Jacks Or Better Simple Strategy

Simple Jacks or Better Video Poker Strategy By: Fabian Rictor, Thursday April 22nd 2010 0 Comments Email Print. Jacks or Better is the most common and most popular variant of video poker found at online casinos. It is so named because the pay table begins with a pair of jacks or a higher pair. I saw Simple and Optimal strategies to plat 9/6 Jacks or Better. But can't find any probabilities for each point of strategy. I can find only probabilities of winning points. Can you help me with this? I need probabilities for each point of strategy before discard cards. Simple strategy: 1. Four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush.

Video poker strategy charts are designed to help you make the best play on every hand. When you make the best play it gives you the best chance to win while keeping the house edge as low as possible.

Once you learn how to read video poker strategy charts it’s easy to use them. Most are written in a format where the best hands are at the top and the worst ones are at the bottom. You look at your hand and start reading down the chart until you find a hand that matches what you hold.

You can find a sample strategy chart in the next section. It’s a little more detailed than most charts you find, but it’s important for you to understand what each line means.

Most video poker strategy charts just list what you should hold and don’t specifically say hold these cards. If you use a chart that just lists the hands, it means you hold what’s listed and discard everything else.

Though it never appears on the top casino games lists, video poker is one of the best options for new gamblers. It’s easy to learn how to play most video poker game. And if you know which pay tables to look for, the return numbers are better than most other gambling games.

You can use the seven proven video poker strategies in this article whether you’re a beginning gambler or have been around the block. With the right strategies, you can find and play video poker machines with a return of 99.5% or higher.

Jacks Or Better Simple Strategy Examples

1. Five Coins on the Smallest Limit Available

This might not seem like much of a strategy, but it’s just as important as any of the other video poker strategies listed in this article. And this is actually two strategies in one.

On almost every video poker machine, you get a bump in the amount you win for the best hand. But you only get the extra bump for a five-coin bet. Look at the pay table for your favorite video poker machine and look at the top paying hand. See how the jump from four to five coins is bigger than the jump from one to two or four to five?

This extra bump improves the return to player percentage by over 1%. In other words, if you’re not risking five coins, you’re giving up at least $1 for every $100 you risk.

The second strategy is the coin size of the machine.
The size of the coin doesn’t change the return to player, but almost 100% of video poker machines have a return less than 100%. With a return lower than 100%, it means that you’re going to lose.

When you’re playing casino games with a return lower than 100%, like almost every casino game, the best strategy is to risk as little as possible in order to reduce your losses. When you play video poker, play on the machine with the lowest coin value. The coin values for mobile and online machines are usually lower than in live casinos.

2. Online, Mobile, or Live Video Poker?

Wherever you play video poker, it plays the same and the odds are the same. Online, mobile, and live video poker are all similar. But there are a few advantages to playing mobile app or online video poker.

The first advantage is the one I mentioned at the end of the last section. Mobile and online casinos usually offer lower coin amounts for video poker players.

You can find nickel video poker machines online, which makes a .25 five-coin wager. Another advantage of online and mobile video poker play is that it’s easier to find machines with good pay tables.

The pay table is one of the two most important things about a video poker machine that dictates the return to player percentage. The other important ingredient is strategy, which is covered in the next section.

When you play video poker in a mobile or real money online casino, you can get a bonus sometimes. A video poker bonus doesn’t really help you win, but it does give you a bigger bankroll which lets you play longer.

3. Master the Right Strategy

In the previous section, you learned that the pay table and the strategy (how you play each hand) are the two most important factors when you play video poker. In the final two sections in this article, you’re going to learn more about pay tables for the two most popular video poker game variations.

In this section, you’re going to learn more about video poker strategy. Strategy is something you can use when you play each video poker hand. Each hand has a single best way to play it. And if you don’t make the right decision, it reduces your overall return.

Each video poker hand can be analyzed using the odds of improving the hand and the amount you get paid for each hand. You can do this yourself, but it gets quite complicated.

Or you can get a strategy chart for the video poker game you’re playing. Each video poker variation uses a unique strategy chart. In other words, you have to use a different strategy chart for Jacks or Better than you use for Deuces Wild.

Better

Get strategy charts for every video poker game you plan to play and use them on every hand. This is the only way to receive the maximum return to player percentage.

4. Play Jacks or Better Video Poker

I recommend two video poker games for beginners. Deuces Wild is covered in the next section, and Jacks or Better is covered in this section.

I recommend Jacks or Better for beginning players.

Jacks Or Better Simple Strategy Calculator

It’s the most common game in most casinos and it’s easy to play. The name comes from the lowest hand that qualifies for a win; a pair of jacks or higher. You get five cards, decide which ones to keep, then trade the other cards for new cards from the same deck. This is the same way that Deuces Wild works.

Jacks Or Better Simple Strategy For Beginners

The biggest advantage that Jacks or Better offers is a fairly simple strategy. If you use a strategy card when you play, you can learn the right strategy in just a few hours.

5. Play Deuces Wild Video Poker

Deuces Wild is a game that works much like Jacks or Better, but it uses a different pay table and all of the two in the deck are wild. This makes it easier to build hands, but the lowest qualifying hand is three of a kind.

The strategy for Deuces Wild is a little harder than Jacks or Better, but it’s not that much harder to learn. Deuces Wild machines aren’t quite as popular as Jacks or Better, but it’s the second most popular video poker game so there are still plenty of machines available.

In the next two sections, you’re going to learn about good pay table for both of the video poker machines that I recommend.

6. A Good Jacks or Better Pay Table

The Jacks or Better pay table you want to find is called a 9/6. It has a 99.54% return when you use perfect strategy.

Here’s what this pay table looks like under five coins.
  • Royal flush – 4,000 coins – Ace high straight flush
  • Straight flush – 250 coins – Any other straight flush
  • Four of a kind – 125 coins – Four cards of the same rank
  • Full house – 45 coins – Three cards of one rank and two cards of a different rank
  • Flush – 30 coins – Five cards the same suit
  • Straight – 20 coins – Five cards in sequential order
  • Three of a kind – 15 coins – Three cards of the same rank
  • Two pairs – 10 coins – Two cards of the same rank and two different cards of the same rank
  • Pair of jacks or higher – 5 coins – Any pair higher than tens

7. A Good Deuces Wild Pay Table

The Deuces Wild pay table you’re looking for is sometimes called a Not So Ugly Ducks table. It offers a 99.73% return when you use perfect strategy.

This is what it looks like under the five-coin bet.
  • Natural royal flush – 4,000 coins – Ace high straight flush
  • Four 2s – 1,000 coins – Four of kind twos
  • Royal flush with one or more wilds – 125 coins – Ace high straight flush with one or more wild cards
  • Fie of a kind – 80 coins – Five cards the same rank including wild cards
  • Straight flush – 50 coins – A straight and flush with or without wild cards
  • Four of a kind – 20 coins – Four cards the same rank with or without wild cards
  • Full house – 20 coins – Three cards of one rank and two cards of a different rank with or without wild cards
  • Flush – 15 coins – Five cards of the same suit with or without wild cards
  • Straight – 10 coins – Five cards ranked in a row with or without wild cards
  • Three of a kind – 5 coins – Three cards the same rank with or without wild cards

Conclusion

Jacks Or Better Strategy Card

Video poker strategy doesn’t look easy at first, but when you use the right tools, it’s not really very hard. When I plan to play video poker, I carry some strategy cards with me for the most popular games so that I always have the right strategy with me. You can do the same thing.

Jacks Or Better Simple Strategy Guide

The top two video poker games are Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better, so they’re where you should spend most of your prep time. You can play on mobile and in online casinos for less per coin than in land-based casinos, which reduces your losses and lets you play longer.