Choosing a Winning Video Poker Machine
Las Vegas isn’t the only place to find video poker machines, but it’s certainly one of the most popular places for this hot game. But how can you pick the right machine for you to give you a better chance to win the big bucks? Follow these few simple rules and increase the odds in your favor to walk away from the video poker machine with a jingle in your pocket and a profit in your wallet!
First, let’s get familiar with the video poker machine and what the game’s all about. It’s just like playing regular poker with your friends; with the screen set up to “deal” you five cards and allowing you to choose which cards to keep and which ones to toss away. While there are variations on the basic poker gameplay usually you get one single chance to toss away bad cards and then have new ones dealt to you – and then your winnings are decided on what’s on the screen.
Below each virtual card you’ll see a small button, allowing you to either “hold” the card or “discard” it for a new one. Most machines take a single quarter, but there are plenty of video poker machines out there that take pennies, nickels and even up to a dollar a hand and more! For our strategy we’re going to deal with a quarter machine, the most common video poker machine out there so far.
Above the actual screen itself is listed the payout schedule, detailing what you’ll get back if you meet certain requirements. Of course with poker you’re dealing with various hands, from a royal flush to three of a kind to a straight. But here is where you can pick a good machine from a not-so-good machine and up your odds of walking away a winner!
Let’s look over the payout schedule of a video poker machine and interpret the numbers. First it’ll list the hands that the machine pays out for – Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair and finally Jacks or better (a single pair). These are classic poker hands and you should already be familiar with what you need to qualify for each hand.
The payout depends on how many coins you play per hand, from one to five coins. Look for a video poker machine that starts with a single coin payout for Jacks or better, rising to two coins for Two Pair, three for Three of a Kind, four for a Straight, six for a Flush, nine for a Full House, twenty-five for Four of a Kind, fifty for a Straight Flush and two hundred and fifty coins for a Royal Flush. This payout schedule is known as a 9/6 machine because it gives a nine-coin payback for a Full House and pays back six coins for a Flush when you play a single coin.
Here’s a short synopsis of the above paragraph showing the payouts for a 9/6 video poker machine going from one coin to five coins:
Royal Flush – 250-500-750-1000-4000
Straight Flush – 50-100-150- 200- 250
Four of a Kind – 25- 50- 75- 100- 125
Full House – 9- 18- 27- 36- 45
Flush – 6- 12- 18- 24- 30
Straight – 4- 8- 12- 16- 20
Three of a Kind – 3- 6- 9- 12- 15
Two Pair – 2- 4- 6- 8- 10
Jacks or Better – 1- 2- 3- 4- 5
But wait, you say – what’s the difference between a 9/6 machine and any other video poker machine in the same row? Well, this is where the numbers come into play! Remember that all video poker machines are set up to give the House or Casino an advantage, so why not get the best odds you can?
On a 9/6 video poker machine the return (or what chance you have of winning) is 99.5% with a half percent going to the house. Sounds good, right? But let’s take a look at an 8/5 machine. The numbers here change dramatically as you only get eight coins back for a single coin for a Full House and five coins for a Flush instead of six. That may seem like a slight loss when you’re playing only one coin, but when you’re playing five coins per play (the recommended way to play) suddenly your potential losses start to mount up before you even see your hand!
Fortunately or unfortunately, the 8/5 numbers are a lot like the 9/6 numbers – the payouts don’t change for the first four types of hands, since you’re more likely to win on the smaller amounts than hit a Royal Flush. But when you can and do hit a Full House you’ll suddenly see a dramatic shift in the return to you, the player, because you picked the wrong video poker machine. Winning is great – but why not win as much as you can?
Playing five coins on a 9/6 machine and winning with a Full House will net you 45 coins. Playing five coins on an 8/5 machine with the same hand will give you only 40 coins. A Flush will get you 30 coins on a 9/6 machine while an 8/5 machine will only pay back 25 coins.
An 8/5 machine has a return of 97.3%, giving more to the house. A 6/5 machine has a return of 95.1%, making that particular video poker machine marginally better than going to the roulette table! You may not find many 6/5 machines, since they seem to be only common in out-of-the-way gambling venues such as supermarkets and the odd convenience store, but they are out there waiting to pick your pockets empty with the worst odds possible.
It may seem strange to go from machine to machine to try and pick the best one before sitting down and playing, but when the winning percentage can vary from 99.5% all the way down to 95.1% you should really consider where you sit. After all, it’s all about winning and why not find the best odds possible when it’s your money on the line?
It only takes a few minutes to scrutinize the payout schedule at the top of a video poker machine and find out if it’s a 9/6 machine or an 8/5 or something else. Why not spend the time to find the best odds possible and increase the chances of walking away a winner? And the best thing is that you’re already ahead of the game before you even sit down!
