Online Video Poker Game Guide

Would you like to learn how to play to win an online video poker game? It's not that difficult. You only need to follow basic video poker strategies and, if you play on the Internet, you don’t have to memorize them.

Just have the strategy table beside your keyboard and refer to it as you play each hand. Searching for "video poker strategy tables" will bring up sites with all the charts you'll ever need, easy to copy and print.

'Full Pay' Video Poker

Most important is that you select a machine with a ‘full pay’ schedule. Next decide which game variation to start with. There are more than a dozen choices.

The easiest to master is Jacks or Better, an elementary draw poker game. If its pay table is not watered down, its rated at a payback of 99.54%. Versions of Jacks or Better that are not ‘full pay' return considerably less.

Many Different Games

Among other popular video poker games are Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Joker Wild, Deuces Wild and Aces and Faces. Each has unique strategy rules. For instance, Jacks or Better rules can not be applied to Deuces Wild.

It's best to begin by learning how to play a fundamental online video poker game properly and then graduate to something more complex like Double Double Bonus Poker or Deuces Wild.

Personally, I prefer the latter two games. In Deuces Wild, you can win 1,000 coins if you hold four wild cards. Double Double Bonus Poker pays 800 coins for a hand of four aces, and if the fifth card is a 2, 3 or 4, you collect 2,000 coins! Because of the high mini-jackpots, these games are more volatile, which gets the adrenalin flowing.

What to Hold

At times, following the strategy rules can be a difficult decision. You're playing Jacks or Better and the five cards you are dealt are 9♣, 10♣, J♣, Q♣, K♣ – a straight flush that pays 250 coins. Would you hold it or do you discard the 9, hoping to draw the A♣ for the Royal Flush that pays 4,000 coins?

For me it would depend on what shape my bankroll is in at that point. If I'm almost out of money, I'd collect the 250 coins. The possibility of drawing that Ace is a long shot, but the difference between 250 coins and 4,000 coins is also huge.

By referring to printed video poker strategies, in time, you'll automatically remember what to do and won't need to consult the printouts as often. That's how I learned; I can play up to 700 hands an hour without making serious errors.

Do I win? Not as often as I'd like to, but I prefer playing an online video poker game over slots. By taking advantage of video poker bonuses, I manage to at least break even overall.

Bonus Play Rules