The real goal of Jacks or Better Video Poker is to hit a Royal Flush. Of course, you can play for hours, days, centuries without hitting one. It’s all in the odds. About all you can do is flirt with those odds and try to take every chance at the royal flush, even if this means throwing away the occasional winning hand. The smaller winning hands are what will keep you in the game so you can chase that elusive royal. After all, if you win well with the smaller hands, you could be playing on the casino’s money, not your own. I always like playing with other people’s money. And even if I don’t hit a royal flush in a round of play, I like leaving the game with more money than I started with.
First, players need to understand what a royal flush is. Video poker is a game that attracts plenty of novice players, so I’m not going to take that for granted. A flush is a hand of cards, five in video poker, all of the same suit. This means all five are hearts. Or all five are spades. Or all five are clubs or all five are diamonds. A straight is a run of cards in numerical order - 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 for example - of any suit. Both a straight and a flush are winning hands in video poker. Those are the hands that let you keep playing. Now, if you hit a run of cards in order such as 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and they are all of the same suit, say hearts, then you’ve hit a straight flush which pays out very well. But if that run of cards of the same suit starts with a ten and ends with the ace, then you’ve hit the Royal Flush which is the top hand in poker and the largest payout for Jacks or Better video poker.
So, how does this affect your play? Well, whenever you have three or more cards to a possible Royal Flush, you want to hold them. Even if it means throwing away what is already a winning hand. Say you are dealt — Ace hearts, King hearts, King spade, Jack hearts, and a five and a two. The pair of kings is already a winning high pair. But the three hearts (Ace, King and Jack) are three cards to a Royal Flush. If you are playing the maximum coins (which you better be), the two kings will give you even money at one for one odds. But the Royal Flush will pay you 4000 for one. You want to throw away the king of spades as well as the two and five (or other non-winning cards) and keep the three cards to the royal. Then draw the new cards. Now, you probably won’t hit the Royal Flush, but one royal will make those odds worthwhile. Go for the royal!
