Video Poker with Similar Returns

22 October 2023

By John Grochowski

QUESTION: I'm pretty new to video poker, but I know to look for higher full house and flush paybacks. My son taught me that much in years of trying to get me to switch over from playing slots.

Something has me a little confused. The casino where I was playing had 7-5 Jacks or Better, 7-5 Bonus Poker and 7-5 Bonus Poker Deluxe. Jacks or Better paid 125 coins (for a five-coin bet) on all four of a kinds. Bonus Poker paid 400 on four Aces, 200 on four 2s, 3s or 4s as 125 on other four of a kinds. Bonus Poker Deluxe paid 400 on all four of a kinds.

I played Bonus Poker Deluxe, and had a pretty good day. I had three four of a kinds, and I wound up ahead by about $80 in a little over an hour on a quarter machine. It seemed obvious to me that with equal full house and flush payoffs, I should go for the best four of a kind payoffs.

What confused me is why the games are set up that way in the first place. Shouldn't the Bonus Deluxe game been 6-5 or something to keep it in the same payoff area as Jacks or Better?

ANSWER: There's a piece of the payoff puzzle you haven't picked up yet. Bonus Poker Deluxe pays only 1-for-1 on two pairs, while Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker are the only common video poker games that pay 2-for-1.

Because two pair is such a common hand, that drop to 1-for-1 is enough to make up for enhanced four of a kind pays. The reduced two-pair return is a common feature of games that pay big on quads such as Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker and many more.

Among the 7-5 games you found, the highest average payback percentage with optimal play is 98.01 percent on Bonus Poker, while Bonus Poker Deluxe checks in at 96.25 and Jacks or Better at 96.15.

Comparing full house and flush paybacks is a useful method when choosing games in the same family. A 9-6 Jacks or Better game is far better than 7-5 Jacks or Better. But in choosing games in different families, other pay table differences have to be taken into account. One of the basics is the two-pair gap between Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker vs. other non-wild card games.


QUESTION: My brother and I were talking about how we hate 6-5 payoffs on blackjacks, and he said he once saw a game that paid only even money. How bad is that?

ANSWER: When blackjacks pay 6-5 instead of the traditional 3-2, it adds 1.4 percent to the house edge. If blackjacks pay only even money, it adds a whopping 2.27 percent.

I've seen even-money payoffs at charity games and on blackjack variations such as Double Exposure and Super Fun 21.

Not all charity games use this rule, but when I've seen it, I've played if it I was willing to make a donation to the given charity, and skipped the game if I wasn't.

As for blackjack variants, even-money pays on blackjack can clear the decks for a host of positive rules. In Double Exposure, the extra house edge from that rule is part of the reason the dealer can turn all cards face up and give players extra information. In Super Fun, players can double down on any number of cards and there are other positive rules funded by the low blackjack payoffs.

But a standard blackjack game with even-money pays on two-card 21s would be unplayable.