What is video poker
Video poker is a casino game that sits between slots and table poker. It runs on a screen like a slot machine, but the outcome is shaped by the decisions you make during each hand. On our main page we compare UK-licensed operators by their public terms, paytables and regulatory standing. This guide explains how the game works, what the numbers mean, and what to check before you play. We base everything on established game maths and information that operators publish openly. We do not place funded bets and we do not claim personal testing.
How video poker works
Every round of video poker follows the same five-card draw structure that underpins classic poker. The machine deals five cards from a virtual 52-card deck, shuffled fresh for each hand. You look at those five cards and choose which to hold and which to discard. You can hold none, some, or all five. The machine then replaces the discarded cards with new ones drawn from the same deck. Your final five-card hand determines whether and how much you win, measured against the paytable displayed on screen.
The deck is standard: four suits of thirteen ranks, no jokers unless a variant explicitly adds them. Each hand is independent. No sequence of past hands alters the odds of the next one. The random number generator that shuffles the virtual deck is the same type used in regulated online slots, and it must be certified by an independent test house under UK Gambling Commission rules.
The hold-or-discard decision is where skill enters the game. There is a mathematically correct play for every five-card starting hand, and how close you get to that ideal directly affects your long-term return. A player who holds randomly might give the house a 5 percent edge or more. A player who follows basic strategy on a full-pay machine can cut the house edge below 0.5 percent.
Why paytables matter
The paytable is the single most important piece of information on any video poker machine. It tells you exactly how many coins each winning hand pays for a one-coin bet. The differences can look small but they compound over hundreds of hands. The most studied example is Jacks or Better, where the paytable is named by the coin return for a full house and a flush, in that order.
A 9/6 Jacks or Better machine pays 9 coins for a full house and 6 for a flush, on a one-coin bet. With optimal strategy, the long-term return to player (RTP) is approximately 99.54 percent. That means the house edge is roughly 0.46 percent, making it one of the fairest bets in any casino. A 9/5 machine drops the flush payout to 5 coins and the RTP to roughly 98.45 percent. An 8/5 machine pays 8 for the full house, 5 for the flush, and returns about 97.30 percent. These quarter-point and half-point reductions raise the house edge from under half a percent to over 2.5 percent. The difference is not trivial.
The same principle applies across all video poker variants. A full-pay Deuces Wild machine returns around 100.76 percent with perfect play when you can find one, though such machines are rare in UK online casinos. The key point is that two machines with the same name can have different paytables, and the paytable alone determines whether the game is a reasonable proposition or one that drains a bankroll faster than it should.
Reading a paytable and spotting full-pay machines
A paytable lists every winning hand and its payout, usually scaled to a one-coin bet with multipliers for betting max coins. The hands run from a pair of jacks or better at the bottom up through two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush at the top. The payout for each hand is shown as a number of coins.
To identify a full-pay machine, you compare what is on screen against the known full-pay benchmark for that variant. For Jacks or Better the benchmark is 9/6 as described above. For Bonus Poker the full-pay table returns 8 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush, but pays bonus amounts on certain four-of-a-kind hands, giving an RTP of about 99.17 percent with optimal play. If a Bonus Poker machine shows 7/5 instead of 8/5, it is a short-pay version.
Online operators usually display the paytable inside the game window, accessed through a button labelled paytable, info, or help. The UK Gambling Commission requires that RTP information be available to players, and most UK-licensed casino sites publish the theoretical RTP for each game somewhere on the game page or in a dedicated RTP section. Checking both the in-game paytable and the published RTP is good practice.
Basic strategy: what to hold
Video poker strategy boils down to a hold-priority list. For any starting hand you run through the possibilities in order and take the first one that applies. The full list for Jacks or Better has about thirty entries, but the core principles are easy to learn and will get you most of the way to optimal play.
The top priorities are obvious. Always hold a dealt royal flush, straight flush, or four of a kind. Hold four cards to a royal flush over any other four-card draw. Hold three of a kind, a dealt straight, a dealt flush, or a dealt full house. These are winning hands or premium draws that you do not break up.
The middle tier is where most mistakes happen. Hold four cards to a flush or an open-ended straight draw. Two pair should always be held as dealt; discard the unpaired fifth card and draw for the full house. A low pair, tens or lower, is generally worth holding over a single high card because the pair already pays even money and the draw for three of a kind, a full house or four of a kind adds value. A single high card, jack or better, is worth holding when you have nothing else because it keeps the door open to a high pair, which at least returns your bet.
The hardest decisions involve hands with multiple overlapping possibilities. If you hold four cards to a flush but one of them is also a high card that could pair, the flush draw takes priority. If you hold a low pair alongside four cards to a flush, the low pair takes priority because its expected return is higher. Strategy charts for each variant are widely available and worth keeping to hand until the patterns become second nature.
Common video poker variants
Jacks or Better is the foundation. The minimum qualifying hand is a pair of jacks, and the paytable is straightforward with no wild cards or bonus payouts. It is the best starting point for learning because the strategy transfers to other variants with only a few adjustments.
Deuces Wild makes every two in the deck a wild card. That shifts the hand frequencies dramatically. Pairs of jacks or better are no longer a paying hand because wild cards make stronger hands much more common. The minimum payout typically starts at three of a kind. Optimal strategy in Deuces Wild is more complex because the value of holding a single deuce changes depending on what else is in the hand. The full-pay version, often called full-pay Deuces, can return over 100 percent with perfect play, which is why it is offered less often than short-pay versions.
Bonus Poker adds higher payouts for specific four-of-a-kind hands. Four aces usually pay 80 coins instead of the standard 25, and four twos, threes or fours pay 40. This inflates the value of holding a low pair, and the strategy adjusts accordingly. Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus push these bonus payouts further, paying up to 160 or even 400 coins for four aces with a specific kicker, but they typically compensate by reducing the full house and flush payouts to 9/5, 9/6 or even 8/5, which raises volatility. The RTP on full-pay Double Bonus is around 100.17 percent, but short-pay versions are far more common.
Why video poker rewards skill more than slots
In a slot machine every spin is pure chance. You press a button and wait. The RTP is fixed by the game design and your decisions do not change it. Video poker is different because the deal-and-hold step lets you influence the outcome within the bounds of the game maths. A player who understands the strategy on a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine faces a house edge around 0.46 percent. A player who makes poor hold decisions on the same machine might face a house edge of 2 percent, 3 percent, or worse. That gap is entirely down to skill.
This does not mean video poker is beatable. The house still has a mathematical edge on nearly every paytable, and even the rare positive-expectation machines require flawless play over tens of thousands of hands to realise that edge, which is beyond the reach of casual play. But the return you get is more within your control than it is on a slot, and that is the central appeal of the game for players who like to understand the odds.
Tips and common mistakes
The single biggest mistake is playing a short-pay machine without realising it. If the paytable is not displayed clearly or the RTP is not published, assume the worst. Always check the paytable before the first hand.
Other common errors include holding a high card instead of a low pair, drawing to an inside straight with only four outs when a simple high-card hold has better expected value, and breaking up a dealt winning hand to chase a royal flush when the maths does not support it. A strategy chart, printed or on screen, removes guesswork. Free-play versions of video poker at UK-licensed sites let you practise without risking money, and they are worth using to internalise the hold decisions.
Betting fewer than the maximum five coins on a machine that pays a bonus for the royal flush on max bet is another costly choice. The royal flush bonus, typically 800 coins for a five-coin bet versus 250 for a one-coin bet, is a significant part of the game’s total return. Playing short reduces the effective RTP. If the budget does not allow five coins per hand, it is better to play a lower denomination at max coins than a higher denomination at fewer coins.
How we rate video poker sites
Our video poker rankings come from public data: the paytables operators publish, the RTP figures they disclose, the licence under which they operate and the terms they attach to deposits and withdrawals. We do not place funded bets to produce ratings. We compare what is available against the benchmarks described on this page and we explain where a site does well and where it falls short. Our full methodology is set out on the how we rate page.
Where to play
Ready to play? Compare the best payout UK casinos, rated from public data and operator terms, or browse all best UK casinos.
Responsible gambling
Casino games are designed with a built-in house edge, so over time the house wins. Treat any session as paid entertainment, set a deposit limit first, and use the safer-gambling tools every UK-licensed casino provides. GAMSTOP covers every UK site at gamstop.co.uk, and the National Gambling Helpline is 0808 8020 133. You must be 18 or over to play.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best video poker variant for a beginner
Jacks or Better is the best starting point. The paytable is simple, the strategy is the most widely documented, and the full-pay 9/6 version offers a house edge below 0.5 percent. Once the basic hold-priority chart is learned, moving to Bonus Poker or Deuces Wild is a smaller step than starting with those variants directly.
Can you win at video poker in the long run
On almost all machines the house has a mathematical edge, just as it does on every other casino game. A few full-pay Deuces Wild or Double Bonus machines offer a theoretical return above 100 percent with perfect play, but they are rare in UK online casinos. For the typical player on a typical paytable, video poker is an entertainment expense with a lower expected cost per hour than most slots, provided the strategy is followed.
Does the random number generator make video poker fair
UK-licensed casinos must have their random number generators tested and certified by an independent test house approved by the Gambling Commission. The certification confirms that each card has an equal probability of appearing at each position and that hands are not predetermined. The operator’s licence number is a way to verify this, and the test-house certificates are usually published in the site footer or the fair-play section.
Why does the paytable change between different versions of the same game
Operators can choose which paytable to offer, and different paytables give different house edges. A casino might run a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine on one section of the site and an 8/5 version on another. The game name stays the same but the return changes. This is why checking the paytable each time is essential rather than assuming the same game always has the same odds.
Is video poker the same as playing a slot machine
No. A slot outcome is fixed the moment the spin button is pressed and the player has no say in it. Video poker adds a decision step where the player chooses which cards to hold. That decision changes the return. A skilled player on a full-pay machine faces a house edge that can be ten times smaller than what a typical slot machine carries.
Do I need to bet five coins on every hand
You do not have to, but betting fewer than five coins on a machine that pays an enhanced royal flush bonus at max bet reduces the effective RTP by roughly 1.5 percent because the royal flush makes up about 2 percent of the total return. If the five-coin bet is outside the session budget, the better approach is to drop to a lower coin denomination and keep the five-coin bet rather than playing a higher denomination at fewer coins.
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