Video Poker Tips

I received an email from a video poker player who asked me this question:

“I can never win at video poker. Are the video poker machines rigged?”

(Note: I’m not telling this story just to brag about my good fortune but rather to use it as a teaching example for video poker players.)

Let’s face it. What all video poker players hope (and pray) for is that the next hand will give them a royal flush because that results in an immediate 4,000 coin payoff.

Standard video poker machines are called single-play because the player plays only one game at a time. However, single-play games are not the only type of video poker game available in a casino (or online).

High pairs, low pairs, any pairs are powerful - more powerful than many video poker players realize.

Shockwave Video Poker is a unique style of Jacks or Better video poker. There are two different modes of play – normal and Shockwave. The normal mode is exactly what it sounds like – normal Jacks or Better play. It accounts for well over 90 percent of play. The game operates in normal mode until a four-of-a-kind hit.

Golfing legend Arnold Palmer once quipped, “It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.” There is a whole lot of truth to what he said. Practice is important in developing and honing any skill.

Those who play video poker with any regularity generally have one or two favorite games they play. It may be some of my favorites such as Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, or Double Bonus Poker – games which have a high payback and low variance.

Let's have a little straight talk about straights - specifically, one-card draws that attempt to complete straights in video poker.

Most video poker games have a fixed pay table, meaning the pays for each winning hand never change.

Getting the most out of video poker requires learning to recognize the best possible draw on every hand.

The very popular Jacks or Better video poker game has been around for a long time. The reason is the high return and relatively low variance of the game.