Winning at Casino Video Poker

If you walk through any casino, past the flashing modern video slots, you will inevitably find rows of old, blocky Video Poker machines.

Playing Video Poker strictly on gut feeling or intuition is a guaranteed way to destroy this massive mathematical advantage and lose your bankroll.

Finding the Full Pay Machines

Before you ever insert a single dollar, you must intensely study the brightly lit paytable printed directly on the glass of the machine.

If played perfectly, a 9/6 machine returns a staggering 99.54%, meaning the casino’s mathematical edge is a microscopic, nearly invisible 0.46%.

• Always check the payout for a Full House and a Flush before sitting down
• A “9/6” machine (9 for Full House, 6 for Flush) is the gold standard for players
• An “8/5” machine significantly increases the house edge and should be avoided entirely

Chasing the Royal Flush Premium

Almost every machine accepts between 1 and 5 coins per hand, and the payouts for most hands scale linearly based on your bet.

But if you bet the maximum 5 coins, the Royal Flush payout jumps exponentially to an incredible 4,000 coins (800 to 1).

Memorizing the Basic Strategy Chart

Professional players memorize complex, rigid strategy charts that rank every possible starting hand from best to worst.

You can legally print a strategy card from the internet and hold it right in front of the machine while you play in the casino.

By finding the correct paytable, betting the absolute maximum, and playing flawlessly like a robot, you can nearly eliminate the house edge.