If you like to play video poker, understanding how pay tables work is important so that you can select the games with the best payouts, and avoid machines which offer poor returns on your stake when you make a big hand like a Royal Flush.
Part of the magic of video poker (which was invented in the 1970’s) is the transparency of the odds and payouts. Players can quickly work out whether a video poker machine is worth playing (high payback for big poker hands) or not (low payback for big poker hands).
Video poker machines have one of the highest RTP (return to player) % in a casino generally, however casinos may change their video poker & slot machines so that payouts are not so good.
However – this becomes quickly apparent to the savvy video poker player upon inspection of the pay-tables on any given machine. When you understand how pay-tables work you can identify the best strategy + stakes to play in order to reduce risk while playing video poker games in casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere.
What Is a Video Poker Pay Table?
Video poker games & slots share some similarities – one of which is that both have pay tables which explain what the payout is for making various wins at various different stakes (betting amounts).
Gamblers have no idea what the probability is of hitting a jackpot on a slots game, however it’s possible to calculate the odds of hitting any particular card on a video poker game – because the probabilities are modeled on a poker game with of a 52 card deck. Some video poker variants (e.g. Joker Poker) will utilize a 53 card deck – loaded with an extra card (the joker) which can act as a “wild card”.
A Video poker pay table is a matrix of the poker hand combinations that result in payouts, along with the amount paid out for hitting that particular hand, at a specific stake.
In video poker poker hands are ranked from weak (no pair, 1 pair) to strong (full houses, flushes, quads) – just like in regular Texas Hold’em poker. The strongest hand you can make is a Royal flush, followed by a straight flush. The bigger than hand you make in video poker – the bigger the payout.
In most games, you can bet between 1 and 5 coins per hand. How much you get paid depends on your stake. betting at max stake is advisable to get maximum hand pay if you are lucky enough to hit a big hand like a royal flush, straight flush, 5 aces (with a wild card), or quads (4 of a kind) etc.
Video Poker Royal Flushes
The Royal Flush is the “Jackpot” hand in Video Poker T ♥ J ♥ Q ♥ K ♥ A ♥
A very rare and hard to hit poker hand – In video poker games, a Royal Flush usually pays at 250 – 1 for any bet of between 1 and 4 coins in video poker, however if you bet 5 coins, the royal flush pays out at 800 to 1 – a vast difference.
Video poker experts always stress that you should always bet the maximum allowed bet when playing video poker due to the payouts.
If you can’t afford to play max bet on the game you are on, it makes sense to move to a video poker machine with lower stakes where you can afford to play optimally – at max bet, in order to realize your maximum possible ROI if you are lucky enough to hit a Royal Flush.
Pay-tables for popular video-poker Variants
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
95.00%
|
| 7/5 |
96.15%
|
| 8/5 |
97.30%
|
| 8/6 |
98.39%
|
| 9/5 |
98.45%
|
| 9/6 |
99.54%
|
<tbody
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 800/200/100/50/20/6/5/3/2/1/1 |
93.78%
|
| 800/200/100/40/20/5/4/3/2/1/1 |
95.46%
|
| 800/200/100/50/15/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
96.38%
|
| 940/200/100/50/15/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
96.74%
|
| 100/800/100/100/16/8/5/4/2/1 |
97.19%
|
| 940/200/100/50/17/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
98.44%
|
| 940/200/100/50/18/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
99.29%
|
| 1000/100/50/50/20/10/6/5/2/1 |
99.92%
|
| 800/200/100/50/20/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
100.65%
|
| 940/200/100/50/20/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
101.00%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
95.36%
|
| 7/5 |
96.25%
|
| 8/5 |
97.40%
|
| 8/6 |
98.49%
|
| 9/6 |
99.64%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 10/4/3/2 |
95.34%
|
| 12/4/3/2 |
96.22%
|
| 10/4/3/3 |
97.36%
|
| 13/4/3/3 |
98.80%
|
| 9/4/4/3 |
99.45%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 25/15/10/4/3/2 |
94.82%
|
| 20/10/8/4/4/3 |
95.96%
|
| 25/16/13/4/3/2 |
96.77%
|
| 20/12/9/4/4/3 |
97.06%
|
| 20/12/10/4/4/3 |
97.58%
|
| 25/15/9/4/4/3 |
98.91%
|
| 25/16/10/4/4/3 |
99.73%
|
| 25/15/11/4/4/3 |
99.96%
|
| 25/15/9/5/3/2 |
100.76%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 20/9 |
97.68%
|
| 25/9 |
98.61%
|
| 25/12 |
99.81%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 7/5 |
93.11%
|
| 8/5 |
94.19%
|
| 9/6/4 |
96.38%
|
| 9/6/5 |
97.81%
|
| 9/7/5 |
99.11%
|
| 10/7 |
100.17%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
94.66%
|
| 7/5 |
95.71%
|
| 8/5 |
96.79%
|
| 9/5 |
97.87%
|
| 9/6/4 |
98.98%
|
| 10/6 |
100.07%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
95.12%
|
| 7/5 |
96.17%
|
| 8/5 |
97.25%
|
| 9/5 |
98.33%
|
| 9/6 |
99.44%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
95.00%
|
| 7/5 |
96.15%
|
| 8/5 |
97.30%
|
| 8/6 |
98.39%
|
| 9/5 |
98.45%
|
| 9/6 |
99.54%
|
<tbody
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 800/200/100/50/20/6/5/3/2/1/1 |
93.78%
|
| 800/200/100/40/20/5/4/3/2/1/1 |
95.46%
|
| 800/200/100/50/15/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
96.38%
|
| 940/200/100/50/15/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
96.74%
|
| 100/800/100/100/16/8/5/4/2/1 |
97.19%
|
| 940/200/100/50/17/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
98.44%
|
| 940/200/100/50/18/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
99.29%
|
| 1000/100/50/50/20/10/6/5/2/1 |
99.92%
|
| 800/200/100/50/20/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
100.65%
|
| 940/200/100/50/20/7/5/3/2/1/1 |
101.00%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
96.87%
|
| 7/5 |
97.77%
|
| 8/5 |
98.69%
|
| 9/5 |
99.69%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 6/5 |
96.62%
|
| 7/5 |
97.67%
|
| 8/5 |
98.73%
|
| 9/5 |
99.80%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 20/10/8/4/3/2 |
99.92%
|
| Pay-Table | Payback |
|---|---|
| 7/5 |
94.92%
|
| 8/5 |
95.97%
|
| 9/5 |
97.02%
|
| 9/6 |
98.15%
|
| 9/7 |
99.58%
|