Specialty

Video Poker — Jacks or Better

Draw poker against a machine, with a near-even edge when played right.

House edge 0.46%Return 99.54%

Jacks or Better deals five cards, lets you hold any of them, then replaces the rest. A pair of jacks or better pays, and the royal flush pays 4,000 coins at max bet.

Played with the optimal strategy chart, the return is 99.54%, the best on most casino floors. Played on instinct, the same machine can give away several percent.

How to play, step by step

01Bet the maximum coins — the royal flush bonus only applies at full stake.
02Hold the cards that give the best expected value, not the ones that look pretty.
03Draw and get paid on a pair of jacks or better, two pair, trips, straight, flush, full house or better.

Common strategies

None of these change the house edge. They change how long your bankroll lasts and how violently it swings.

Learn the hold chart

Video poker is the only machine game with a real strategy. A one-page chart covers every decision and is the difference between 99.5% and 97%.

Never break a made hand for a long shot

Holding a low pair beats chasing an inside straight. The chart knows this even when the gut does not.

Check the pay table version

A 9/6 machine pays 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush. The 8/5 version of the same game drops the return by about 2.5%.

Odds & payouts

What each bet pays and how often it lands, based on a standard table with the rules described above.

Bet	Pays	Chance
Jacks or better (pair)	1:1	about 21.5%
Two pair	2:1	12.9%
Three of a kind	3:1	7.4%
Straight / flush	4:1 or 6:1	1.1% / 1.2%
Full house / four of a kind	9:1 / 25:1	1.1% / 0.24%
Royal flush (max bet)	800:1	0.0025%

Play Video Poker — Jacks or Better

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