Video Poker: Strategies to maximize your winnings

As someone who has spent over a decade on the inside of the online gaming industry, I’ve had the unique privilege of observing the full, fascinating spectrum of casino games and the players who are drawn to them. I’ve seen the pure, chance-based thrill of the slot machine and the intense, psychological warfare of the poker table. But there is a game, a brilliant hybrid, that sits elegantly at the crossroads of these two worlds, and for the initiated player, it offers one of the most intellectually rewarding and potentially profitable experiences available on a platform like Rabona. That game is Video Poker. To many new players, it looks like a simple slot machine with playing card symbols. But from my insider’s perspective, where I see the data and understand the deep, mathematical engine that drives it, I can tell you that this perception is a profound misunderstanding. Video Poker is not a slot machine. It is a strategy game in disguise. It is a duel between you and the mathematics of probability, where your decisions have a direct, measurable, and crucial impact on your chances of winning. In this article, I am not just going to go over the rules. We are going to dissect the anatomy of the game, master the art of “perfect” strategy, and uncover why this often-overlooked game is a favourite among professional players and one of the hidden gems in any online casino.

More Than a Slot Machine: The Crucial Difference

To master Video Poker, we must first understand what makes it fundamentally different from a standard slot machine.

• A Slot Machine: The experience is passive. You press “spin,” and then you are a spectator to a random outcome determined by a Random Number Generator (RNG). Your decisions, beyond your bet size, have no influence.
• Video Poker: The experience is active. The game deals you a five-card starting hand. Now, you are in control. You must make a strategic decision: Which cards do you “hold,” and which do you “draw” (discard) in the pursuit of the best possible poker hand?

This single, crucial difference-player decision-is everything. It transforms Video Poker from a game of pure chance into a game of skill. And in a casino, skill equals an opportunity to improve your odds.

The Pay Table: Your Most Important Strategic Tool

The second major difference is transparency. In a standard slot machine, the exact probability of hitting any given combination is a closely guarded secret of the game developer. In Video Poker, all the information is laid bare.

Your most important tool is the pay table. This table, always visible on the game screen, shows you exactly how much each winning poker hand pays out. But its function is much deeper than that.

The Art of “Reading” a Machine

For a professional Video Poker player, the pay table is like a DNA map of the machine. Small, subtle variations in the payouts for specific hands have a huge impact on the game’s overall Return to Player (RTP).
Let’s take the most common game, Jacks or Better, as an example. In this game, you get your money back for a pair of Jacks or higher. The two most important payouts to look at are for a Full House and a Flush.

• A “9/6” Jacks or Better (Full Pay): This is the gold standard. The machine pays 9 coins for a Full House and 6 coins for a Flush (for each coin wagered). A 9/6 machine, when played with perfect strategy, has a theoretical RTP of an incredible 99.54%. This is a house edge of only 0.46%!
• An “8/5” Jacks or Better: Many casinos will offer machines that look identical, but only pay 8 coins for a Full House and 5 for a Flush. This “small” change drops the RTP down to around 97.3%.

The Insider’s Verdict:
The difference between 99.54% and 97.3% may not sound like much, but in reality, the house edge in the 8/5 game (2.7%) is more than five times higher than in the 9/6 game (0.46%). Learning to spot a 9/6 machine is the first and most important strategic decision you can make. It is the equivalent of choosing to play European Roulette over American Roulette-a non-negotiable decision for the informed player.

Perfect Strategy: Thinking Like a Computer

Now that we’ve chosen the right machine, we come to the second half of the skill equation: making the correct “hold/draw” decision on every single hand.

Just like Blackjack, Video Poker is a “solved” game. For every conceivable five-card starting hand, there is one, and only one, mathematically optimal way to play it to maximize your long-term expected value. This “perfect strategy” has been developed through computer simulations of billions of hands.

Learning the Optimal Strategy

Memorising the strategy can seem daunting, but it can be found in simple charts online. These charts are a priority list. You start from the top of the list, find the first combination your hand contains, and those are the cards you hold.

A simplified version for Jacks or Better looks something like this (from highest to lowest priority):

1. Hold a made Royal Flush, Straight Flush, or Four of a Kind.
2. Hold 4 cards to a Royal Flush.
3. Hold a made Full House, Flush, or Straight.
4. Hold 3 cards to a Royal Flush.
5. Hold a pair of Jacks or better (a High Pair).
6. Hold 4 cards to a Straight Flush.
7. …and so on, down to holding a single high card (J, Q, K, A) or, if you have nothing, discarding all five cards.

The Counter-Intuitive Plays

This is where the real skill lies. The perfect strategy will often ask you to make plays that go against your gut instinct.

• Example 1: Breaking a Winning Hand. You are dealt: J♠, Q♠, K♠, A♠, 9♥. You have a made “High Pair” of Jacks, which is a guaranteed win (you get your money back). But you also have 4 cards to a Royal Flush. The correct strategic play is to discard the 9♥ and draw one card, hoping to hit the astronomically rare, but enormously valuable, 10♠.
  • Why? The Expected Value (EV) of drawing to a Royal Flush is mathematically higher than the guaranteed value of keeping the low pair, because of the giant payout for a Royal Flush (typically 800:1 when playing max coins).
• Example 2: Low Pair vs. High Card. You are dealt: 6♦, 6♥, K♠, 8♣, 2♠. You have a made “Low Pair” of 6s. Most amateurs would hold the pair. But the correct strategy is to discard everything except the King.
  • Why? The expected value of holding a single high card (with four chances to pair it up into a winning high pair) is marginally better than holding a low pair (which requires you to hit a third 6 to make a strong hand).

Having the discipline to make these correct, but often counter-intuitive, decisions is what separates a 99.54% RTP player from a 95% RTP player. A platform like Rabona allows you to practice these strategies in “play for fun” mode.

Beyond Jacks or Better: A World of Variation

While Jacks or Better is the perfect starting point, the Video Poker universe offers a wealth of exciting variants, each requiring its own unique strategy.

• Deuces Wild: All 2s are wild cards. This leads to many more powerful hands, but the pay table is adjusted accordingly (a pair pays nothing, and a Three of a Kind is often the minimum win). The strategy here is completely different and is all about maximizing your chances of getting Four of a Kind or better. A “full-pay” version of this game can have a theoretical RTP of over 100.76%, making it one of the very few games where a perfect player has a small edge over the house.
• Joker Poker: Played with a 53-card deck (including one Joker). The Joker is wild.
• Double Bonus Poker: Offers enhanced payouts for specific types of Four of a Kind (e.g., four Aces). This changes the strategy, as you are now more inclined to hold a single Ace over other high cards.

Exploring the different Video Poker variants is a great way to keep the game fresh and challenging.

Bankroll Management and the “Max Coin” Rule

The Most Important Betting Rule

There is one betting rule in Video Poker that is almost sacred: Always play the maximum number of coins (typically 5).

• Why? Look at the pay table for a Royal Flush.
  • 1 coin bet: 250 coin payout.
  • 2 coins bet: 500 coin payout.
  • 3 coins bet: 750 coin payout.
  • 4 coins bet: 1,000 coin payout.
  • 5 coins bet: 4,000 coin payout!
• The Bonus Payout: The payout for a Royal Flush with max coins is not a linear progression. There is a huge bonus payout. This bonus payout is a crucial part of the game’s overall RTP. If you play with fewer than 5 coins, you are playing a game with a significantly lower overall return.
• The Practical Strategy: If your budget does not allow you to play 5 coins on a €1 machine (a €5 bet), do not drop down to 1 coin. Instead, drop down to a machine with a lower coin value (e.g., a €0.25 machine) and still play 5 coins (a total bet of €1.25). Always play max coins.

Conclusion: The Intellectual’s Alternative to the Slot Machine

Video Poker occupies a unique and respected place in the casino universe. It is not the most visually explosive experience you can find at a casino like Rabona. It doesn’t have the complex, narrative-driven bonus rounds of modern video slots. Its beauty lies in its purity, its transparency, and the intellectual challenge it presents.

It is the perfect game for:

• The player who loves slots but hates the feeling of powerlessness.
• The player who loves poker but prefers a more relaxed, solitary experience.
• The player who is willing to invest a small amount of time in learning a strategy to achieve some of the absolute best odds in the entire casino.

Mastering Video Poker is a journey. It begins with the simple, but crucial, act of learning to distinguish a 9/6 machine from an 8/5. It continues with the disciplined application of a perfect, mathematical strategy, even when it goes against your intuition. And it culminates in the quiet satisfaction of knowing that you are not just playing a game of pure chance, but that you are engaging in an intellectual duel where your decisions matter. For this type of player, Video Poker is not just an alternative; it is the only game that counts. We at Rabona are proud to offer a wide selection of these strategic games for the thinking player.