This book has so far taught you the origins and development of video poker. You now understand return, the house advantage, and volatility in video poker. While gambling, you gained insight into how chance really operates. You can now calculate how much money you need to play. Possibly, you have already settled on a certain variation(s) of video poker to play. Even if you haven't played video poker before, you likely have a general notion of how the various variations function and their main qualities.
Learn the ins and outs of video poker strategy in this chapter. What it is, how it evolves, and most importantly, how to utilise it to maximise your wins at the casinos, will all be covered in detail.
Read this online article for some tips on how to win at video poker.
Poker hand rankings and its components are considered to be familiar to you. You need to know the different poker hand rankings, such as a flush, straight, straight flush, full house, etc. Check the glossary of this manual to learn new terms or brush up on old ones if necessary.
A strategic education: are you ready for it?
Master the art of planning
Well, duh, you're obviously correct. Come on, I say.
Spade Video Poker Divider
Section 6.1 WHAT'S THE POINT OF USING A STRATEGY?
It's no secret that slot machines are a huge hit. Since they're simple to pick up and play, that's likely a contributing factor to their widespread appeal. To play, one need merely input cash and activate the machine with the push of a button or pull of a lever. We may now consider the matter closed. Everything that occurs beyond that moment is a complete and utter fluke. Each spin of a slot machine's reels has an entirely random outcome. Once a slot player clicks the spin button, the outcome of that spin is set in stone. It's already been determined whether it's a loss, a little winner, a moderate winner, or a jackpot winner. There is absolutely nothing that slot players can do to improve their chances of winning.
While stopping the reels using a stop button on certain slot machines displays the result, doing so has no effect on the outcome of the spin. The outcome will remain unchanged from the moment the rotation began.
Game over at the slot machine
Video poker games, in contrast to slot machines, provide players a sense of agency over the outcome of their hands. The outcome is entirely up to chance, just as with slot machines. The five cards to be dealt are chosen at random the moment "Bet Max Credits" or "Deal / Draw" is clicked. After the player choose which cards to keep in a hand of video poker, the "Deal/Draw" button is clicked, at which time the machine deals out new cards to the player to replace the ones he or she did not keep.
The parallels with a game of chance at a slot machine stop there, however. The first five cards in video poker are entirely within the player's control. Those five cards are at his or her disposal, whatever he or she sees fit. It is entirely up to them to decide whether to retain all of them, throw them all away, or do anything in between. Totally, entirely, it belongs to you. You are the one who will benefit most from this manual, after all.
If you don't like your odds of getting a royal flush, you may always discard the whole hand. You might alternatively ditch the other four cards and keep the ace in the aim of making a royal flush. If you have four 3s, it's evident that you should keep them and hope for a four of a kind to maximise your profit.
How to Play: Four of a Kind in Video Poker
To provide a second example, this one is a little less transparent. Let's say you've been dealt four spades and an ace of diamonds, making a royal flush.
Video poker tips: a royal flush is one card away
Here, you've got a high pair of aces and the beginnings of a royal flush with your first four cards. How do you put money aside? If you have a high pair, should you play it or hold on to it for a better hand later? How about trying your luck at getting the royal flush instead? This isn't as simple as the last hand.
Here's another hand that illustrates a similar idea to the one just shown. Suppose you've been handed a spade flush. I'm going to extend my hand to you now: A, K, Q, J, T, and 3.
A Flush in Video Poker: a Winning Strategy
You have complete discretion over the five cards at your disposal, but not all choices have the same weight. Consider the worst-case scenario: you've been dealt four 3s and an ace.
Where would you go from here? Would you keep the spade straight flush, which includes the 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King? Or, would you rather hold on to the four cards needed for a royal flush in the hopes that luck will finally change your luck?
The payout for a straight flush is high, but the payout for a royal flush is even more. To choose amongst these options is really challenging.
Once again, it is entirely up to you to decide. Hold the flush till you're confident of winning? Instead of playing for the pot, why not hold on to the four cards needed for a royal flush? The choice is further complicated by the fact that a flush pays much more than the high pair in the first scenario.
We could need another hand, please. You have been dealt:
A pair of kings is a strong hand in video poker.
The correct play is obviously holding the two kings. The hand contains nothing of value. Usually, this is how the cards fall.
And what about the situations when there is more than one correct play? So then, what do you recommend?
The majority of video poker players just rely on their gut feelings when deciding which cards to retain and which to discard. This hand contains: 4c, 5c, 6c, 7d, and Ts.
10-high card video poker strategy
Some players "feel" that it's preferable to hold three cards to a straight flush than four cards to a straight. The video poker player who does this always makes the best possible hold choice.
The "flow" of the game is something that some video poker players prefer to keep tabs on. How often are high-ranking pairs? To what extent do you find that straights occur? Has there been a run of four-of-a-kinds or flushes? These participants choose whether or not to hold depending on the trends in the recent dealings.
Both keeping cards because you think it's the right move and holding cards because of the way the deck is going are legitimate tactics. Manufacturers of video poker games, however, design their games with mathematically optimised pay tables to ensure that casinos will earn a profit from them. As a result, you need a strategy based on the same mathematics if you want to get the most out of your time spent playing video poker.
While playing on a hunch or a hot run could pay out for a few hands (or even a few sessions), it usually doesn't. In reality, if you use these tactics when gambling, you will wind up handing the casino more of your money than you should. In order to maximise your long-term winnings from video poker, you need to use a strategy that has been developed utilising mathematical analysis.