Video Poker Strategy

Learn the best video poker strategy with best practices as well as tips and tricks for winning video poker world wide.

Loyal Video Poker Players

As you enter the machine gaming areas of any local casino you will immediately notice two different sets of people.The avid slot player and the loyal video poker players. Each one will tell you how much better there preferred game of choice is and why and this has been a long standing debate between the two.

But when you take a step back and look at the differences between the two different types of gambling venues you start to notice a huge difference between them. Video Poker is thinking game, where as slots is a game of luck. This is why most video poker players love the game because they feel they have more control over their gaming luck by having the choice on whether to Holdem or fold’em.

Video Poker Strategy Elements

One of the most important elements in the game of video poker is having the choice of which cards to keep and which cards to discard. This is probably the most important part of each hand you play.

If your careless, or don’t understand which hands are better than others or maybe you just didn’t take the time to read the rules for the game your playing, all of these reasons are excellent reasons to lose your shirt when playing video poker.

So for all you poker fanatics out there who get all excited when its time to hit the video poker machines, read on and remember the tips below to help ensure your poker playing strategy.

Video Poker Commandments of Strategy

A number of best practices or commandments to make the best of your video poker strategy.

Know Your Machine

When choosing your video poker machine it helps if you realize ahead of time how much you’re betting! If you plan on betting a dollar, but your machine has 5 hands to play at a time, then that means you will be betting $5 per hand not $1. Always make sure you know how much your betting and why. There are many different games available to play and some have one hand and some have more and your bet is “per hand” not total.

Understanding How to Play Poker

If you are new to poker and don’t understand which hands are better than others than you might as well walk up to the next toilet you see and flush your money right down the drain! Unless of course that flush is a straight one! Lol. If you don’t understand that joke, stay away from the poker machines until you do. Simplest advice we can give you for this commandment is to make sure to check the paytable on your poker machine before you make your decisions on which cards to discard and which ones to keep. Make sure you know what you are trying to accomplish by keeping certain cards and what you have a chance of winning.

Jacks or Better Machines

A pair of tens, nines, eights and so on will not win on a Jacks or better game, why? Because you need to have at least a pair of jacks to even think about winning! So don’t get all excited when playing this video poker machine over a pair of anything under Jacks, they don’t count unless you get three of them.

Think, Think, THINK

Playing poker whether it’s a video machine or at a table takes thought. Do you go for that flush, or do you keep your three of a kind? The three of a kind pays a very small amount, probably just enough to cover your bet, but the flush will at least double it. So what do you go for?

This is where your strategy comes in and how much you win or lose. Slot machines there is no decisions to make, just sit and spin and see if you win, but playing video poker is more of a strategy game and if you understand the basic rules and order of winning hands you are well on your way to making smart decisions when playing.

Bluffing Does Not Exist in Video Poker

Who are you going to bluff? The computer? Play your hands straight up, play smart and understand you will lose more than win, but if you hit a big win it will pay off much better than most machines at the casinos.

Wild Cards

Some video poker games have wild cards. Make sure you know this before playing your machine, does it have wild cards? When a video poker game has wild cards the pay offs are smaller and different than non wild card games. Make sure to check the payout screen and see if you are still interested in playing the game, and if you do play look at how much you can win when hitting 4 of the wild symbols, it is usually pretty big.

Wrap Up

While this particular strategy layout just covers the basics, it should help get you off to a start. In the future we will be writing more in depth strategy guides and tips for the more advanced players.

Most important strategy to win at video poker is to only play at trusted online casinos. Be sure to read through some of our casino reviews here at Video Poker World where you will find only the best and most trusted casinos reviewed.