Video Poker Strategy

Video poker is a game of skill, so you shouldn’t heavily rely on pure luck if you want to score high payoffs. After all, this isn’t like slot machines, where all you do is wager, spin, and hope that you will be lucky enough to hit a winning combination. Instead, video poker requires a certain level of mastery in order to win money every time you make a wager. That’s why it’s important to know a video poker strategy that will work best to your advantage to play video poker games well.

Whether an amateur or seasoned player, you should start with the few basic steps or strategies that need to be done before making a draw. Here are some of the essential reminders that comprise an effective video poker strategy:

• When you’re dealt with cards that already form a royal flush, a straight flush, a four of a kind, or a full house, you must not break them up. Instead, hold them as you’re already sure of winning some money.
• In the case that you’re dealt with a three of a kind, you can choose to hold or you can discard the two unmatched cards to get a chance to form four of a kind or a full house. For a two pair, on the other hand, it’s best to throw away the fifth card to have a chance at a full house if you want a higher payoff.
• When you’re dealt with two unmatched cards, two low pairs, and one high card, which could be a jack, queen, king, or ace, it’s better to discard the two unmatched cards and prioritize the two low pairs and the high card. In this way, you’re sure to win with a low pair if the replacement cards don’t allow for a higher-ranked hand.
• If you have four cards to a royal flush, then it’s best to break up, say, a flush or a straight. But keep in mind that you only do this if and only if you need one card to form a royal flush. So, if you have jack, queen, king, ace, and 5, all of which are hearts, discarding 5 of hearts will open up better opportunities to have a higher ranking hand. If you receive 10 of hearts, then you catch a royal flush. Otherwise, any card of hearts will still give you a flush, 10 of clubs, spades, or diamonds a straight, and a jack, a queen, a king, or an ace a jacks and better.
• When it comes to jacks or better video poker, it would just be fine to use this video poker strategy: break them up if you see that you have four cards to a straight flush. For example, you’re dealt with jack, 10, 9, and 8, all of spades, together with a jack of hearts. Of course, you should discard jack of hearts for a chance at a straight flush when you receive 7 or queen of spades. But in case you get any other spades, you will still catch a flush.
• Always prioritize a four-card open straight over a four-card inside straight as the former, say 5, 6, 7, and 8, will only need either a 3 or a 9 to complete the hand. You will have a harder time to complete a four-card inside straight of 4, 5, 7, and 8 as you must exactly get a 6 to form a straight.

Remember all these so that you will have a higher probability of winning payoffs. Trust that an effective video poker strategy will certainly guide you to forming higher-ranked poker hands.