So far in this guide you have learned how video poker started and grew. You have learned the basics of video poker play including return, house edge, and variance. You have learned about how randomness actually works while playing at the casino. You now know how to determine your bankroll size. You may even know what specific video poker game (or games) you want to play. If you do not, you have some idea how different video poker games behave and their major characteristics.

In this chapter you will learn all about video poker strategy. You will learn what it is, how it is developed, and most importantly, how to use it to gain the absolute most possible from the casinos.

It is assumed that you know the makeup of all the different poker hands. For example, you must know what constitutes a flush, a straight, a straight flush, a full house and so forth. If you do not know or you are unsure, check the glossary of this guide to learn or to refresh your memory.

Are you ready to learn about strategy?
 

Of course you are. Let’s go.
 

Slot machines are extremely popular. One of the reasons for their popularity is that they are easy to play. The only skill that is necessary is to be able to insert money into the game and press a button or pull a lever to start play. That is it. From that point on, everything that happens depends on luck. The results of slot machine spins are based totally on randomness. The instant the slot player presses the spin button the result of that spin is locked in. Whether it is (most likely) a loser, a small winner, a moderate winner, or a jackpot winner has already been decided. Slot players can do nothing to change the odds either for or against them.

Some slot machines allow the player to hit a stop button that immediately stops the reels from spinning and show the result, but hitting that button makes no difference in the result of the spin. Whatever was determined at the instant the spin started will still be the result.
 

Unlike slot machines, video poker games allow players to have a say in the game they chose to play. Like slot machines, randomness is also involved. The instant the “Bet Max Credits” or the “Deal / Draw” button is pressed the five cards to be dealt are determined based on a random process. After the cards to be held are selected by the video poker player, the cards that replace those not held are also determined by a random process at the instant the “Deal/Draw” button is pressed.

But that is where the similarity with random slot machine play ends. The video poker player has total control over the initial five cards that have been dealt. It is his or her choice what to do with those five cards. The decisions about whether to keep all of them, discard all of them, or anything in between is totally theirs. It is actually totally yours. After all, you are the one reading and learning from this guide.

You could choose to throw away the entire hand and hope to be dealt a royal flush. You could also choose to hold just the ace and throw away the four 3s and, again, hope for a royal flush. With this hand it should be very obvious that you would make the most money by saving the four 3s and collecting the winnings for a four of a kind.

Here is another example that might not be quite as obvious. Assume you are dealt four cards of a royal flush in spades and an ace of diamonds.

In this case you have a high pair of aces as well as four cards of a royal flush. What do you save? Do you save the high pair for a sure win and a possible four of a kind? Or would you rather take a shot at the royal flush? This is not quite as easy as the last hand.

Here is another example along the same lines as the previous hand. Assume you are dealt a flush in spades. Here is your hand: Ks Qs Js Ts 3s.

While you have total control over the five cards that have been dealt, not every decision that you might make has the same impact. To use an extreme example, let us assume you are dealt a hand containing four 3s and an ace.

What would you do here? Would you save the straight flush consisting of the 9 of spades through the king of spades? Or would you decide to save the four cards of a royal flush and once again hope for lightening to strike?

A straight flush pays very well, but a royal flush pays many times more. This is a truly difficult decision

Again, the choice is totally yours. Do you save the flush for the sure win? Or would you rather save the four cards of a royal flush and hope to hit the jackpot? Since a flush pays quite a bit more than the high pair that was in the previous example, the decision with this hand is even harder to make.

How about one more hand. You are dealt the following:

It should be obvious that the proper play is to hold the two kings. There is really nothing else worth saving in the hand. This tends to be the case for most of the hands that you are dealt.

But what about the hands where there is more than one viable option? What should you do then?

Most video poker players make their decisions about what to hold and what to discard based on intuition or hunches. In this hand: 4c 5c 6c 7d Ts.

They “feel” that holding three cards of a straight flush is a better play than holding four cards of a straight. This type of video poker player bases every hold decision on what he or she feels is the best play.

Other video poker players like to keep track of the “flow” of the game. Are there a lot of high pairs? How about straights – are they happening fairly frequently? Have there been streaks of full houses or flushes? These players make their hold decisions based on how the cards have been flowing in the recent past.

Holding cards based on what you feel is correct or holding based on the flow of the cards are both technically strategies. But the video poker game manufacturers set up pay tables based on the math of the game so the casinos will be sure to make a profit from them. Therefore in order for you to make the most of your video poker playing experience, you need to use a strategy that is based on the same math.

Playing hunches or streaks may work for a hand or two (or possibly even a session or two), but far more often these tactics will not work. In fact, by employing these types of playing strategies, you will end up giving the casino even more of your hard earned money than you need to. Only by using mathematically derived video poker playing strategies will you get every cent you can from your video poker play over the long run.

Obviously you will not run across hands such as these very often, but they do demonstrate a point. That point – each hand that is dealt is a unique situation. How you decide to handle that situation could make a big difference in the outcome of the hand. The same situation happens at a much less exciting level in each and every hand that is dealt.

To be honest, most video poker hands leave very little doubt as to the best way to play the hand. It does not take a lot of skill or intuition to know what to do when dealt a hand such as this one Ks Kd 3h 6c 8s.

You learned in section 6.1 that using a mathematically derived video poker playing strategy is how you get the most out of your video poker play.

What exactly is a video poker playing strategy? How is it derived? What does it look like?

All those questions and more are answered in section 6.2. Let’s begin
 

There are several different ways to develop a video poker playing strategy. It could be tailored to favor hitting royal flushes. A strategy developed in this way could be useful in video poker tournaments where the participant has a limited amount of time to get a high score in order to win. This type of strategy would see a greater number of royal flushes. It would however also see a smaller return to the player because smaller winning hands would be sacrificed in favor of holding for a royal flush.

Another type of strategy could favor winning as many hands as possible regardless of the amount of the win. For example, any time a high pair is dealt it would be saved even if there were decent shots at a royal flush or other higher paying results in the same hand. This type of strategy may find the player winning more hands, but the amount won per hand would be significantly less than is possible.
 

Think about how normal video poker play goes. After depositing your initial amount, you start playing hand after hand. Most often you lose your bet. The next most frequent occurrence is to simply get your bet returned by hitting a high pair (or sometimes two pairs) that returns 1 for 1. You will also hit other higher paying but less frequent hands. In each case, however, unless you hit a royal flush or other very high paying hand such as four aces with a kicker, the amount you win is not enough to cash out and be considered a good win for the day. Instead, all of these lesser wins are really just extra money that allows you to play a few more hands in order to try to win the jackpot sized hand(s).

With this in mind, the optimal strategy is one designed to win as much as possible from each initial hand dealt. In this way the player will get as many hands as possible to chase the coveted jackpot sized hands.
 

The process for developing the strategy charts is a tedious one. There are 2,598,960 possible five card hands in a 52 card deck. Here is a table showing all the possible video poker hands for a non-wild card video poker game.
 

Each of the 2,598,960 hands must be examined. Each possible hold combination for each of these hands must then be examined to determine all possible resulting hands and the returns for them. Take this sample hand: As 3s 4h 5c Kd.
 

All possible resulting hands and pays for a hold of just the ace of hearts must be calculated. The same must then be done for a save of just the 3 of spades, the 4 of hearts, the 5 of clubs, and the king of diamonds. Then the same must be done for each possible hold of two cards. Then the same is done for holds of three cards. The same is done for holds of four cards. Finally the return for a hold of all five cards is calculated. The returns are then compared in order to select the best possible hold (in terms of money returned). The results for each of the over two and a half million possible hands are summarized in order to develop the strategy.

As you can see, this process is not easily accomplished by hand. It is not something you could do by sitting down at the dinner table with a pad of paper and a pencil. It is only feasible if a computer program is used.
 

The strategy charts for all non-wild card games are organized the same way. The hand with the highest average return goes at the top of the strategy chart. For most video poker pay tables that hand is the royal flush. It is followed by lower paying hands and partial hands in order of decreasing return. Keep in mind that partial hands that are not winners themselves will at times be included above hands that are winners because they have an average return (for all possible outcomes) that is higher than a dealt winning hand. For example, in most games four cards of a royal flush is listed above a full house because of the possibility of that hand turning into a royal flush. However, that is not the only hand that can be made from a hand with four cards of a royal flush. There is also the possibility that the hand could become a straight flush, a flush, or a straight with the proper cards being drawn. See the examples below.

The process of listing hands with an ever lower average return continues until the average return for the hand is less than the average return for a totally new hand. The word “Redraw” or words to that effect are placed at this point in the strategy chart. This means you will get a higher return by totally replacing your hand than by trying to make something of it. The strategy chart is now complete.

Now you know the basics of video poker strategy charts and are ready to learn exactly how to use them. Section 6.3 has what you need to know.
 

Look in any casino gift shop and you have most likely seen little credit card sized blackjack strategy cards. This tiny little card contains everything you need to know in order to play blackjack perfectly. It would be very nice if the same thing were true concerning strategy charts for video poker games. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Why not?

Strategy for the game of blackjack involves knowing when to take one of four possible actions based on the two cards you are dealt. The four actions are “stand” (play the two cards you are dealt as is), “hit” (take another card to try to better your two cards), “pair split” (if you have two cards of the same rank, make two separate hands out of them by adding another same size bet), or “double down” or simply “double” (add a bet equal to the original bet and take just one additional card). The only information you have to make this decision is your two cards and the card the dealer puts face up.

By making a grid with the dealer up card across the top, the two player cards on the left, and filling each spot with an abbreviation indicating the player action, everything needed for perfect blackjack play is easily contained in a very small space.
 

As you learned in section 6.2, the arrangement of a video poker strategy chart is different. The list contains the card(s) to hold in the first five card hand that you are dealt. The top line contains the cards to hold that give the highest average return. Each line below that has the cards to hold that will produce the next highest average return. This continues until the player is better off discarding the entire first hand rather than holding anything at all.

Let’s look at a sample of a video poker strategy chart. Here is a partial view of a strategy chart for a full pay (9/6) Jacks or Better game.