Video Poker Strategy

Though it has little to do with actual online poker (the kind where people go up against other people in an online environment offered by the house), video poker is one of the casino games in which – provided he’s well informed – a player can actually secure positive long term expected value.

I’m not saying it’s possible to just walk up to any video poker machine and beat it in the long-run, but given the right choice of game, and the correct application of optimal strategy, the player can secure a minimal EV+ on some VP machines.

Whether or not you’re capable of such a feat though, there are quite a few things you can do to optimize your odds, and thus to draw out your bankroll and the fun-times a tad longer.

First of all: brush up on your video poker strategy. That’s right, there’s some actual strategy involved: one needs to decide which cards to hold and which cards to drop. You need to develop a feel for what the best move is on each and every hand.

You can achieve that by playing a lot and accumulating experience, or you can do it by studying optimal strategy. Be aware of the fact that optimal strategy differs a little from one video poker type to another.

In Jacks or Better for instance, it’s better to hold on to all the high cards and draw fewer cards than to let go of more cards in order to draw more.

It often pays to play the maximum number of coins that the video poker machine accepts. Some machines (not all though) offer higher than usual payouts for hitting a Royal Flush when playing the maximum coins.

For instance, the reward for a royal flush while playing one coin may be 250 to 1. For playing 2 coins it is 500-1 then, and for 3 coins, you get a 1000-1 payout. For 4 coins, you may get as much as 4,000 instead of the “due” 2,000.

That’s quite excellent value there. Many of the systems which show you how to beat the house edge and how to secure EV+ take this extra value into account. I know what you’re going to say: the odds of hitting a Royal Flush are not that high, so why bother?

It’s quite simple: if you happen to hit one having played one coin only, you’ll gain a full understanding of why everyone recommends to play maximum coins. If you play max coins though and you hit your Royal Flush, you’ll win tons more, even compared to your investment than otherwise.

Playing video poker in a brick and mortar casino is nice, but it’s quite probably even nicer to play online and there are several solid reasons why that’s the case. Online casinos offer their players sign-up bonuses and all sorts of rakeback-like loyalty rewards. Much like rakeback and poker prop deals in online poker, these loyalty deals reward players for the money they spend at the casino’s tables.

At the end of the day, the benefits squeezed out of these deals may become the tie-breaker and may turn a break-even or slightly losing player into a winner. Different video poker games may offer different benefits. Some of them offer bonus rounds which induce extra value.

Some games feature progressive jackpots. You need to become truly adept at determining the value of a bonus as your bonus may well become your best ally at the Video Poker machines. While generally it is not a great idea to rush things in order to squeeze as many VP hands into the hour as possible, if you manage to secure EV+, that’s exactly what you want to do.