Have you ever lost a video poker hand because you just didn’t recognize the potential in it? Okay, I have, and it’s usually a sign I’ve been playing too long and need to take a break. But it’s also a reminder that when playing video poker we have to be able to recognize the hand we hold in that split second between the deal and hitting the button to draw more cards.
So, it doesn’t hurt to beat into your head the winnings hands in any video poker game. Keep in mind that these can vary depending on the game. So, a Jacks or Better game would have a lowest winning hand of a pair of jacks. While other games may have a lowest winning hand of a pair of kings or even of two pairs. But fortunately, once you determine the lowest possible winning hand for any game, the rest of the hands seldom change.
So the hands that always win are:
A full house which is a pair and a three of a kind, such as three twos and a pair of tens. Keep in mind the cards can be in any order, so you need to watch for them or for a hand that could lead to a full house.
A straight is a hand with consecutive run of card values such as three, four, five, six seven. Of course they’ll be dealt in a random order. But there is an extra consideration with straights. You can be dealt four potential cards to a straight in two different ways.
An outside straight is a run of cards that can be made into a straight with another card on either end. So three, four, five, six could become a straight with either a two or a seven. This improves the odds vastly over an inside straight.
An inside straight is a potential straight with a missing card in the middle. So a three, four, six, seven needs a five to become a straight. In video poker, you don’t want to play for an inside straight because the odds are too low.
A flush is a hand where all the cards are the same suit, so all hearts, spades, diamonds or clubs. They don’t have to be a run in numerical order. Just of the same suit.
A straight flush is a hand where the cards are in numerical order and all of the same suit. So, much trickier to hit than a straight or a flush alone.
The there is the royal flush. The Royal is a run of the same suit but starting with a ten and ending in the ace. It’s the highest winning hand in video poker and is hit about once every 40,000 hands. So, you may play many games of video poker before you ever see a royal flush.
