How to win at video poker (and what "winning" really means)

Here is the honest answer first. You can win a session of video poker, and you will win some. You cannot expect to win over time on any common Jacks or Better machine. The best one, 9/6, returns 99.54% of what you bet when you play every hand perfectly. Perfect play gets you close to even; it does not get you past it.

That still makes video poker unusual. Your decisions change the return, and the odds are printed on the screen. Here is how to get the most out of both.

Why video poker is different

On a slot machine, the return is hidden and nothing you do changes it. In video poker:

• The pay table shows the return. Read two numbers and you know the game. See how to read a pay table in ten seconds.
• Your holds change the result. Every hand has a best hold. Miss it and you lose return, sometimes a lot.
• The deal is a fair deck on regulated random-number machines. See is video poker rigged?

Jacks or Better for beginners: three habits

1. Pick the machine

Jacks or Better tables are named for the full house and flush pays in the one-coin column. 9/6 returns 99.54%; 6/5 returns 95.00%. At 600 hands an hour and $1.25 a hand, that is $3.42 an hour against $37.53. 9/6 vs 6/5 has the full comparison.

2. Bet five coins

The royal flush pays 800 per coin at five coins and 250 per coin at one to four. On 9/6, perfect play at a short bet returns 98.37% instead of 99.54%. If five coins is too much, play a smaller denomination, or don't play.

3. Play every hand the best way

Start with the habits that matter most:

• Keep two pair or better, except break a flush or straight when four of its cards make a royal draw.
• Keep a high pair (jacks or better) over every draw except four to a royal or four to a straight flush.
• Keep a low pair over most draws. The exceptions are four to a flush, three to a royal, unsuited 10-J-Q-K and the bigger draws above them on the chart.
• Never hold a kicker with a pair or with three of a kind.

Then learn the full strategy chart. The 10 most expensive mistakes shows what each wrong hold costs.

How much a session can swing

The 99.54% is an average over a very long run. A single session is mostly luck. We simulated 200,000 sessions of perfect 9/6 play at $1.25 a hand:

The typical session loses more than the average because a few big hands (four of a kind, and a royal about once every 40,391 hands) carry part of the return. Most nights, you will not hit them.

What about games that return over 100%?

They exist, or did. Full Pay Deuces Wild returns 100.76% with perfect play, and 10/7 Double Bonus returns 100.17% (Wizard of Odds: Deuces Wild, Double Bonus). But:

• They are rare. The crowd-sourced game finder vpFREE2 listed no Full Pay Deuces Wild in October 2026, and 10/7 Double Bonus only at a handful of Las Vegas casinos, at low denominations.
• They need a different, perfect strategy. Small mistakes wipe out the margin.
• The margin is tiny compared with the swings above. You could play for months and still be behind.

Treat them as a curiosity, not a plan.

What "winning" should mean

For most players, winning at video poker means getting the most entertainment for the money you decided to spend: the best table you can find, five coins, and the right hold on every hand. That is a skill you can learn and measure.

Perfect Hold teaches it with play credits only: it plays like a real machine, and the tutor shows the best hold, and what a mistake costs, on every hand.