house edge. This is the assumption if a quarter machine offers a max bet worth $1.25 at 600 bets per hour and a house edge of 0.5% and 2.7% on a 9/6 and 8/5 machine respectively.
Most of all, it is important to enjoy while playing the game.