Jacks or Better

The well known video poker game, Jacks or Better is the best video poker game for beginner players although seasoned players can enjoy this game too. The minimum requirement for winning a hand is a pair of jacks.

To choose a good paying game check the the full house and flush payouts for a single coin bet. The best pay out come from the 9/6 machines where you will be awarded pay outs of 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush.

Also, it is recommended that, generally speaking, you always play max coins. Always play to win the top prize. If you can’t afford to play dollars, play quarters. If you can’t afford to play quarters, play nickels. Don’t cheat yourself out of a full-pay jackpot by wagering with cheap money.

Short Pay variation

Short pay variations of this game abound, especially in Indian casinos and cruise ships. The basic Jacks or Better discussed above is commonly called a “9/6” machine because of the 9-for-1 payoff for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush. More common in many casinos is the short pay “8/5” version; that is, the payoffs for the full house and flush are each cut by one.

Looking at the payoff schedule above, we see that shorting the full house by one unit costs 1.151%, and shorting the flush costs 1.102%. Deducting these from the full pay game, we find the maximum payback is only 97.29%, so you would expect to lose an average of 2.71 cents for each dollar played. Even so, this is probably higher payback than any reel slots in that same casino, and it’s certainly more fun. The same strategy is applicable to these games, but there’s obviously no long term profit potential.