Ask The Slot Expert

In the introduction to your video poker quiz in the July issue of Midwest Gaming and Travel you state "on a 9/6 Jacks or better machine." The Slots manager at the Mille Lacs Indian Grand Casino was not able to tell me what a 9/6 machine was.

Any help will be appreciated.

Burt

Dear Burt,

A 9/6 Jacks or Better machine has this paytable: royal flush 250/4000 (with 5 coins played), straight flush 50, 4-of-a-kind 25, full house 9, flush 6, straight 4, 3-of-a-kind 3, two pair 2, and jacks or better 1.

The 9/6 designation refers to the payback on the full house and flush. A 9/6 Jacks or Better machine is one of the best-paying video poker paytables available. It pays back 99.5 percent in the long run. It used to be enough to just look for a machine that paid 9 and 6 for the full house and flush to find a 9/6 Jacks machine. But now you have to look at the entire paytable. There are paytables that pay 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush and pay other amounts for the other winning hands. These paytables all pay back less than 9/6 Jacks, so you have to look at the entire paytable to make sure you have indeed found a 9/6 Jacks machine.

I specified a paytable in the quiz because the best combination of cards to hold for some of the hands would have been different with a different paytable.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos!
John

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@home.com.

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