Video poker involves cards being randomly dealt to you, but it would be wrong to think that you don’t have any control over the outcome. While it’s largely a game of chance, you can boost your chances by understanding how to use video poker strategy charts.
What Is Video Poker?
The first point to consider is that video poker is like a simplified version of the classic poker game. Rather than trying to get a better hand of cards than others sitting at the table, all you need to do is get a paying hand, The lowest-paying wins are for hands like three of a kind or a straight, climbing to the biggest payouts that come with strong hands like five of a kind or a royal flush.
Before looking at the best way to use strategy charts, we need to take into account the fact that video poker is a term covering different versions of the games. The first step in setting your video poker strategy is to choose one of the individual games to try. Versions include Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better, where the winning hands and the use of wild cards are the key differences. Caribbean Stud Poker adds 1:1 payouts for relatively weak hands such as a single pair of a high card.
“Video poker” (CC BY 2.0) by sarahstierch
How to Use Strategy Charts
The reason strategies work on video poker is the way that you’re given a chance to discard some of the initial cards you’re given, replacing them with new ones. While this doesn’t take out the random aspect, it means that you get to choose whether you want to hold onto some cards that you think will help you form a winning hand.
To do this well, you need to look for strategy charts specifically for the version you’ll be playing. If you choose Jacks or Better, the lowest winning hand is a pair or jacks, while Deuces Wild uses the 2s- referred to as deuces – as wilds to replace any other cards. These varying rules let us see why the strategies need to be different. In Deuces Wild, you don’t want to discard any 2s, while the jacks are important cards in Jacks of Better.
Reading the strategy and considering your options is slightly more complex in video poker than it is when using a basic blackjack strategy. The reason for this is that there are more cards on the table and more decisions to make. Rather than a simple table that tells you which cards to hold onto, you’re more likely to see advice such as to work out the highest-ranking poker hand you could realistically achieve based on the number of 2s you have in Deuces Wild.
“Straight Poker Hand – 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Mixe” (CC BY 2.0) by gutsgaming
Why Use a Strategy?
A good video poker chart will tell you the odds of getting certain paying hands, based on the cards you hold and the specific rules you’re playing to. This doesn’t guarantee you a win, but it helps you to work out what move makes the most sense, rather than run the risk of making poor decisions that lower your chance of winning. You can make informed decisions based on whether you want to aim for the best hands or prefer to play it safe and just try to get some wins in the easiest way possible.
It’s up to you whether to use video poker strategy charts or not. You can still win without this aid, but you might find that understanding at least the basic strategic approach gives you a
great start on this game. After that, it’s simple to play and you can use the information you’ve learned to decide your exact playing approach.
