To play video poker, you bet 1 to 5 coins, get five cards from a freshly shuffled 52-card deck, pick which cards to hold, and draw once to replace the rest. Your final hand is paid from the pay table on the screen, and in Jacks or Better the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks.
The pay table sets your odds: with correct holds and 5 coins, a 9/6 Jacks or Better game returns 99.54% (a 0.46% house edge), while a 6/5 game returns 95.00%.
Learning how to play video poker online comes down to two things: which cards you hold and which pay table you play. Get both right, and the house edge is one of the lowest in the casino. At licensed US sites, bets can run anywhere from $0.10 up to $500 per hand.
Unlike regular poker, there’s no dealer hand to beat and no other players, so you’re playing against the pay table. Your holds and that pay table decide whether a game returns 99.54% or a lot less.
What I Liked and Disliked About Online Video Poker
Poker is one of my main games, and what I like about video poker is that the pay table on the screen gives me every number I need to work out my edge before the first hand. No slot does that. Just know it’s five-card draw against a machine, so there’s no bluffing and no opponent to read.
I usually play $0.25 coins, so before my first hand I press max bet for $1.25 and open the pay table. On a 9/6 game, a full house pays $11.25 and a flush pays $7.50. On an 8/5 game, they pay $10.00 and $6.25.
That small gap is the difference between a 0.46% and a 2.70% house edge, so I check it every time, and you should too.
What I Liked
- I can read the edge before I bet. The pay table sits inside the game (at BetMGM it’s behind a “SEE PAYS” button), and the full house and flush rows tell me whether I’m looking at 9/6 or something worse.
- A short chart gets you almost all the way. The 16-line simple strategy returns 99.46% on 9/6, only 0.08 points below perfect play.
- Low stakes with a real return. Bets run from $0.10 to $500 per hand, and at 9/6 the 0.46% edge is one of the lowest in the casino.
- One decision can play many hands. Triple Play and Ten Play copy my holds to every hand at the same percent edge, though the money at risk per deal multiplies.
What I Disliked
- I can’t check a site’s pay tables until I’m inside the game. BetMGM posts a 97.36% RTP for Game King, which is below the 99.54% of 9/6 Jacks or Better, so at least some of its tables are short pay.
- Betting fewer than 5 coins cuts the royal flush. Anyone who bets 1 coin to make the money last drops a 9/6 game from 99.54% to 98.37%.
- Ultimate X doubles the bet. You play 10 coins per line instead of 5, and the multiplier rules change from game to game.
- The swings are hard to sit through. On 9/6, 54.54% of hands pay nothing and another 21.46% only give the bet back. That’s why so many players think the deal is rigged.
Play Jacks or Better when the pay table is 9/6 or 9/5 and you bet all 5 coins. At 0.46% to 1.55%, those tables are among the lowest edges in the casino, and on 9/6 the simple chart gets you within 0.08 points of perfect play.
Skip video poker if you won’t open the pay table first or you’ll bet fewer than 5 coins to stretch your money.
The 8/6 and 8/5 Jacks or Better tables (1.61% and 2.70%) get SHIVER ME TIMBERS from me. The 7/5 and 6/5 tables (3.85% and 5.00%) get AVOID IT MATEY, and I won’t play them.
How to Play Video Poker: How a Hand Plays Out
A hand of video poker is quick: one bet, one deal, and one draw. The game shuffles a full 52-card deck before every hand, and the only cards you ever see are your own five.
Pick the Game and Coin Size
A Game King-style game offers several variants in one lobby tile. Choose one, set your coin size, and check the pay table (at BetMGM, behind “SEE PAYS”) before you bet.
Bet 1 to 5 Coins
The max bet button sets 5 coins. That’s the only bet that pays the full royal flush.
Deal
Five cards come face up from a freshly shuffled deck.
Hold
Tap the cards you want to keep. You can hold none, some, or all five.
Draw
Every card you didn’t hold is replaced from the same deck, once. The final hand is paid, and the next hand starts with a new shuffle.
Is Video Poker Rigged? How the Cards Are Dealt
Players ask this a lot, and there’s no evidence that video poker is rigged. The math explains the swings they complain about. The game uses a virtual 52-card deck in random order, which is what regulators typically require. Each card is picked at random, so a royal flush is never “due” because you haven’t hit one in a while.
Licensed sites are also tested. In Pennsylvania, each RNG in an online casino system must be statistically independent, pass recognized statistical tests, and be certified by the state’s gaming lab. New Jersey’s casino equipment rule sets similar RNG tests.
The house edge comes from the pay table, not the shuffle, so that’s what to check. A former casino game programmer, writing about land-based machines, said the payback is set by changing the pay table.
It feels rigged because most hands lose. On 9/6 Jacks or Better, 54.54% of hands pay nothing, and a royal flush comes about once in 40,391 hands. Those numbers already predict long losing runs, and players who say the deals aren’t random haven’t offered evidence.
Video Poker Rules and Hands
Every video poker game pays by hand rank, and the variant decides which hands pay. I’d start with Jacks or Better, the standard game the others are built on.
Jacks or Better Hand Rankings and Payouts
| Hand | Example | Pays per Coin | Pays on $1.25 (5 x $0.25) | How Often (9/6, Optimal Play) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | A-K-Q-J-10, one suit | 800 (250 at 1 to 4 coins) | $1,000 | 1 in 40,391 |
| Straight flush | 5-6-7-8-9, one suit | 50 | $62.50 | 1 in 9,148 |
| Four of a kind | 7-7-7-7-K | 25 | $31.25 | 1 in 423 |
| Full house | 9-9-9-K-K | 9 | $11.25 | 1 in 87 |
| Flush | Any five of one suit | 6 | $7.50 | 1 in 91 |
| Straight | 4-5-6-7-8, mixed suits | 4 | $5.00 | 1 in 89 |
| Three of a kind | Q-Q-Q-6-2 | 3 | $3.75 | 1 in 13.4 |
| Two pair | 8-8-4-4-A | 2 | $2.50 | 1 in 7.7 |
| Jacks or better | Pair of J, Q, K, or A | 1 | $1.25 | 1 in 4.7 |
A pair of tens or lower pays nothing. Keep in mind that “pays per coin” includes your bet, so a jacks-or-better pair at 1 for 1 just gives your bet back.
At 5 coins, the royal flush pays 4,000 coins (800 per coin). Some sites say 800 coins, and that’s wrong.
Video Poker Variants at US Online Casinos
Game King at BetMGM lists nine variants in one game: Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe, Deuces Wild, Deuces Wild Bonus, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Triple Double Bonus Poker, and Joker Poker.
FanDuel lists Game King, Triple Play Draw Poker, Ten Play Draw Poker, Ultimate X Ten Play, and Super Times Pay in Triple Play and Ten Play versions.
Double Double Bonus Poker looks tempting because it pays more for four of a kind by rank and kicker (the fifth card). Four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 kicker pays 400 per coin.
The catch is that two pair only pays 1 instead of 2, so the 9/6 table carries a 1.02% edge, more than twice the edge on 9/6 Jacks or Better. Bonus-style tables also swing more.
Deuces Wild Rules and Pay Table
In Deuces Wild, all four 2s are wild and stand in for any card. That makes hands easier to build, so the lowest paying hand is three of a kind.
Here’s what the full-pay table pays per coin at 5 coins: natural royal 800, four deuces 200, wild royal 25, five of a kind 15, straight flush 9, four of a kind 5, full house 3, flush 2, straight 2, and three of a kind 1.
With optimal play, full pay returns 100.76%, which gives the player the edge, and the Illinois Deuces table returns 98.91%. Expect bigger swings than Jacks or Better: the NSUD table has a standard deviation of 5.08 bets per hand.
Don’t count on finding full pay, though. It’s rare, and we couldn’t verify it at any US online site.
Triple Play, Ten Play, and Other Multi-Hand Video Poker
In multi-hand video poker, the cards you hold from one starting hand are copied to every hand, and each hand then draws from its own deck. Just remember your total bet is your per-hand bet times the number of hands you play.
Every hand uses the same pay table, so the house edge is the same percentage as single-hand play. What changes is the money on each deal: Triple Play at 5 coins of $0.25 is $3.75, and Ten Play is $12.50. BetMGM’s Triple Play Draw Poker page states a 96.94% RTP.
Ultimate X Poker Rules
Ultimate X is an option on 3-, 5-, and 10-play games, and it doubles your bet to 10 coins per line instead of 5. In return, any paying hand earns a multiplier for the next hand in that same position.
On 8/6 Jacks or Better ten play, a full house earns 12x, a flush 11x, three of a kind 4x, and a jacks-or-better pair 2x. Players on land-based machines say the rules are confusing and that they lose money faster because of the doubled bet.
Video Poker Odds, Pay Tables, and House Edge
Unlike a slot, video poker shows you the numbers behind its RTP in the pay table. With optimal holds and 5 coins, 9/6 Jacks or Better returns 99.54%, a 0.46% house edge.
- 0.46%House edge on 9/6 Jacks or Better
- 45.46%Hands that pay something
- 1 in 40,391Royal flush, 5 coins, optimal play
- 4.42Standard deviation per hand, in bets
How to Read a Video Poker Pay Table
You only need two rows to read a pay table. On the common Jacks or Better tables, from 9/6 down to 6/5, the royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, and every hand below a flush pay the same. Only the full house and flush rows change.
When you see “9/6,” a full house pays 9 and a flush pays 6 per coin. A 9/6 table is called full pay, and anything lower is short pay. Here’s the gap on a $1.25 bet:
- 9/6 Jacks or Better (99.54%)Full house $11.25, flush $7.50Play Here
- 6/5 Jacks or Better (95.00%)Full house $7.50, flush $6.25Walk Past
Full Pay and Short Pay Jacks or Better Pay Tables
| Pay Table | Full House Pays | Flush Pays | Return | House Edge | Average Loss per $1,000 Bet | Daniel’s Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 | 9 | 6 | 99.54% | 0.46% | $4.56 | PLAY IT, YAR! |
| 9/5 | 9 | 5 | 98.45% | 1.55% | $15.50 | PLAY IT, YAR! |
| 8/6 | 8 | 6 | 98.39% | 1.61% | $16.07 | SHIVER ME TIMBERS |
| 8/5 | 8 | 5 | 97.30% | 2.70% | $27.02 | SHIVER ME TIMBERS |
| 7/5 | 7 | 5 | 96.15% | 3.85% | $38.53 | AVOID IT MATEY |
| 6/5 | 6 | 5 | 95.00% | 5.00% | $50.04 | AVOID IT MATEY |
We checked this with our own exact calculation of all 2,598,960 possible deals, and it matches the Wizard of Odds figures to four decimals. Each one-point drop on the full house takes away about 1.1 points of return: 9/6 returns 99.54% and 8/6 returns 98.39%.
For comparison, 8/5 at 2.70% is the same edge as a single-zero roulette wheel. A 9/6 table at 0.46% is close to the 0.40% of a 6-deck blackjack game that pays 3:2 and has the dealer stand on soft 17.
What US Online Casinos Publish About Pay Tables
This is my biggest complaint online: pay tables sit inside the game, and no operator page we found shows one. BetMGM does state an RTP for three titles: Game King 97.36%, Triple Play Draw Poker 96.94%, and Ultimate X Poker Ten Play 99.66%. It also says the figure may differ by jurisdiction.
Game King’s 97.36% is below the 99.54% of 9/6 Jacks or Better, so some of its tables are short pay, and BetMGM doesn’t say which.
So I open the pay table before every new game, read the full house and flush rows, and match them to the table above. You should do the same.
Why You Bet 5 Coins: The Royal Flush Payout
I always bet all 5 coins because of the royal flush. At 5 coins, it pays 800 per coin, or 4,000 coins. At 1 to 4 coins, it pays only 250 per coin, so the same 5 coins played one at a time would collect 1,250.
On 9/6 that drops the return from 99.54% to 98.37% (a 1.63% house edge), even with the strategy adjusted.
The royal flush comes about once in 40,391 hands at 5 coins with optimal play, and once in 51,481 at 1 coin, because the strategy for a smaller royal chases it less.
At $0.25 coins, a royal on a $1.25 bet pays $1,000. If 5 coins is more than your budget allows, lower the coin size, not the coin count, so you keep the full royal payout.
Video Poker Variance and Hit Frequency
Expect most hands to pay little or nothing. On 9/6, 45.46% of hands pay something, but 21.46% are a jacks-or-better pair that only returns your bet, so 47% of winning hands just give your money back. The standard deviation, a measure of how far results swing from the average, is 4.42 bets per hand.
Over 1,000 hands at $1.25, you bet $1,250, and the average loss is $5.70. But the standard deviation over those hands is about $175, roughly 30 times the average loss, so don’t judge a game by one session.
The royal flush is a big part of that. It carries about 1.98 points of the 99.54% return, so without it the game returns about 97.56%. About 97.6% of 1,000-hand sessions include no royal at all, so most long sessions on a 9/6 game lose more than the 0.46% average, and the few that hit a royal win.
Ultimate X and Multi-Hand Returns
Plain multi-hand play keeps the single-hand edge, but Ultimate X multipliers change the return, and on these three tables they raise it. With optimal strategy, per coin bet, Ultimate X returns 99.42% on 8/6 Jacks or Better ten play, 99.87% on 9/6 Double Double Bonus ten play, and 97.98% on 8/5 Jacks or Better ten play.
BetMGM states 99.66% for its Ultimate X Ten Play without naming the variant.
At $0.25 coins, Ultimate X ten play bets $25.00 per deal (10 lines x 10 coins), and at a 0.58% edge it loses about $0.145 per deal on average. Regular 8/6 ten play bets $12.50 and, at 1.61%, loses about $0.20.
So Ultimate X lowers your average loss in dollars per deal, even though you bet twice as much, but the swings get much bigger. These figures use the Wizard of Odds 8/6 table, and we haven’t verified the pay table at any US site.
Video Poker Strategy That Actually Matters
If you want to know how to win at video poker, any single session comes down to luck. Over time, you control the pay table, the coin count, and your holds, and the holds don’t take a long chart. A 16-line simple strategy returns 99.46% on 9/6, only 0.08 points below the full optimal strategy’s 99.54%.
Jacks or Better Strategy Chart
On this chart, a high card means a jack, queen, king, or ace. An outside straight is four cards in a row that can be completed at either end, such as 6-7-8-9.
| Rank | Hold |
|---|---|
| 1 | Four of a kind, straight flush, or royal flush |
| 2 | Four to a royal flush |
| 3 | Three of a kind, straight, flush, or full house |
| 4 | Four to a straight flush |
| 5 | Two pair |
| 6 | High pair (jacks or better) |
| 7 | Three to a royal flush |
| 8 | Four to a flush |
| 9 | Low pair (2s through 10s) |
| 10 | Four to an outside straight |
| 11 | Two suited high cards |
| 12 | Three to a straight flush |
| 13 | Two unsuited high cards (if you have three, keep the lowest two) |
| 14 | Suited 10 with a jack, queen, or king |
| 15 | One high card |
| 16 | Discard all five |
To use it, find the highest line your hand fits and hold those cards. Keep it open next to the game until you know the holds. It’s a video poker cheat sheet for 9/6, and the 9/5 and 8/5 tables use nearly the same holds, though the 99.46% figure is for 9/6 only.
Common Video Poker Strategy Mistakes
Online Video Poker vs Land-Based
Video poker hands and pay tables work the same online as at a retail casino. The big difference is that online, you have to open each game to see what it pays.
Online
Pros
- Bets start at $0.10 and go up to $500 per hand.
- Several variants and multi-hand formats sit in one game.
- Some operators post an RTP in the game info, such as BetMGM’s 97.36% on Game King.
Cons
- The pay table is only inside the game, so you can’t compare sites until you open each game.
- Hands come as fast as you press the button, so more money goes through the game each hour.
Land-Based
Pros
- Serious players shop machine by machine for 9/6 Jacks or Better or 8/5 Bonus Poker and skip casinos without them.
Cons
- Pay tables differ from machine to machine, even for the same game.
- The best Deuces Wild table one player reports on the Las Vegas Strip is 98.91%, not full pay.
Also keep in mind there’s no live dealer video poker. Online, it’s an RNG game only.
Where to Play Video Poker Online for Real Money
You can play real-money video poker online in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island, where online casinos are licensed. As of October 2026, Maine has legalized online casinos, but no site has launched there yet.
Stick to a site licensed in your state, and read the pay table before your first hand, because we haven’t confirmed which pay tables each site runs in each state. For more on licensed sites, see our online casino guide.
Common Questions About Video Poker
Which video poker game has the best payout?
What are the best hands to hold in video poker?
Should you hold a low pair in video poker?
What is the probability of getting a royal flush in video poker?
Do you have to bet max coins in video poker?
Where to Go From Here
- Open the pay table and read the full house and flush rows.
- Look for 9/6 or 9/5 Jacks or Better.
- Press max bet for 5 coins, and lower the coin size instead of the coin count.
- Follow the strategy chart, including breaking a flush for four to a royal.
- Treat Ultimate X as a doubled bet.
- Set a budget for the swings: about $175 standard deviation over 1,000 hands at $1.25.
If you like making decisions that lower the edge, learn how to play blackjack, my main game, where a 3:2 table can get down to 0.40%. You can also learn how to play roulette or compare all the casino games we rate.
Sources
Wizard of Odds, video poker basics, strategy, and pay tables for Jacks or Better, Ultimate X, Deuces Wild, and Double Double Bonus (checked 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25); Fortune Scouts exact video poker calculation of all 2,598,960 deals, scripts/video_poker_return.py (checked 2026-10-25); Wikipedia, Video poker (checked 2026-10-25); BetMGM game pages for Game King Video Poker, Triple Play Draw Poker, and Ultimate X Poker Ten Play (checked 2026-10-24 and 2026-10-25); FanDuel, NJ casino lobby (checked 2026-10-25); Pennsylvania 58 Pa. Code 810a.5 and 461a.4, interactive gaming RNG standards and lab testing (checked 2026-10-25); New Jersey N.J.A.C. 13:69E-1.28G RNG standard (checked 2026-10-25); Wizard of Odds, blackjack and roulette house edges (checked 2026-10-21 and 2026-10-23); state online casino records (checked 2026-10-21 and 2026-10-22); player reports from Reddit and the vpFREE2 forum (checked 2026-10-25).