Online casino jacks or better
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The jacks or better video poker variant is an online casino game that uses the basic rules of poker. The game sets a faster pace than poker does and is played against the online casino software rather than other players. There are various hand combinations in video poker that will provide winning payouts. In jacks or better, the lowest possible paying hand is made up of two jacks. If your cards show a pair of two jacks or higher, you will receive a payout. If you show a pair of 10s or less, there is no payout.
Play jacks or better video poker at casino.Com UK
At casino.Com UK online casino, you can choose from a number of different online casino games such as slots, blackjack, roulette, scratch cards, and video poker. Video poker is a popular online casino game and there are a number of variations of online video poker available to play. One of the most popular versions is the well-known jacks or better video poker game.
Jacks or better video poker variant at casino.Com UK
The jacks or better video poker variant is an online casino game that uses the basic rules of poker. The game sets a faster pace than poker does and is played against the online casino software rather than other players.
There are various hand combinations in video poker that will provide winning payouts. In jacks or better, the lowest possible paying hand is made up of two jacks. If your cards show a pair of two jacks or higher, you will receive a payout. If you show a pair of 10s or less, there is no payout.
Other than the jacks or better rule, this variant follows the same order of hand values as other video poker games. In ascending order, the winning hands are:
- Jacks or better
- Two pairs
- Three of a kind
- Straight
- Flush
- Full house
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush
- Royal flush
The royal flush has a special jackpot payout of 4,000 coins for those who have bet the maximum of 5 coins.
To begin playing, the online casino software deals a hand of 5 cards face-up. You then choose to hold onto any cards that you want to take forwards into the game. Cards that already form a winning combination should be held. Most players will hold onto a high-value card or two unless they are trying to complete a specific straight or flush. After clicking hold on all the cards you wish to keep, you instruct the casino games software to replace the cards that you have chosen to discard. The cards are replaced, and any wins are paid out.
After you win a hand, you can choose to play the gamble feature if you wish. This gives you the chance to double your winnings. You simply need to predict whether the next card from the deck will be higher than the dealer’s card that was turned up at the beginning of this feature.
Jacks or better
When it comes to online casino games that give you a chance to make a lot of money in a short space of time, there are few games that can compete with jacks or better. A rapid rate of play, ways to improve your chances of winng, lucraative przies and, of course, a ton of entertainment make this an obvious choice for any betfair casino player.
In fact, if you join betfair casino and take a spin with jacks or better, you'll have a chance to earn an exceptionally high win rate thanks to a double feature that gives you the opportunity to double your money after every winning hand. If that sounds like a game you can get onboard with, then join the jacks or better party and start playing today.
Jacks or better game info:
- Type: video poker
- Theoretical return to player: 99.54% for maximum bet
- Doubling feature: available
- Features: turbo mode, music
How to play jacks or better
When you load up a jacks or better game you'll need to set the value of coin you will use for your bets by clicking the plus (+) and minus (–) buttons. After this you'll need to choose how many coins to bet per round by clicking the bet one button. Each click of bet one click adds one coin and you can bet a maximum of five coins. If you are feeling lucky, you can set the maximum bet (five coins) by clicking on bet max and immediately bet the maximum and have the cards dealt automatically.
In practical terms, betting inside this betfair video poker offering starts from an affordable £0.01 and scale up to an impressive £100 when you set the coin value to £20 and wager the maximum number of coins (which is five).
Jacks or better payouts
When you've set your stake, you then have to click on the deal button to receive your first five cards. Your goal is to build a hand, which has a better winning combination (see paytable) than the dealer’s. You can choose which cards you want to keep by using the hold button under the card or simply clicking on the card in question. After you have held all your good cards, to have all the unwanted cards replaced, click on the deal button. After this, if you have a winning combination in your hand, you win. If you haven’t, the next round begins.
Winning hands in jacks or better include:
Royal flush: max payout = 4,000 coinsstraight flush: max payout = 250 coins
Four of a kind: max payout = 125 coins
Full house: max payout = 45 coins
Flush: max payout = 30 coins
Straight: max payout = 20 coins
Three of a kind: max payout = 15 coins
Two pairs: max payout = 10coins
Jacks or better: max payout = 5 coins
Whenever you score a winning hand, you can choose to collect your winnings by clicking collect, or double your winnings by clicking double. When you choose to double, the dealer takes one card face-up and gives you four cards facedown. You must choose one card that is higher than the dealer’s. If it’s lower, then you lose your winnings and if it’s the same, then you can choose to keep your winnings or double again. If you win, then you can choose to collect your winnings or double again.
Alternatively, you may choose to only stake half your winnings by using the double half button.
You can continue the doubling feature until the amount you have won is higher than the double up limit or you have played the maximum number of rounds.
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Jacks or better video poker
Within the realm of video poker, jacks or better casinos offer a game akin to seven card stud for traditional poker players, setting the standard from which most other video poker games have emerged.
For more than 35 years now, jacks or better casinos have been a staple of the gaming world, standing alongside slot machines and blackjack tables as the most commonly enjoyed industry offerings. The vast majority of casual casino goers invariably imagine jacks or better when video poker is mentioned.
This page is intended as an introduction to all things jacks or better, beginning with the game’s historical origins. Those unfamiliar with the concept can brush up on the basic rules and game-play information. Crucial differences between common pay tables are also covered, along with the impact that these differences exert on a player’s bottom line. Finally, we’ll explore advice on proper play and basic strategy at jacks or better casinos, providing the foundation for sound decision-making over the long run.
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How to play jacks or better
To start a video poker session at a jacks or better casino, players begin by depositing funds, either in the form of cash, coin, or casino credit voucher ticket.
When playing live in a brick and mortar casino, you’ll typically be playing machines with a coin denomination beginning with $0.25, but the stakes can rise to $1, $5.00, and beyond in the high stakes area of the gaming floor. Conversely, low rollers can occasionally find machines offering play at a $0.05 price point, but most video poker players begin at the quarter level.
Online jacks or better casinos are more flexible with their settings, so online video poker players can usually locate games with coin denominations of all sizes, with some sites even allowing for customizable stakes.
After loading the machine with your desired bankroll (for the sake of this discussion, we’ll be using a $100 bankroll on a $1 machine to simplify the math), the next step is to select your wager amount. In an online setting, this involves making a casino deposit on your account.
Browse the games list of the jacks or better casino to find the game. The game screen will display a table in the top half, directly above the area where the cards are placed. This table consists of hand descriptors (such as two pair and straight), along with corresponding numbers arranged into five columns. Detailed information about these pay tables can be found in the sections below, but for now, simply think of these columns as representing additional coins that you’ll be wagering.
The game will always begin with the leftmost column selected. However, by using either the touch screen or buttons, you can select any of the other columns, increasing your wager incrementally as you do so. Using our example, you can elect to wager $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5.
As you’ll see in later sections about pay tables, selecting the right-most column, or the maximum wager, is always the optimal play at jacks or better casinos. So, we’ll click over to the right most column and lock in a wager amount of $5 per hand. At any point in the game, though, players can simply adjust their wager amount by toggling through the pay table columns, so you’re never bound to bet more than you’d like at any given moment.
Once the wager amount has been selected, the game begins when you press the “DEAL” button. Five randomized cards will be distributed from a standard 52 card deck of playing cards. From there, the player’s task is to assess the relative strength of their five-card combination, before selecting which cards to hold and which cards to discard.
You may decide to hold all five cards when a pat hand has been dealt, discard all five when you have nothing to work with, or choose any combination in between. After you select the cards you’d like to hold, the discarded cards will disappear and replacements will be issued. With your final five-card hand now completed, the game will distribute payouts based on the strength of your holding.
Jacks or better casino hands
Jacks or better video poker relies on the standard hand hierarchy used predominately in basic poker. As the title of the game suggests, you’ll need to make at least one pair, with that pair representing jacks or better, in order to earn a payout. For players unfamiliar with poker hand rankings, see the chart below for a full list of video poker hands in descending order of strength:
Royal flush
10 J Q K A, all in the same suit.
Straight flush
Any five card straight that are all in the same suit.
Four of a kind
Four cards of the same rank.
Full house
Three of a kind AND one pair.
Flush
Any five cards all in the same suit.
Straight
Any string of five consecutive cards.
Three of a kind
Three cards of the same rank.
Two pair
Two different sets of two cards of the same rank.
One pair
One set of two cards of the same rank.
Jacks or better casinos pay table
One of the most important aspects of jacks or better video poker concerns the various pay tables available at the best online casinos. To begin, we’ll discuss the most favorable pay table in the industry, which is known as a “9 / 6” or “full pay” game.
Take a look at the pay table below to determine the payouts for each of the hand rankings listed above:
| Full pay 9 / 6 | |||||
| 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000 |
| straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| four of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| three of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| two pair | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| return % | 98.37% | 98.37% | 98.37% | 98.37% | 99.54% |
Returning to our $1 machine example, let’s imagine we’ve begun the game with a $100 bankroll and wagered the minimum of $1 per hand. On the first deal in jacks or better casinos, our credits drop from $100 to $99, but a five card straight hits the screen right off the bat. After holding all five cards and keeping the pat hand, we earn a 4 to 1 payout on our original wager or a $4 payout to bring our credits back to $103.
Winning hand payouts
The payouts are aligned as multiples across the pay table, so even by betting the maximum of $5, making a straight is still good for a 4 to 1 payout.Things get more interesting when we reach the stronger hands, as the payout jumps to:
- 6 credits for a flush
- 9 credits for a full house
- 25 credits for four ofa kind
- 50 credits for a straight flush.
The odds against making these stronger hands are longer of course, which is why the payouts jump so significantly as we climb the pay table.
Finally, the crown jewel in jacks or better casinos, the royal flush, returns a payout of 250 credits at the minimum coin denomination level. The royal flush payout increases incrementally, just like the other hands, across the pay table until the maximum wager is reached. As you can see, the max bet payout for a royal flush should be 1,250 credits according to the established pattern of incremental increases, but instead, it balloons to a whopping 4,000 credits.
Max bet offers greater reward
Another clear reason to bet the maximum amount is illustrated by the bottom row of the 9 / 6 pay table, which lists the expected return percentage. To clarify, this percentage is contingent on playing the game according to optimal video poker strategy, but fortunately, a primer on the proper play has been compiled in the next section for your review.
Another way to interpret this crucial number in jacks or better casinos, is to imagine wagering $100 an infinite amount of times. As you can see, by betting the minimum amount (or any amount other than the maximum) your expected return would be 98.37 percent, so in other words, you’d wind up with $98.37 over the long run. However, by simply upping the ante to the maximum wager, your expected return increases to 99.54 percent or $99.54 for every $100 risked.
House edge explained
For players accustomed to the house edge construct, all you need to do in order to understand the numbers above is subtract the expected return percentage from 100 to arrive at the house edge. So for non-maximum wagers in jacks or better casinos, the house edge stands at 1.63 percent (100 – 98.37 = 1.63), which is still quite favorable when compared to chance based casino games like roulette and keno. On the other hand, the house edge against you drops all the way to 0.46 percent (100 – 99.54 = 0.46) when betting the maximum, clearly making this the most profitable play over the long run.
Alternate pay tables to consider
You’ve now learned the ins and outs of the 9 / 6 full pay table in jacks or better casinos. However, casinos are notorious for complicating matters, especially when it affects their precious bottom line. By making slight adjustments to the standard 9 / 6 pay table, online casinos discovered that they could shave significant percentage points off the player’s expected return, padding their own house edge in the process.
Making matters even more difficult, jacks or better casinos realized that by keeping most of the payouts within a given table the same, and altering only two numbers, most casual players would never even notice the increased odds against them. The two hands and corresponding payouts to pay attention to are the full house and the flush, which pay out 9 and 6 credits respectively to give the 9 / 6 full table game its name. Some machines only pay out 5 credits for a flush and maintain the 9 credit payout for full houses, while others pay 8 credits for a full house and preserve the 6 credit payout for flushes. These slight tweaks to the pay table may not seem all that important at first glance, but in each instance, revising the 9 / 6 pay table increases the casino’s house edge and reduces the player’s expected return.
Below you’ll find a grid listing the most commonly used alternative pay tables in jacks or better casinos. As you can see, the # / # heading at the top of each column represents the payouts for a full house and a flush, and payout information is based on a maximum coin denomination wager.
| Alternate pay table | |||||
| 9 / 5 | 8 / 6 | 8 / 5 | 7 / 5 | 6 / 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| royal flush | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| straight flush | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| four of a kind | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| full house | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| flush | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| straight | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| three of a kind | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| two pair | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| jacks or better | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| return % | 98.44% | 98.39% | 97.29% | 96.14% | 94.99% |
Differences between the pay tables
Before moving on to basic strategy for jacks or better, keep in mind that most productive strategic consideration of all is simply to play 9 / 6 full pay machines only. By limiting your action to the most favorable machines on the menu, you’ll instantly pad your expected return before ever playing a hand. Uninformed players who don’t take the time to check a machine’s pay table invariably lose more money over time than their savvier counterparts.
Under the same principle, if you can’t find a 9 / 6 jacks or better casino, play 9 / 5 machines before the 8 / 6 variety, and avoid all other pay tables without exception.
Jacks or better strategy
Like online blackjack and other skill based games which require players to make decisions, online video poker can be broken down mathematically to arrive at the optimal play for any given scenario.
Fortunately for players who are averse to memorization or mentally calculation, most of the decisions you’ll face in jacks or better casinos are simple and straightforward. When you’re dealt a pat five card hand – that is, a hand which is already made and will result in a payout – you’ll almost always be holding onto those cards and collecting the sure profit. On the other hand, when you have a slew of low, unconnected cards in front of you, drawing a new five card hand is only natural.
Making the right decisions
However, many situations exist which are much more marginal in terms of assessing the correct decision. For example, consider the common video poker conundrum posed by the following deal: ad 9d 6d 3d 6c.
You hold two possibilities at the moment, with a small pair of 6s already made, along with four out of the five diamonds you need to form a flush.
- Some players hold onto the small pair in this spot, discarding the other three cards and hoping to land a third 6 for three of a kind.
- Others will always elect to hold the four flush and draw a single card, looking to spike the fifth diamond and make their flush.
While both options appear to be palatable, mathematical analysis has demonstrated that the most profitable play in this scenario is to draw for the flush. Again echoing the game of blackjack, knowing how to navigate these close edges successfully in jacks or better casinos is what separates the losing and break-even players from those who are capable of consistently generating profits.
Player optimal decision table
The chart below can be used as a handy guide, similar to blackjack’s basic strategy chart, to help players determine the optimal play when faced with a tough decision which involves two or more possible hands or draws. In order to read the chart, players first assess the hands or draws they hold given the five card combination on the screen. From there, you’ll always want to select the option which is listed highest on the chart.
| RANK | PRE-DRAW HANDS | OPTIMAL DECISION |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush | hold pat hand |
| 2. | Four cards to a royal flush | draw one card |
| 3. | Three of a kind, straight, flush, full house | hold pat hand |
| 4. | Four cards to a straight flush | draw one card |
| 5. | Two pair | draw one card |
| 6. | One high pair (jacks or better) | draw three cards |
| 7. | Three cards to a royal flush | draw two cards |
| 8. | Four cards to a flush | draw one card |
| 9. | One low pair (tens or lower) | draw three cards |
| 10. | Four cards to open ended straight | draw one card |
| 11. | Two suited high cards (jacks or better) | draw three cards |
| 12. | Three cards to a straight flush | draw two cards |
| 13. | Two unsuited high cards* | draw three cards |
| *with three unsuited high cards, hold lowest two. | ||
| 14. | Suited J 10, Q 10, or K 10 | draw three cards |
| 15. | One high card | draw four cards |
| 16. | Five unconnected low cards | draw five cards |
When holding both a low pair and four cards to a flush, the chart shows the four flush ranked in the 8 th position, just ahead of a single low pair. By picking the highest hand on the chart, in this case, the four flush, you’ll always be putting yourself on the right side of probability over the long run.
Specific examples of using the strategy table
- Among other interesting revelations from the chart, take note of the fact that two suited high cards (12th position) actually constitutes a better hand than three cards to a straight flush. When you hold a hand like qh jh 9h 3d 2s, it may seem tempting to go for the gusto, attempting to draw two perfect cards from the deck while shooting for a 50 credit payout, but in reality, the better play is to hold the qh and jh only. In jacks or better casinos you have a far better chance of making one pair drawing three cards than you do a straight flush when drawing two cards, and over the long run making the more conservative play will save you substantial sums.
- Another aspect of the chart to take note of concerns the 13th position, which covers instances when you hold unsuited high cards. With a hand like A Q J 7 2, for example, the majority of players relying on gut instinct will hold the A and the Q, falling back on the habit of holding the highest cards in their hand. But as the chart instructs, the optimal play in this scenario is to hold the two lowest high cards, which are the Q and the J in this hand.The reasoning behind this distinction is deceptively simple. The payouts for one pair and two pair hands don’t change when you hold aces rather than jacks, so shooting for high cards is irrelevant. But pair based hands aren’t the only possibilities when drawing in jacks or better, and you’ll sometimes be lucky enough to draw perfectly and make a straight.With the A and the Q held, the possibilities for drawing to a straight are simple to deduce: you need a K, a J, and a 10 to make the hand. When you hold the Q and the J, however, your arsenal of outs expands. You can now make a straight by catching the following combinations: A K 10, K 10 9, or 10 9 8.
Making this simple adjustment gives you triple the chance of making a straight under this scenario, and insights such as this are why consulting the basic strategy chart for jacks or better video poker is always a useful exercise. Additionally you can go over the wizard of odds optimal strategy for full pay jacks or better.
History of jacks or better
Any historical account of a video poker variant must begin with william “si” redd, the innovative slot machine and casino equipment distributor who went on to found si redd coin machines (SIRCOMA) in 1975. For a full rundown of redd’s crucial contributions to the industry, and the evolution of video poker from concept to creation, check out our video poker books page.
By 1979, redd’s fledgling casino game manufacturing company released “draw poker,” the first video poker game ever devised, by fusing elements of traditional slot machine design with poker game-play and video technology. The original draw poker game simulated the common poker variant of five-card draw, presenting basic playing card graphics and animations within a standard slot machine cabinet equipped with a television screen.
The game was simple enough, with players depositing coins for credits, receiving a five card poker hand, and deciding which cards to hold while discarding the others. Following a single draw, the strength of the player’s final five card hand was then assessed, and payouts were awarded according to an escalating pay table.
Video poker became popular
Initially, SIRCOMA’s draw poker game attracted little notice from casino visitors, but in just a few years’ time players began to appreciate the appeal of video poker. As a skill based game, one in which player decisions directly affect the outcome, video poker proved to be more challenging and mentally stimulating than “mindless” sessions on a slot machine. Poker players gravitated toward the modernized version of their favorite game while slot fans tentatively began exploring a new machine-based offering.
By 1981, video poker had become one of the most popular options on every casino floor, but it was the introduction of a simple gameplay adjustment took redd’s idea to the next level.
When playing “draw poker,” players needed to meet a minimum threshold of two pairs or better in order to earn a payout. Of course, this resulted in extended runs of losing hands, decreasing the overall enjoyment for players. Redd and his SIRCOMA team decided to revise their payout scheme, setting a new minimum hand strength of one pair of jacks or better.
Jacks or better casinos choice
Throughout the 1980’s and beyond, the now ubiquitous bank of jacks or better video poker machines became one of the most frequented destinations found in casinos all over the world. The game has also been successfully transitioned to the world of online gaming, and today jacks or better casinos are as popular as ever.
For more information on the history of video poker, check out the wikipedia page.
Jacks or better
Video poker is the game of choice for many gambling enthusiasts since it largely offers simplified gameplay and good odds of winning. Unlike most other casino games, the outcome of a hand in video poker is influenced by both chance and the player’s decisions. This is one of the few casino offerings where the house edge can be reduced to zero as long as the players apply a good strategy.
Video poker gained prominence in the 1970s when the first machines of this type appeared across landbased casinos. The game’s popularity caused a number of video poker variations to be devised, each one having its own oddities and paytable. Most of those borrow their basic rules from jacks or better, which is said to be the prototype of video poker as we know it today. Once you have learned the rules of jacks or better, you can easily master all other popular variations of the casino game.
We have witnessed a resurgence in video poker in the last two decades after the game was added to the gaming libraries of online casinos. All major gambling operators would offer jacks or better along with other commonly played varieties of video poker, with gamblers having the opportunity to play via a range of desktop and mobile devices. This article will take players through the basics of jack or better, its rules, hand rankings, and the optimal strategy for the game that can improve your odds of bagging a payout.
Play and rules
Jacks or better plays in the same way as five-card draw poker. Unlike standard poker, here you are not competing against other players, you are competing against the machine itself. Therefore some of the betting actions you would see at a poker table, like bluffing or raising, are absent in jacks or better.
A full deck of 52 cards is in play and each coup consists of two rounds. The software reshuffles the cards after each coup. The standard ranking of hands is used and the hand of the lowest value is a pair of jacks or better, hence the name of the variation. The player starts by choosing the number of credits they want to bet as well as their denomination. In most online variations of jacks or better, you can stake anywhere between 1 and 5 coins per coup. The player then posts a bet of their desired amount and gets dealt five random cards from the pack.
The next step involves evaluating the strength of the starting hand and deciding which cards you want to hold and which ones you want to substitute in order to potentially improve the hand. There is the option of discarding all five cards you have received after the initial deal but you can also choose to hold them all if you are dealt a pat hand.
Once you have arrived at a decision, you click on the draw button to have the desired cards replaced. If your final hand qualifies, the machine will reward you with a payout depending on its ranking and the number of credits you have staked. The more coins you risk, the bigger the payout you receive for qualifying hands.
The majority of jacks or better variations you can play for real money at online casinos would give you the option to gamble your profits on winning hands. You are again dealt five cards and the first one of those is the dealer’s card. The other four are dealt face down and you need to choose one of them – if it of a higher value than that of the dealer, your profits on the last hand will be doubled. If you win, you are usually granted another guess and if it is again correct, your prize gets quadrupled.
The ranking of hands
As we mentioned in brief, jacks or better uses the hand rankings all poker players are familiar with. In order to receive a payout, your aim is to obtain two jacks or a superior pair which is in fact the lowest-paying hand in the game.
This is followed by a two pair and the name itself says it all – you need two sets of cards that are of the same numerical value, for instance two kings and two nines. Next in line is the set, commonly called three of a kind, where you need three cards of equal value while the other two cards in the hand are irrelevant. An example of a set would be three queens.
The set is followed by a straight, which is a hand consisting of five off-suit cards in consecutive order, for example, [5c][6d][7d][8h][9c]. The straight is followed by the flush, which is a hand consisting of five cards of the same suit whereas their numerical value is not taken into consideration, like so [5s][ks][as][2s][10s]. Next comes the full house and it is made of a pair and a set. An example of a full house would be [qs][qc][jc][jh][jd].
Next in ranking is the four of a kind, also called quads in the poker lingo. A four of a kind comprises four cards that are of the same numerical value and an irrelevant card, like four tens and a king. We have progressed to the straight flush, which is a hand consisting of five consecutive cards of the same suit, for example, [7s][8s][9s][10s][js].
The title of the highest ranking hand in jacks or better, and in poker in general, goes to the royal flush. Also called a natural, the royal flush comprises the five cards of the highest value in the pack that are also suited – [ac][kc][qc][jc][10c]. In video poker, all four suits are of equal rank so it matters not whether you have a royal flush of clubs or a royal flush of spades.
There is a very substantial discrepancy in the payouts for royal flushes when you bet four credits and when you bet five credits. Because of this, the players are generally advised to bet the maximum number of credits because if they happen to form a royal flush, it will return 4,000 credits. In comparison, those who bet only four coins will get only 1,000 credits back for a royal flush.
| hand | example |
|---|---|
| royal flush |
Full pay variations
The full-pay jacks or better would commonly return 4,000 credits at the maximum betting level of five coins if the player has a royal flush. On very rare occasions, players can come across full-pay jacks or better variants where the royal flush would return 4,700 credits at the maximum bet level which further reduces the advantage of the house, causing an increase in the average payback to 99.89%. These variations are, however, scarce as hen’s teeth and most online casinos would offer the standard 4,000-coin payout for a royal flush.
It is possible to come across many different jacks or better variations where you are offered smaller payouts for the flush and the full house. There are games where only the payout for the flush is reduced to 5 credits instead of 6. In others, the payout for the full house has suffered a reduction of one credit, offering you only 8 coins at the first betting level. There are even versions of the game where the payouts of both hands are reduced by a unit, sometimes even by two.
“why does it matter?”, you may wonder. At first glance, a reduction of a single unit in two of the payouts may not appear like such a big deal but you would be surprised to learn how much these minuscule changes may affect your overall return in the long-term. These tiny adjustments increase the house edge and decrease the long-term RTP of the games, which logically is not beneficial for the player.
A 9/5 jacks or better game has an average RTP of 99.45% whereas a 8/6 variation would offer a long-term return of 98.39%. It gets even worse if both payouts have suffered a reduction. By way of example, a 8/5 variation of jack or better has a substantially reduced payout percentage of 97.50%. Because of the negative effect the adjustment in the payouts has over your long-term return, you should always strive to invest your money into full-pay jacks or better variations.
Jacks and better cheat sheets
There are numerous strategy cards, also called “cheat sheets” by some players, that you can find online. Some of those are specifically designed for jacks or better video poker variations. A strategy card enables you to play each video poker hand perfectly and is legal to use in both landbased and online casinos. It contains all the hands that qualify for a payout ranked from the strongest to the weakest as well as the number of cards you are expected to discard.
For example, if you receive four cards to an open-ended straight on the deal, the chart would tell you to keep them and discard the fifth card in the starting hand in an attempt to complete the straight. Another example would be to keep suited J and Q and replace the other three cards.
The cheat sheets basically show you which cards you need to hold and which ones to discard in order to improve your chances of forming a hand. Using one such card chart could not be easier since all you need to do is find the cards your starting hand consists of and replace the ones that are irrelevant to the hand.
Some strategy charts are more specific as they tell you precisely what to do in different situations. For example, you initially get dealt [as][ks][qs][2s][3d] in a game of jacks or better and are wondering whether to discard the [3d] and try to complete your flush. At first glance, this is the correct course of action but the table would tell you to keep only the [as][ks][qs] and try to complete the royal flush because it gives greater value with its higher payout.
We would like to finish off by reminding players that all video poker variations have their own optimal strategy and therefore, it would be nonsensical for you to use a cheat sheet for say deuces wild when you are playing jacks or better. The bottom line is following the strategy to the tee can considerably increase your potential long-term return.
Jacks or better video poker
Within the realm of video poker, jacks or better casinos offer a game akin to seven card stud for traditional poker players, setting the standard from which most other video poker games have emerged.
For more than 35 years now, jacks or better casinos have been a staple of the gaming world, standing alongside slot machines and blackjack tables as the most commonly enjoyed industry offerings. The vast majority of casual casino goers invariably imagine jacks or better when video poker is mentioned.
This page is intended as an introduction to all things jacks or better, beginning with the game’s historical origins. Those unfamiliar with the concept can brush up on the basic rules and game-play information. Crucial differences between common pay tables are also covered, along with the impact that these differences exert on a player’s bottom line. Finally, we’ll explore advice on proper play and basic strategy at jacks or better casinos, providing the foundation for sound decision-making over the long run.
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How to play jacks or better
To start a video poker session at a jacks or better casino, players begin by depositing funds, either in the form of cash, coin, or casino credit voucher ticket.
When playing live in a brick and mortar casino, you’ll typically be playing machines with a coin denomination beginning with $0.25, but the stakes can rise to $1, $5.00, and beyond in the high stakes area of the gaming floor. Conversely, low rollers can occasionally find machines offering play at a $0.05 price point, but most video poker players begin at the quarter level.
Online jacks or better casinos are more flexible with their settings, so online video poker players can usually locate games with coin denominations of all sizes, with some sites even allowing for customizable stakes.
After loading the machine with your desired bankroll (for the sake of this discussion, we’ll be using a $100 bankroll on a $1 machine to simplify the math), the next step is to select your wager amount. In an online setting, this involves making a casino deposit on your account.
Browse the games list of the jacks or better casino to find the game. The game screen will display a table in the top half, directly above the area where the cards are placed. This table consists of hand descriptors (such as two pair and straight), along with corresponding numbers arranged into five columns. Detailed information about these pay tables can be found in the sections below, but for now, simply think of these columns as representing additional coins that you’ll be wagering.
The game will always begin with the leftmost column selected. However, by using either the touch screen or buttons, you can select any of the other columns, increasing your wager incrementally as you do so. Using our example, you can elect to wager $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5.
As you’ll see in later sections about pay tables, selecting the right-most column, or the maximum wager, is always the optimal play at jacks or better casinos. So, we’ll click over to the right most column and lock in a wager amount of $5 per hand. At any point in the game, though, players can simply adjust their wager amount by toggling through the pay table columns, so you’re never bound to bet more than you’d like at any given moment.
Once the wager amount has been selected, the game begins when you press the “DEAL” button. Five randomized cards will be distributed from a standard 52 card deck of playing cards. From there, the player’s task is to assess the relative strength of their five-card combination, before selecting which cards to hold and which cards to discard.
You may decide to hold all five cards when a pat hand has been dealt, discard all five when you have nothing to work with, or choose any combination in between. After you select the cards you’d like to hold, the discarded cards will disappear and replacements will be issued. With your final five-card hand now completed, the game will distribute payouts based on the strength of your holding.
Jacks or better casino hands
Jacks or better video poker relies on the standard hand hierarchy used predominately in basic poker. As the title of the game suggests, you’ll need to make at least one pair, with that pair representing jacks or better, in order to earn a payout. For players unfamiliar with poker hand rankings, see the chart below for a full list of video poker hands in descending order of strength:
Royal flush
10 J Q K A, all in the same suit.
Straight flush
Any five card straight that are all in the same suit.
Four of a kind
Four cards of the same rank.
Full house
Three of a kind AND one pair.
Flush
Any five cards all in the same suit.
Straight
Any string of five consecutive cards.
Three of a kind
Three cards of the same rank.
Two pair
Two different sets of two cards of the same rank.
One pair
One set of two cards of the same rank.
Jacks or better casinos pay table
One of the most important aspects of jacks or better video poker concerns the various pay tables available at the best online casinos. To begin, we’ll discuss the most favorable pay table in the industry, which is known as a “9 / 6” or “full pay” game.
Take a look at the pay table below to determine the payouts for each of the hand rankings listed above:
| Full pay 9 / 6 | |||||
| 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000 |
| straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| four of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| three of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| two pair | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| return % | 98.37% | 98.37% | 98.37% | 98.37% | 99.54% |
Returning to our $1 machine example, let’s imagine we’ve begun the game with a $100 bankroll and wagered the minimum of $1 per hand. On the first deal in jacks or better casinos, our credits drop from $100 to $99, but a five card straight hits the screen right off the bat. After holding all five cards and keeping the pat hand, we earn a 4 to 1 payout on our original wager or a $4 payout to bring our credits back to $103.
Winning hand payouts
The payouts are aligned as multiples across the pay table, so even by betting the maximum of $5, making a straight is still good for a 4 to 1 payout.Things get more interesting when we reach the stronger hands, as the payout jumps to:
- 6 credits for a flush
- 9 credits for a full house
- 25 credits for four ofa kind
- 50 credits for a straight flush.
The odds against making these stronger hands are longer of course, which is why the payouts jump so significantly as we climb the pay table.
Finally, the crown jewel in jacks or better casinos, the royal flush, returns a payout of 250 credits at the minimum coin denomination level. The royal flush payout increases incrementally, just like the other hands, across the pay table until the maximum wager is reached. As you can see, the max bet payout for a royal flush should be 1,250 credits according to the established pattern of incremental increases, but instead, it balloons to a whopping 4,000 credits.
Max bet offers greater reward
Another clear reason to bet the maximum amount is illustrated by the bottom row of the 9 / 6 pay table, which lists the expected return percentage. To clarify, this percentage is contingent on playing the game according to optimal video poker strategy, but fortunately, a primer on the proper play has been compiled in the next section for your review.
Another way to interpret this crucial number in jacks or better casinos, is to imagine wagering $100 an infinite amount of times. As you can see, by betting the minimum amount (or any amount other than the maximum) your expected return would be 98.37 percent, so in other words, you’d wind up with $98.37 over the long run. However, by simply upping the ante to the maximum wager, your expected return increases to 99.54 percent or $99.54 for every $100 risked.
House edge explained
For players accustomed to the house edge construct, all you need to do in order to understand the numbers above is subtract the expected return percentage from 100 to arrive at the house edge. So for non-maximum wagers in jacks or better casinos, the house edge stands at 1.63 percent (100 – 98.37 = 1.63), which is still quite favorable when compared to chance based casino games like roulette and keno. On the other hand, the house edge against you drops all the way to 0.46 percent (100 – 99.54 = 0.46) when betting the maximum, clearly making this the most profitable play over the long run.
Alternate pay tables to consider
You’ve now learned the ins and outs of the 9 / 6 full pay table in jacks or better casinos. However, casinos are notorious for complicating matters, especially when it affects their precious bottom line. By making slight adjustments to the standard 9 / 6 pay table, online casinos discovered that they could shave significant percentage points off the player’s expected return, padding their own house edge in the process.
Making matters even more difficult, jacks or better casinos realized that by keeping most of the payouts within a given table the same, and altering only two numbers, most casual players would never even notice the increased odds against them. The two hands and corresponding payouts to pay attention to are the full house and the flush, which pay out 9 and 6 credits respectively to give the 9 / 6 full table game its name. Some machines only pay out 5 credits for a flush and maintain the 9 credit payout for full houses, while others pay 8 credits for a full house and preserve the 6 credit payout for flushes. These slight tweaks to the pay table may not seem all that important at first glance, but in each instance, revising the 9 / 6 pay table increases the casino’s house edge and reduces the player’s expected return.
Below you’ll find a grid listing the most commonly used alternative pay tables in jacks or better casinos. As you can see, the # / # heading at the top of each column represents the payouts for a full house and a flush, and payout information is based on a maximum coin denomination wager.
| Alternate pay table | |||||
| 9 / 5 | 8 / 6 | 8 / 5 | 7 / 5 | 6 / 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| royal flush | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| straight flush | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| four of a kind | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| full house | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| flush | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| straight | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| three of a kind | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| two pair | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| jacks or better | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| return % | 98.44% | 98.39% | 97.29% | 96.14% | 94.99% |
Differences between the pay tables
Before moving on to basic strategy for jacks or better, keep in mind that most productive strategic consideration of all is simply to play 9 / 6 full pay machines only. By limiting your action to the most favorable machines on the menu, you’ll instantly pad your expected return before ever playing a hand. Uninformed players who don’t take the time to check a machine’s pay table invariably lose more money over time than their savvier counterparts.
Under the same principle, if you can’t find a 9 / 6 jacks or better casino, play 9 / 5 machines before the 8 / 6 variety, and avoid all other pay tables without exception.
Jacks or better strategy
Like online blackjack and other skill based games which require players to make decisions, online video poker can be broken down mathematically to arrive at the optimal play for any given scenario.
Fortunately for players who are averse to memorization or mentally calculation, most of the decisions you’ll face in jacks or better casinos are simple and straightforward. When you’re dealt a pat five card hand – that is, a hand which is already made and will result in a payout – you’ll almost always be holding onto those cards and collecting the sure profit. On the other hand, when you have a slew of low, unconnected cards in front of you, drawing a new five card hand is only natural.
Making the right decisions
However, many situations exist which are much more marginal in terms of assessing the correct decision. For example, consider the common video poker conundrum posed by the following deal: ad 9d 6d 3d 6c.
You hold two possibilities at the moment, with a small pair of 6s already made, along with four out of the five diamonds you need to form a flush.
- Some players hold onto the small pair in this spot, discarding the other three cards and hoping to land a third 6 for three of a kind.
- Others will always elect to hold the four flush and draw a single card, looking to spike the fifth diamond and make their flush.
While both options appear to be palatable, mathematical analysis has demonstrated that the most profitable play in this scenario is to draw for the flush. Again echoing the game of blackjack, knowing how to navigate these close edges successfully in jacks or better casinos is what separates the losing and break-even players from those who are capable of consistently generating profits.
Player optimal decision table
The chart below can be used as a handy guide, similar to blackjack’s basic strategy chart, to help players determine the optimal play when faced with a tough decision which involves two or more possible hands or draws. In order to read the chart, players first assess the hands or draws they hold given the five card combination on the screen. From there, you’ll always want to select the option which is listed highest on the chart.
| RANK | PRE-DRAW HANDS | OPTIMAL DECISION |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush | hold pat hand |
| 2. | Four cards to a royal flush | draw one card |
| 3. | Three of a kind, straight, flush, full house | hold pat hand |
| 4. | Four cards to a straight flush | draw one card |
| 5. | Two pair | draw one card |
| 6. | One high pair (jacks or better) | draw three cards |
| 7. | Three cards to a royal flush | draw two cards |
| 8. | Four cards to a flush | draw one card |
| 9. | One low pair (tens or lower) | draw three cards |
| 10. | Four cards to open ended straight | draw one card |
| 11. | Two suited high cards (jacks or better) | draw three cards |
| 12. | Three cards to a straight flush | draw two cards |
| 13. | Two unsuited high cards* | draw three cards |
| *with three unsuited high cards, hold lowest two. | ||
| 14. | Suited J 10, Q 10, or K 10 | draw three cards |
| 15. | One high card | draw four cards |
| 16. | Five unconnected low cards | draw five cards |
When holding both a low pair and four cards to a flush, the chart shows the four flush ranked in the 8 th position, just ahead of a single low pair. By picking the highest hand on the chart, in this case, the four flush, you’ll always be putting yourself on the right side of probability over the long run.
Specific examples of using the strategy table
- Among other interesting revelations from the chart, take note of the fact that two suited high cards (12th position) actually constitutes a better hand than three cards to a straight flush. When you hold a hand like qh jh 9h 3d 2s, it may seem tempting to go for the gusto, attempting to draw two perfect cards from the deck while shooting for a 50 credit payout, but in reality, the better play is to hold the qh and jh only. In jacks or better casinos you have a far better chance of making one pair drawing three cards than you do a straight flush when drawing two cards, and over the long run making the more conservative play will save you substantial sums.
- Another aspect of the chart to take note of concerns the 13th position, which covers instances when you hold unsuited high cards. With a hand like A Q J 7 2, for example, the majority of players relying on gut instinct will hold the A and the Q, falling back on the habit of holding the highest cards in their hand. But as the chart instructs, the optimal play in this scenario is to hold the two lowest high cards, which are the Q and the J in this hand.The reasoning behind this distinction is deceptively simple. The payouts for one pair and two pair hands don’t change when you hold aces rather than jacks, so shooting for high cards is irrelevant. But pair based hands aren’t the only possibilities when drawing in jacks or better, and you’ll sometimes be lucky enough to draw perfectly and make a straight.With the A and the Q held, the possibilities for drawing to a straight are simple to deduce: you need a K, a J, and a 10 to make the hand. When you hold the Q and the J, however, your arsenal of outs expands. You can now make a straight by catching the following combinations: A K 10, K 10 9, or 10 9 8.
Making this simple adjustment gives you triple the chance of making a straight under this scenario, and insights such as this are why consulting the basic strategy chart for jacks or better video poker is always a useful exercise. Additionally you can go over the wizard of odds optimal strategy for full pay jacks or better.
History of jacks or better
Any historical account of a video poker variant must begin with william “si” redd, the innovative slot machine and casino equipment distributor who went on to found si redd coin machines (SIRCOMA) in 1975. For a full rundown of redd’s crucial contributions to the industry, and the evolution of video poker from concept to creation, check out our video poker books page.
By 1979, redd’s fledgling casino game manufacturing company released “draw poker,” the first video poker game ever devised, by fusing elements of traditional slot machine design with poker game-play and video technology. The original draw poker game simulated the common poker variant of five-card draw, presenting basic playing card graphics and animations within a standard slot machine cabinet equipped with a television screen.
The game was simple enough, with players depositing coins for credits, receiving a five card poker hand, and deciding which cards to hold while discarding the others. Following a single draw, the strength of the player’s final five card hand was then assessed, and payouts were awarded according to an escalating pay table.
Video poker became popular
Initially, SIRCOMA’s draw poker game attracted little notice from casino visitors, but in just a few years’ time players began to appreciate the appeal of video poker. As a skill based game, one in which player decisions directly affect the outcome, video poker proved to be more challenging and mentally stimulating than “mindless” sessions on a slot machine. Poker players gravitated toward the modernized version of their favorite game while slot fans tentatively began exploring a new machine-based offering.
By 1981, video poker had become one of the most popular options on every casino floor, but it was the introduction of a simple gameplay adjustment took redd’s idea to the next level.
When playing “draw poker,” players needed to meet a minimum threshold of two pairs or better in order to earn a payout. Of course, this resulted in extended runs of losing hands, decreasing the overall enjoyment for players. Redd and his SIRCOMA team decided to revise their payout scheme, setting a new minimum hand strength of one pair of jacks or better.
Jacks or better casinos choice
Throughout the 1980’s and beyond, the now ubiquitous bank of jacks or better video poker machines became one of the most frequented destinations found in casinos all over the world. The game has also been successfully transitioned to the world of online gaming, and today jacks or better casinos are as popular as ever.
For more information on the history of video poker, check out the wikipedia page.
Jacks or better
What could be better than a couple of jacks in your hand? How about three or four of them? With jacks or better poker, jack will be your new best friend. This straight forward game is easy to learn and quick to play and win.
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Jacks or better guide
Play jacks or better online poker, silver oak casino‘s traditional and straightforward jacks or better style video poker game. Build a winning poker hand and double your winnings by playing the double or nothing bonus round. Jacks or better poker is easy to learn and is the basis for many other versions of online poker.
How to play jacks or better poker
Jacks or better poker is one of the most popular video poker variations available on-line, mostly because it is so simple to play. The rules are the same as any five-card draw poker: you are dealt five cards. Discard any or all five cards and replace them with new ones to improve your final poker hand. You need at least a pair of jacks to win.
The winning hands in jacks or better poker are, by rank:
- Royal flush
- Straight flush
- Four -of-a-kind
- Full house
- Flush
- Straight
- Three-of-a-kind
- Two pair
- Pair of jacks or better
Wild cards in jacks or better
Sorry, there are no wild cards in silver oak casino’s jacks or better poker game.
The jacks or better bonus round
Every time you build a winning hand in jacks or better poker, you have the opportunity to play the double or nothing bonus round. All you have to do is select a card higher than the dealer’s. Clicking yes will risk all of your winnings for this round of play, but you might just double it! The dealer’s card is then revealed – pick one of the other cards in the hand and click draw deal. If your card beats the dealer’s card, congratulations! You’ve just doubled your winnings. Keep playing the double or nothing bonus round and double your winnings as many times as you dare.
Playing multi-hand jacks or better
Play multi-hand jacks or better poker at silver oak casino and choose from three, ten, 52 or 100 hands to play during each round. Playing multiple hands at a time provided multiple ways for you to win during the same round. When playing, pay attention to the cards you keep to enable you to take advantage of as many wins as possible.
Jacks or better tips
- Maximize your bets if you can. This gives you the best payouts per round of play.
- Don’t consider keeping a high-ranking unmatched card when you only have a pair. You’re not playing against other players or the dealer, so there is never a tie. Keeping this card will minimize your options for building better winning hands.
- There is a definite controversy about holding two pairs. Some players think you are sacrificing the possibility of drawing three- or four-of-a-kinds, which have vastly higher payouts. Some players, however, prefer to hold both pairs, anticipating building a full house. Try both strategies and see what works for you.
Deuces wild poker glossary
Bet: amount you wager during a round of play.
Bet one: bets one credit each time clicked (for a maximum of 5).
Bet max: bets the maximum of five credits and deals out your cards.
Draw deal: deals the cards after you bet less than the maximum, and after you select the cards in your hand that you want to hold.
Four-of-a-kind: A winning hand consisting of four cards of the same rank with any unmatched card.
Full house: three-of-a -kind, plus a pair – two cards of the same rank.
Flush: five cards all from the same suit, but not in sequence.
Hold: click on the cards you want to keep. Click draw deal to replace the cards you want to discard.
Jacks or better: two cards, of the same rank, that are jacks, queens, kings, or aces.
Royal flush: ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit.
Straight: five cards in sequential order, but not all from the same suit.
Straight flush: five cards in sequence, that are also from the same suit.
Three-of-a-kind: three cards of the same rank.
Two pair: two matching sets of two cards of the same rank.
History of jacks or better video poker
The origins of jacks or better poker are quite mysterious. There is no specific ancestor of the game in order to ascertain its lineage. However, poker has been around for quite a while. It’s possible that the origin of the name poker came from the french poque game, others claim that it came from germany’s pochspiel game. There are also a few players who are certain that the game is derived from the hindu game, pukka.
Jacks or better is one of the most basic and original poker types that are played, featuring many of the common rules of most popular poker games. This makes it a good starter game, but its simplicity can be deceiving. It can also be a challenge to the best of cards sharps out there today.
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Jacks or better
Video poker is the game of choice for many gambling enthusiasts since it largely offers simplified gameplay and good odds of winning. Unlike most other casino games, the outcome of a hand in video poker is influenced by both chance and the player’s decisions. This is one of the few casino offerings where the house edge can be reduced to zero as long as the players apply a good strategy.
Video poker gained prominence in the 1970s when the first machines of this type appeared across landbased casinos. The game’s popularity caused a number of video poker variations to be devised, each one having its own oddities and paytable. Most of those borrow their basic rules from jacks or better, which is said to be the prototype of video poker as we know it today. Once you have learned the rules of jacks or better, you can easily master all other popular variations of the casino game.
We have witnessed a resurgence in video poker in the last two decades after the game was added to the gaming libraries of online casinos. All major gambling operators would offer jacks or better along with other commonly played varieties of video poker, with gamblers having the opportunity to play via a range of desktop and mobile devices. This article will take players through the basics of jack or better, its rules, hand rankings, and the optimal strategy for the game that can improve your odds of bagging a payout.
Play and rules
Jacks or better plays in the same way as five-card draw poker. Unlike standard poker, here you are not competing against other players, you are competing against the machine itself. Therefore some of the betting actions you would see at a poker table, like bluffing or raising, are absent in jacks or better.
A full deck of 52 cards is in play and each coup consists of two rounds. The software reshuffles the cards after each coup. The standard ranking of hands is used and the hand of the lowest value is a pair of jacks or better, hence the name of the variation. The player starts by choosing the number of credits they want to bet as well as their denomination. In most online variations of jacks or better, you can stake anywhere between 1 and 5 coins per coup. The player then posts a bet of their desired amount and gets dealt five random cards from the pack.
The next step involves evaluating the strength of the starting hand and deciding which cards you want to hold and which ones you want to substitute in order to potentially improve the hand. There is the option of discarding all five cards you have received after the initial deal but you can also choose to hold them all if you are dealt a pat hand.
Once you have arrived at a decision, you click on the draw button to have the desired cards replaced. If your final hand qualifies, the machine will reward you with a payout depending on its ranking and the number of credits you have staked. The more coins you risk, the bigger the payout you receive for qualifying hands.
The majority of jacks or better variations you can play for real money at online casinos would give you the option to gamble your profits on winning hands. You are again dealt five cards and the first one of those is the dealer’s card. The other four are dealt face down and you need to choose one of them – if it of a higher value than that of the dealer, your profits on the last hand will be doubled. If you win, you are usually granted another guess and if it is again correct, your prize gets quadrupled.
The ranking of hands
As we mentioned in brief, jacks or better uses the hand rankings all poker players are familiar with. In order to receive a payout, your aim is to obtain two jacks or a superior pair which is in fact the lowest-paying hand in the game.
This is followed by a two pair and the name itself says it all – you need two sets of cards that are of the same numerical value, for instance two kings and two nines. Next in line is the set, commonly called three of a kind, where you need three cards of equal value while the other two cards in the hand are irrelevant. An example of a set would be three queens.
The set is followed by a straight, which is a hand consisting of five off-suit cards in consecutive order, for example, [5c][6d][7d][8h][9c]. The straight is followed by the flush, which is a hand consisting of five cards of the same suit whereas their numerical value is not taken into consideration, like so [5s][ks][as][2s][10s]. Next comes the full house and it is made of a pair and a set. An example of a full house would be [qs][qc][jc][jh][jd].
Next in ranking is the four of a kind, also called quads in the poker lingo. A four of a kind comprises four cards that are of the same numerical value and an irrelevant card, like four tens and a king. We have progressed to the straight flush, which is a hand consisting of five consecutive cards of the same suit, for example, [7s][8s][9s][10s][js].
The title of the highest ranking hand in jacks or better, and in poker in general, goes to the royal flush. Also called a natural, the royal flush comprises the five cards of the highest value in the pack that are also suited – [ac][kc][qc][jc][10c]. In video poker, all four suits are of equal rank so it matters not whether you have a royal flush of clubs or a royal flush of spades.
There is a very substantial discrepancy in the payouts for royal flushes when you bet four credits and when you bet five credits. Because of this, the players are generally advised to bet the maximum number of credits because if they happen to form a royal flush, it will return 4,000 credits. In comparison, those who bet only four coins will get only 1,000 credits back for a royal flush.
| hand | example |
|---|---|
| royal flush |
Full pay variations
The full-pay jacks or better would commonly return 4,000 credits at the maximum betting level of five coins if the player has a royal flush. On very rare occasions, players can come across full-pay jacks or better variants where the royal flush would return 4,700 credits at the maximum bet level which further reduces the advantage of the house, causing an increase in the average payback to 99.89%. These variations are, however, scarce as hen’s teeth and most online casinos would offer the standard 4,000-coin payout for a royal flush.
It is possible to come across many different jacks or better variations where you are offered smaller payouts for the flush and the full house. There are games where only the payout for the flush is reduced to 5 credits instead of 6. In others, the payout for the full house has suffered a reduction of one credit, offering you only 8 coins at the first betting level. There are even versions of the game where the payouts of both hands are reduced by a unit, sometimes even by two.
“why does it matter?”, you may wonder. At first glance, a reduction of a single unit in two of the payouts may not appear like such a big deal but you would be surprised to learn how much these minuscule changes may affect your overall return in the long-term. These tiny adjustments increase the house edge and decrease the long-term RTP of the games, which logically is not beneficial for the player.
A 9/5 jacks or better game has an average RTP of 99.45% whereas a 8/6 variation would offer a long-term return of 98.39%. It gets even worse if both payouts have suffered a reduction. By way of example, a 8/5 variation of jack or better has a substantially reduced payout percentage of 97.50%. Because of the negative effect the adjustment in the payouts has over your long-term return, you should always strive to invest your money into full-pay jacks or better variations.
Jacks and better cheat sheets
There are numerous strategy cards, also called “cheat sheets” by some players, that you can find online. Some of those are specifically designed for jacks or better video poker variations. A strategy card enables you to play each video poker hand perfectly and is legal to use in both landbased and online casinos. It contains all the hands that qualify for a payout ranked from the strongest to the weakest as well as the number of cards you are expected to discard.
For example, if you receive four cards to an open-ended straight on the deal, the chart would tell you to keep them and discard the fifth card in the starting hand in an attempt to complete the straight. Another example would be to keep suited J and Q and replace the other three cards.
The cheat sheets basically show you which cards you need to hold and which ones to discard in order to improve your chances of forming a hand. Using one such card chart could not be easier since all you need to do is find the cards your starting hand consists of and replace the ones that are irrelevant to the hand.
Some strategy charts are more specific as they tell you precisely what to do in different situations. For example, you initially get dealt [as][ks][qs][2s][3d] in a game of jacks or better and are wondering whether to discard the [3d] and try to complete your flush. At first glance, this is the correct course of action but the table would tell you to keep only the [as][ks][qs] and try to complete the royal flush because it gives greater value with its higher payout.
We would like to finish off by reminding players that all video poker variations have their own optimal strategy and therefore, it would be nonsensical for you to use a cheat sheet for say deuces wild when you are playing jacks or better. The bottom line is following the strategy to the tee can considerably increase your potential long-term return.
Jacks or better video poker demo
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Slot game bonus & features
| game feature | details |
|---|---|
| software | betsoft |
| type | video poker |
| max win | 4000 credits |
| penny machine | yes |
| cards | 5 card |
| wild symbols | none |
| double up? | After each win |
| max bet | 5 credits |
| special edition | standard |
Jacks or better
Video poker
Jacks or better video poker demo is the original video poker game first made in the 1970's with the fusion of TV screens and computer games. At the same time casino video slot machines started to become popular and started a huge shift in vegas and other areas to electronic betting machines. This well may be the most popular land based video poker game with the most popular online being deuces wild. The game is a variation of draw poker in which you are dealer a hand and get one chance to draw as many cards as you like to make a better hand. Wins start at a pair of jacks or higher and thus the name of the game.
How to play
To play the game you need to make a choice of bet which ranges from one quarter to five dollars per bet. The goal is to win by getting a pair of jacks or a higher hand. The first deal is of 5 cards and gives you the option of choosing from zero to 5 cards to draw from to make a better or winning hand. Selecting the cards that make a winning or shoe the most promise like four of the same suit to try for a flush or four sequential cards to try to make a straight are commonly held cards to stick with. The draw replaces all of the cards that you did not select and replaces the m randomly. There are no wild cards in this game so in similar fashion to stud, your hand is made all thats left to do is collect the winnings or cry. If you did win, you are posed the question if you want to double up. If you are satisfied with your win you can collect your winnings and move on to the next hand. If you want to try to game and press your luck you can select "yes" to double up. You are brought to a new screen where a different 5 cards are dealt face down. The first card is the dealer or house card and the remaining four are for you to choose from to try to beat the dealer. If you have a losing hand you are returned to the base game - minus your winnings. If you tie it is considered a push and you are returned your bet and asked if you want to try again. For a win you are asked if you want to try to double up again or collect your winnings.
Hand rankings and odds
There are 9 winning hands that you can make with odds that pay 1:1 to 800:1, here they are in order with the odds of making the hand.
- Jacks or better pair -pays 1X, 21.4% chance
- Two pair -pays 2X, 12.9% chance
- 3 of a kind -pays 3X, 7.4% chance
- Straight - pays 4X, 1.12% chance
- Flush - pays 6X, 1.10% chance
- Full house -pays 9X, 1.15% chance
- Four of a kind - pays 25X, 0.02% chance
- Straight flush - pays 50X, 0.001 % chance
- Royal flush - pays 800X, 0.0002% chance
This is the payouts from a full pay 9/6 jacks or better game (for the ratio of payout between full house and a flush). There are also low pay versions of the game with payouts that are: 9/5, 8/6, 8/5, 7/5, and 6/5 games. Some of these games have progressive jackpots attached to them that if high enough make for a positive EV and are quite compelling to play.
Game variations
The most common game is called jacks or better standard with other games for low pay, jackpot and multi hand. Low pay games are generally found in land based casinos and have a higher house edge which results in players losing money faster. This works great in areas where games are in high demand such as some bars. Jackpot games are usually only found in casinos and are linked together to produce a common local or wide area jackpot for the linked games. These games are often of the low pay variant with the difference making up the jackpot.
Video poker games like jacks or better
Popular video poker games include 10's or better, joker poker and deuces wild video poker. More lesser know games are: good times pay, hundred play draw poker, random rewards, dream card, hyper bonus, triple play keno draw poker, trade up, stack em bonus and peek and play poker.
Real money
Using VISA, paypal or several other deposit methods you can play jacks or better video poker online nearly instantly at the best online casinos. Real money video poker for mobile devices including iphone and android is available to play as well as desktop versions for mac and windows PC's from our top recommended online casinos.
Jacks or better
Betsoft gained its credibility as one of the globe’s finest manufacturers of premium quality internet gaming products. It provides an unrivaled degree of solution backed by a strong group of skilled seasoned supervisors, designers, and developers.
One of its games that you could play is the jacks or better betsoft. It is designed for online gamers who love to play video poker. In this game, you play four hands at the same times. Each hand with its basic 52-card set.
The cards you choose to hold will be kept in all four hands. The remainder of the cards will be changed with fresh ones from every set. The objective here is to create the toughest mix.
Jacks or better details
How to play the game?
The royal flush is the highest playing hand. It pays 250 if you play one coin; two coins will give you the chance to win 500; three give you 750; four will pay you 1000 and if you make the maximum bet and get five sequential cards with an identical suit, then be ready to receive 4000.
The second highest paying hand is the straight flush. But it only pays 40 for one coin; 80 for two; 120 for three; 160 for four and 200 for five coins or BTC.
The other hands when you play jacks or better for bitcoin would include four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair and jacks or better (which pays the lowest).
Jacks or better casino online accepts coin sizes from 0.01 to 1.
For each winning hand you attain, you’ll get the opportunity to choose gamble win. It’s a feature that brightens while playing the game.
It’s necessary to keep in mind that you could still gather any kind of payouts before wagering, even if you chose the switch, while your latest earnings will be subtracted from this feature. If you get the winning combo, however, the earnings will be added to your account.
Play jacks or better online
There are several tips to win jacks or better betsoft. The first rule is to dispose of the five card, every time you get four cards or a royal flush. You need to discard it even if it provides you a set or a flush hand.
Remember that a flush, a high set and straight all outperform the three to a royal flush. Get three of this combinations each time you get reduced hands, like a reduced set or four hands to a flush.
Then, make sure to maintain a high set, a straight and four to a flush each time you get two cards to a royal combination. Never separate a straight.
However, you could do so when you just have one card to earn a royal winning combination. Hold a high set over four to a flush or four to a straight.
Jacks or better by betsoft is a basic and standard video poker version. It is a terrific internet poker that gamers can want to pass the time, discover the fundamentals of wagering and be seeking to boost your experience and skills level.
Without a double, this game is one of the most played variation of the game around the world from las vegas to internet casino sites. Player’s anonymity can be requested, especially when playing for cryptocurrency or for real money.
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