Posted by Emily Rouse 1 month ago (28.03.2024)
When you play online slots, you don’t have much place to make a strategy other than deciding on the size of your bet or potentially buying the bonus feature, if available. You just set the bet, push play and hope for the best. And the house always has a better edge in slot games than in video poker, for example, which could affect your choice of a casino game to play.
If you choose to play poker, you should know that video poker is different from regular poker played at land-based or online casinos. The most notable difference is it’s played on a machine and without opponents, so you rely on your instincts, knowledge of the game, and a bit of luck to win.
And that’s where having a solid video poker strategy comes in handy. When you have a strategy to follow, it’s easier to build your game and make decisions about your cards and next moves. But what strategy do you use, and how do you implement it? Read our video poker strategy guide to find out.
While it’s true that poker, much like other casino games, is a game of chance, it is also a game of skill and strategy, one that you can learn and practice to perfect. Video poker was among the first games to appear at online casinos, giving players plenty of time to develop strategies or adjust them to the online environment.
Using a strategy in video poker is vital for boosting your chances of winning. When you have a clear strategy, it sets you up for success if the cards play your way. You will, of course, need to know all the rules of the game first and the strength of the cards you hold so you will know how to control them and what to play.
Choosing the right strategy for your game will depend on the game variation you pick and the cards you get at the beginning of the game.
Video poker shouldn’t be a guessing game, and our advice is that you learn as much as you can before you start playing. It’s not too complicated, but it takes time and, of course, practice to understand all the combinations and what to do with the cards that you get. So, what is the best strategy for video poker?
The answer is the infamous: it depends. An optimal strategy for video poker that works for every game variation probably doesn’t exist, but it depends on the preferred playing style and the cards you get in the initial hand. Let’s look into some basics first.
Video poker machines have their pay tables, and they are available to you on display when picking the machine you’d like to play on. You have probably noticed that slots have pay tables as well, and video poker paytables are similar, showing how much you can win for each winning poker hand you have.
A strategy chart is an excellent tool for beginners, designed to help you understand your hand and tell you what cards you should keep and what to replace. As with the pay tables, the chart also typically starts from the best, top-paying hands and works its way down to all other potential combinations and options.
It goes without saying that you need to know what a poker hand combination is and how valuable it is in the game of poker. The best poker hand you can possibly get is a Royal Flush, and you need an Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten, all of the same suit, to get this hand. Truth be told, it is an extremely rare hand, but it always beats all other hands.
RTP, or the theoretical Return to Player, is the percentage of invested funds players can expect to get back from a casino game over a longer period of time. Video poker, again theoretically, has a higher RTP than most slots, especially because it requires some knowledge of the game, skills and strategy to play.
Whether or not to break a high pair is a tough decision to make, especially for a novice video poker player. Our advice is only to consider breaking a high pair when your other cards show huge potential for a much bigger win.
Strategies can differ based on the video poker variation you choose to play, and based on the variation you choose, you can find your optimal strategy for video poker. The most popular variation is Jacks or Better, but Deuces Wild is also among players’ favourites.
There you go! These are some of the basic tips we have for your next video poker game. Good luck!