Why Play Video Poker Perfectly

28 October 2023

By Jerry Stickman

From Rusty:

Dear Stickman,

I enjoy your articles about video poker, but I have a question.

I play video poker quite often. I know that playing the proper strategy can improve my lot in life. I do usually follow the proper strategy, but there are times when it just doesn’t seem like the proper way to go.

For example, playing jacks or better, if I am dealt a suited ace and ten, the strategy says to discard the ten and hold the lone ace. Why would I do that? That means that I cannot get a royal flush. Hitting royal flushes is why I play jacks or better.

Please help me understand.

Thanks!

Rusty

Hi Rusty,

Video poker playing strategy is designed for one reason – to give you the highest possible return from any dealt hand. It does not matter if the hold will produce a royal flush, a straight flush or any of the other possible winning hands.

What does matter is that the overall return from the hold produces the highest possible return. This may come from a few high paying hands, or many lower paying hands. The return for each possible winning hand is multiplied by the probability of hitting that hand to get that portion of the overall return. All the various pieces of the return are then added together to get the overall return.

The hold with the highest overall return is the proper hold.

That being said, what if someone plays as you do?

Simply put, it is your money. You can play it any way you want. If any part of the strategy bothers you, you can ignore it. Just know that it will cost you in the long run. If you are a casual play who plays only several hundred to a few thousand hands per year, the loss may not be very much. In fact, it will probably not even be noticeable.

Don’t agonize over this. When you get more serious and play more often, following video poker strategy religiously may make more sense to you.

As always, may all your wins be swift and large, and your losses be slow and small.

Jerry “Stickman”

Jerry “Stickman” is an expert in craps, blackjack and video poker and advantage slot machine play. He is a regular contributor to top gaming magazines. He authored the video poker section of “Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Pai Gow Poker!” You can contact Jerry “Stickman” at stickmanjerryg@gmail.com