Online Video Poker Guide

Once you’ve chosen a great real money online casino to play at (check our recommended links first and get yourself a top deposit bonus), head to the games lobby and find the Video Poker options.

Start off with something simple – Jacks or Better, for example – and choose your coin limits. Games normally allow you bet anywhere from 1 to 5 coins per hand, and one good tip is to bet the maximum if possible. This gives you a better chance over the long-term of hitting the big real cash prizes.

Make Your Draws

Once you’re set, hit the Deal button. You will then receive five cards face up. Look at your cards and decide which cards you want to ‘hold’, or keep in place, and which ones you want to re-draw. Choose the cards you want to change by simply clicking your mouse on them.

If you’ve ever played 5-card Draw Poker you’ll recognize the play from here on in. After clicking on the cards you want to keep, hit the ‘Draw’ button and the remaining cards will be re-dealt. All you have to do now is make the best possible 5-card poker hand.

Depending on what hand you have at the end, you will get paid out accordingly.

Winning And Payouts

Depending on which variation of real money Video Poker you’re playing, you will get paid out accordingly. Check the paytables for your chosen game – better, LEARN them – as it’s good to know which hands you’re drawing to.

In a game of Jacks or Better, for example, the minimum hand you can get paid with is a pair of jacks. (Usually 1 coin at the bottom end of the betting spectrum.) The payouts then increase depending on the hand, and they follow standard poker rankings. Let’s take a standard Jacks or Better game to see the payouts in coins. (Note: payouts are for a 5-coin bet):

The poker hand rankings remains pretty constant in most real cash online Video Poker games, but the payouts vary wildly from game to game, so it’s really worth paying attention to the paytables for the game you’re playing.

For example, you can see a Flush in Jacks or Better pays 30 coins on a 5-coin bet, but in Deuces Wild it drops to 10 coins, in Double Joker it’s 20 coins, and in All American Poker, 40 coins. And where one Video Poker game pays higher on a flush, another may be better for straights – it can vary from game to game.

Hitting the Sequential Royal Flush

Note that there is a top payout for a Sequential Royal Flush. Many online Video Poker games have this extra payout. Sequential Royals are simply royal flushes that go in order across the screen from left to right, eg. 10-J-Q-K-A of spades. Some games will also pay out on a Reverse Sequential Royal Flush, which, as the name suggests, is Royal Flush running right to left.

Double Or Nothing

You’ve won your first hand of real cash Video Poker – well done! Before you take your money, however, you’ll be offered two choices - Collect or Double.
You can simply choose to collect your winnings, which is fine, but you can also opt to choose a high card in order to double your haul. The screen will display five cards, with one face up. Simply click on one of the face down cards and if it’s higher than the up-card you’ll double your money – sweet! Remember, if you miss out by picking a card that’s lower, you’ll lose your money.

Some games even give you the chance of gambling just half your winnings if you don’t fancy risking all of it.

Basic Video Poker Strategy

The key strategy of any Video Poker game is knowing which cards to hold and which to swap. Do you opt to play safe and go for the small two-pair wins, or go for those higher-paying flushes and full houses?

There’s no definitive strategy in how you should play, but generally speaking it pays to go for as BEST A HAND as you can possibly hit.

For example, let’s say you’re playing Jacks or Better, and you’re dealt Jh Jc Ah 2h 3h. You’ve already hit a pair of jacks so you’ve got 1-5 coins in the bank already. But wait – there’s a flush draw out there. To go for the heart flush you’ll have to opt to swap the Jc and try to complete your flush. With a flush paying 30 coins at that betting level you have to make the decision to either collect the 5 coins or gamble and go for 25 more.

That’s why looking at the paytables is essential when you’re playing Video Poker for real money. Try and work out the rough odds of improving your hand compared to the increased potential winnings.

What To Look Out For In Video Poker Games

Different Games = Different Minimum Winning Hands

There are so many different Video Poker variants online, it’s worth knowing what the minimum payout in a game is.

For example, in Jacks or Better a pair of Jacks is the lowest payer. In Joker Poker, meanwhile, it’s a pair of Kings. In Double Joker, where two jokers are in play, you’ll need two pairs in order to make any money at all.

Wild Cards

Video Poker games with wild cards give you much more chance of winning. However, they also have a higher minimum qualifying hand. That’s understandable – after all, if you’re utilizing wild cards, you won’t get expected to get paid out on a measly pair of jacks.

Games with Wilds are like slots with Wild icons – they can turn crummy combos into winning ones, but payouts may be smaller.

Jackpots

You should always be aiming for the maximum payout in any game – the jackpot. Some games, like Jacks or Better, will have a jackpot worth 4,000 coins for hitting a Royal Flush at the maximum 5-coin betting limit. But it can vary: Joker Poker has a higher 5,000-coin jackpot, and there are some great Progressive Jackpot Video Poker games that have much, much higher jackpots.

Jacks-or-Better

We’ve looked already at Jacks-or-Better. Available at most online casinos, the object is to make the best five-card poker hand after one draw. Remember, though, in this game you only get paid out by hitting AT LEAST a pair of Jacks. A pair of Jacks pays 1 coin, with Two Pair paying 2 coins, Three of a Kind 3 coins, and so on.

4-Lines Jacks-or-Better

Why play one game of Jacks-or-Better when you can play four at once?! On the screen in 4-Lines Jacks-or-Better you’ll be presented with four rows of cards, with each lines being treated as a separate hand. Bet on each hand simultaneously and watch the money roll in.
Power Poker

Here’s an interesting twist on the classic 4-lines game. In Power Poker you’ll be dealt four hands containing five cards each, but when you choose the cards to hold in your first hand, the cards in the same position in your remaining hands take on the value of the card you held.

For example, you’re dealt K-J-K-6-2 in your top hand. You choose to hold the kings, and then the first and third cards in your remaining hands will also become kings. Play then proceeds and the computer deals your replacement cards.

Wild Card Video Poker

Games like Deuces Wild use a Wild card which can substitute for any other card. In Deuces Wild, for instance, 2s are wild, so if you were dealt A-A-J-6-2 your 2 would become and ace to give you three-of-a-kind.
Remember that the minimum cash payouts in Wild card games are higher than conventional Video Poker games. That three-of-a-kind you just hit will probably pay the minimum so you have to decide whether the benefit of the wild 2s is worth it. Joker Poker games work in a similar way, with the Joker substituting for any card.

Progressive Jackpot Games

Like online video slots, playing Video Poker for real money at dozens of top casinos gives you the chance to win some tasty progressive jackpots.

Progressive Jackpot Video Poker games take a portion of every bet staked and pools it together with games across dozens of other casinos on the net. Then, if you trigger the progressive jackpot in your favorite Video Poker game you’ll take the lot!

Ways of triggering progressives differs from game to game, so make sure you read the rules at your online casino before playing. One thing to remember is that you will probably have to be playing at the maximum stakes on a game in order to qualify for the progressive jackpot.

Mobile Casino Video Poker

It’s worth mentioning how the mobile casino boom is revolutionizing online casinos in 2016. A few years ago it would be laughable to suggest you could enjoy REAL-MONEY betting games on your phone on the move.

Now, however, there are new tablets and smartphones being released every month, with ever-increasing power and graphics capabilities. Mobile casinos adapt many of their games to fit your tablet or phone’s screen with little loss in playability compared to their PC cousins.

Mobile casinos are THE big thing for 2016 and beyond, and luckily the top casinos online will offer some great Video Poker games just for you.