This page offers definitions of some commonly (and not so commonly) used video poker terms and jargon.

86

Used to describe the act of a casino barring a player. Rare with professional video poker players, but could potentially be an issue. Much more common with card counters.

Action

The amount of money wagered. The total action is the total amount of all wagers placed.

Bank

A row of video poker or slot machines.

Bankroll

A person's gambling stake. How much money is available to be wagered. See also video poker bankroll.

Bonus poker

A variation of Jacks or Better video poker.

Carousel

A bank or multiple banks of slot machines or video poker machines, usually linked to one progressive jackpot.

Cash back

A rebate to a player for being a member of the slots club.

Change person

The person working the slot machine floor who makes change and refills the machines. Video poker machines are treated exactly like slot machines for this purpose.

Coin in

The amount of money played through a machine. This is used to determine cash back. See "action".

Comps

Free meals, tickets, or perks given to a player by the casino in appreciation of that player's action.

Cycle

On average, how many hand it will take to win the jackpot on a video poker machine. For most games, the jackpot is won on a royal flush, and the cycle is approximately every 40,000 hands or so. There is no guarantee of hitting the jackpot in one, two, or any number of cycles though, in spite of the somewhat misleading phrase.

Deuces Wild

A variation of video poker where the 2's in the deck are wild.

Drawing hand

A poker hand (or video poker hand) which needs to receive a particular card in order to improve.

Expected return

The long term payback on a gambling machine. This can be positive or negative, and is calculated by multiplying the house edge by the average hourly wager. See video poker expected return.

Expert play

Playing according to a computer-prescribed perfect strategy.

Face card

The jack, queen, or king.

Full pay

The best payout structure offered by a commonly found video poker machine is called a "full pay" machine. Please note that this does not indicate a positive expected return; 9/6 Jacks or Better is a full pay game but the house still have about a 0.5% advantage with perfect play.

Hopper

The container holding the coins underneath a slot machine or video poker machine.

House edge

The casino's mathematical advantage, expressed as a percentage of each wager.

Inside straight

A straight that can only be filled by hitting a card on the inside of a 5 card sequence. For example, 4578 would require a 6 to fill the straight.

Joker poker

A variation of Jacks or Better with a 53 card deck. The extra card is a joker, and it's a wild card.

Jokers wild

See "Joker Poker".

Kicker

A high non-paired card that's held in the hopes of breaking a tie in poker. Kickers should never be held in video poker.

Outside straight

A straight that can be filled by hitting a card on either end of a 5 card sequence. For example, 4567 can fill a straight with either a 3 or and 8.

Payback

This is the percentage that a machine will pay back on the amount wagered over the long term. If a machine has a 101% payback, then it will return $1.01 for every $1 wagered, or $101 for every $100 wagered. Short term results will vary widely from the payback percentage.

Payoff

The amount that the machine pays off for a particular hand. On a Jacks or Better game, the payoff for a pair of jacks or better is 1 for 1, which is basically a push.

Pay table

The schedule of how much each hand pays in a video poker game. This is usually found on the glass above the screen.

Progressive jackpot

A constantly growing jackpot that is "fed" by a network of gambling machines' players. Applies to slots or video poker. See progressive video poker games.

Push

Basically a tie. The player neither wins nor loses any money.

Rank

The numeric value of each card.

RNG

Random number generator. A computer chip that determines the outcome of electronic games of chance like slot machines and video poker. In video poker games, the RNG simulates a deck of cards.

Short pay

A video poker machine with a less than full pay pay table.

Slot club

A casino program which pays comps and rebates to players who participate. A rewards program for gamblers.

Volatility

The amount of deviation from the long term expected return on a video poker machine that someone can expect. The harder it is to his a jackpot, the higher the volatility of the machine.

Wild cards

In poker, a card that can substitute for any card in order to make a hand.

Be sure to check out our article about free video poker.

This page was written on April 22, 2006 and was updated on September 18, 2007.