General Tips for Video Poker Strategy

There are dozens of different video poker variations out there. Some counts put the number of games at over 50, and there are often at least five or ten different paytables for each variation. That means that there are easily more than 500 different unique video poker experiences that players can have when you combine the rules of the game with the unique paytables. When faced with this reality, you can do one of two things. Your first option is to focus on one particular game with one particular paytable to try to learn it in an in-depth way. The problem with that approach is that it’s not very much fun since it requires more studying than playing. The alternative is to learn the general principles that govern video poker strategy and to learn how to apply those principles in different types of games.

Pairs and Draws

Almost everything in video poker regarding strategy comes down to the relationship between pairs and draws, and this holds true for every single type of video poker out there regardless of if it includes wild cards or not. You need to know how draws and pairs compare to each other in value because your most difficult hands to play are going to be the ones where you have both a pair and a four-card draw and you have to decide when to abandon your pair and when you should keep it.

Generally speaking, in most video poker games, you’re going to keep any pair that earns its own payout unimproved over a four-card straight or flush draw. However, if the pair does not earn its own payout without improving, then it will almost always be worse than a flush draw. With that being said, straight draws are the opposite. Straight draws are always worse than any single pair as long as there are payouts available for three of a kind.

Breaking Stronger Made Hands

An advanced play that comes up sometimes, no matter what variation you’re playing, is when you have the option to break a flush or straight to go for a straight flush or royal flush draw. In almost every single type of video poker out there, having four cards to a flush is going to be a stronger hand than keeping a made straight or flush (but not a straight flush). So if you held all in clubs, then you should abandon the made hand and the guaranteed payout by discarding the five and hoping for the most.

If you understand why this is the case, then you’ll understand a lot about video poker strategy in the larger sense. The object of the game is to maximize the average value of the hand you receive after your discards. Even though you might have a guaranteed payout with the made flush, the average value of your hand is higher when you make this discard because of the chance of making a royal flush combined with the opportunities to make other big hands (including another flush).