Beginner’s Guide to Video Poker - How to Play, Rules and Strategies

If you want to learn how to play Video Poker, as well as get some of the best strategies, then this is the place for you.

Video poker has come a long way since it was first introduced in the 1970s, although that can probably be said for most forms of technology and gaming! While video poker is similar to the live dealer game, it is seen as more accessible and less intimidating as it’s simply the player vs the computer, rather than sitting down at a table with up to nine other people.

What is Video Poker?

Video Poker is a game played on an electronic machine in casinos, which is based on the Texas Hold’em style of poker. While there are a few different variants, we’re going to keep things simple for you here.

It’s a game of two stages. You get dealt your first set of cards, you decide which ones you’re gonna keep and then any others get redealt. Your mission is to make the best poker hand possible. That’s it!

The layout will be very simple and accessible, where you only really need to worry about pressing the ‘Draw’ button on the screen.

The hand rankings are the same as traditional poker, so you don’t need to worry too much about learning a new table for that.

Also, funnily enough, if you ever played Picture Poker on a game that rhymes with Muper Sario 64 or Muper Sario Bros, then it’s exactly the same concept, except you don’t have to try and beat that cheating mustached green plumber (how did he always manage to win?! Something was definitely up with that).

How to play Video Poker?

Video Poker is very, very simple to play.

You choose your stake

You press ‘Draw’ to receive five cards

You decide which ones to ‘Hold’, which will stay in your hand

You press ‘Draw’ to swap out any cards you haven’t selected to ‘Hold’

You see how much you’ve won!

The lowest hand usually in video poker is a pair of jacks or better, so bear this in mind when you’re trying to figure out which cards to Hold and which ones to redraw.

Video Poker pay table:

Royal Flush: AKQJ10 of the same suit

Straight Flush: Five consecutive numbers of the same suit, such as 56789 of spades

Four of a kind: Four of the same cards, such as AAAA9 or 77774

Full house: Three cards the same and two cards the same, such as 33366 or JJJQQ

Flush: Five cards of the same suit, but not consecutive, such as 2964J of hearts

Straight: Five consecutive cards, but not all the same suit, such as 23456

Three of a kind: Three cards of the same number, such as JJJ28 or 44467

Two pair: Two pairs in the same hand, such as JJ223 or 88779

Jacks or better: One pair of jacks, queens, kings or aces.

What are some winning Video Poker strategies?

As Video Poker is mostly down to luck, it’s impossible to win every time. That being said, there are definitely some things to pay attention to while you play.

Make sure you Hold the right cards

This might sound demeaning, but this is actually something I really struggled with while playing video poker while researching this article! I was in the mindset of ‘I want to change these cards’ so I’d click on them. Of course, this is how you ‘Hold’ cards, so I’d end up Holding all the bad cards and binning off all of the good cards. This happened MULTIPLE times, I threw away a full house because I was so focused on redrawing the spare card that I just clicked on it and then pressed Redraw!

One of the best ways to avoid this is to play slowly when you first start out and really double-check that you’re Holding the right cards and switching out the ones you don’t want (you don’t want to make the same mistakes as me).

Once you get in the habit of this, things will become easier.

Hold any pair

It can be tempting to go for that Straight or Flush, but it’s so much better in the long run if you hold any pair. This is because, mathematically, you’re more likely to get three of a kind or two pair. It can also be tempting to Hold a high card and redraw a lower pair, but in my own experience, I got many more wins holding every pair that came in rather than chasing those higher hand rankings.

Practice for free

Video poker is a very simple game to play, but that isn’t the only reason you should try it out for free before you play for real money.

If you play a Video Poker demo, then you’ll have the opportunity to form your own strategies and get a feel for the game. For example, even though we’ve recommended Holding any pair, you might find this doesn’t work for you and that you prefer going more a strategy with more volatility.

Stick with one hand while you’re new

What does this mean? Surely those five cards are the only ones in play, right? Well…

There are some Video Poker tables where you can play up to 100 tables at once. You get dealt the five cards, then any that you Hold will apply across all 100 hands. The redrawn cards will be random for each hand, so you’ll be playing 100 different possibilities at once.

There is no point in doing this when you’re still learning the game! This is an intense form of multi-tabling and will drain your bankroll faster than you can anticipate, especially if you’re still learning the game and picking up your own strategies.

Stick to just one hand at a time, take it slow and remember to have fun while you learn this new game!