17 Jan

Online Video Poker offers clear Payout Percentages

Jacks or Better Online Video PokerUnlike the ambiguous nature of pokies, understanding the payout percentages of various online video poker games is a rather simple task. It’s all about the math, not some pre-programmed rate wherein the live or online casino offering the game chooses how much it should return to the player.

Much like blackjack or roulette, video poker maintains clear-cut probabilities that determine a player’s chances of receiving each and every winning hand combination. Using the proper mathematical formula will reveal exactly what a specific video poker machine’s payout percentages are, based on its paytable.

Simplifying The Process

The formula itself isn’t all that difficult, but it can be a tedious process. Factoring in each and every winning hand combination, and its payout, does make the process rather time consuming. Instead of going through the whole process, all you need to do is focus on the number of coins paid out for a Full House, and for a Flush.

These two hands are where the majority of online video poker games vary on their pay tables. In Jacks or Better, for example, the most common high-paying game is what’s known as a “9/5 pay table”, wherein the Full House pays 9 coins, and the Flush pays 5. These machines will carry a payout percentage of 98.45% when betting 5 (max) coins.

That’s already higher than the vast majority of what online pokies can pay, and phenomenally higher than the payouts found on land-based pokies. And with due diligence, you can find Jacks or Better online video poker games with even higher payout percentages of up to 99.54%.

This elevated and highly sought online video poker game requires three elements to be present. First, the richest payout for a Royal Flush must be a higher multiplier when betting the max five coins. For example, if 1 coin pays 250, 2 coins pays 500, 3 coins pays 750 and 4 coins pays 1000, then betting all five coins should pay more than 1250. Most online video poker games do incorporate a rising scale for 5-coin bets, with 4000x being a typical pay for a max bet on the Royal Flush.

Next, you need a Full House to pay 9, and a Flush to pay 6, aka the “9/6 pay table”. The following pay table is a perfect example of a superior 99.54% payout percentage.

Online Video Poker 9/6 Pay Table

You certainly can’t expect games such as these to be available all over the internet. 9/5 pay tables are more common, but not so common as less affable payout percentages found on 8/6, 8/5, 7/5 and even 6/5 pay tables.

With that said, here’s a basic chart that shows what payout percentages a player can expect to find on Jacks or Better video poker machines with the following Full House / Flush pay tables.

Video Poker Pay Table
(Full House / Flush)

Payout
Percentages

9/6

99.54%

9/5

98.45%

8/6

98.39%
8/5

97.30%

7/5

96.15%

6/5

95.00%

To achieve these results, you’ll also want to invoke optimal strategy for the online video poker game you’re playing. Specific strategies for standard Jacks or Better video poker can be found all over the internet, so look for them before you start playing. Make certain you’re using the correct strategy, from a trusted source, to guarantee optimum payout percentages.