In video poker the RTP isn’t hidden: you can work it out from the pay table. In Jacks or Better, look at what the full house and the flush pay per coin. At 9 and 6 (a “9/6” table) the game returns 99.54% with optimal strategy. At 6 and 5 it returns only 95.00% — eleven times the average loss on the same screen.
Every figure here comes from our own calculations: we went through all 2,598,960 possible starting hands and, for each one, all 32 ways of holding cards, to find the best play and the exact return of each table. Our results match the published reference values for the game. Each session scenario was simulated 200,000 times.
How does video poker work?
You pick a bet (1 to 5 coins) and the machine deals 5 cards from a 52-card deck. You hold the ones you want, the others are replaced once, and the final hand is paid according to the pay table on screen. There is no opponent and no bluffing: it’s you against the pay table.
The base game is Jacks or Better: the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks or better, which returns your stake. Other variants (Deuces Wild, where 2s are wild, or Double Double Bonus, which pays more for some quads) work the same way with different tables. Our calculations cover Jacks or Better, the most common one.
Reading the pay table: 9/6, 8/5, 7/5 or 6/5?
Every Jacks or Better table pays the same for a high pair (1), two pair (2), three of a kind (3), straight (4), four of a kind (25), straight flush (50) and royal flush (800 per coin at 5 coins). Only the full house and the flush change between casinos and game studios. Here is what that costs over 1,000 hands at €1 (5 coins of €0.20):
| Table | Full house | Flush | RTP (optimal play) | Average loss / 1,000 hands at €1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 | 9 | 6 | 99.54% | €4.56 |
| 8/5 | 8 | 5 | 97.30% | €27.02 |
| 7/5 | 7 | 5 | 96.15% | €38.53 |
| 6/5 | 6 | 5 | 95.00% | €50.04 |
Each coin taken off the full house costs about 1.15 RTP points, each coin taken off the flush about 1.1 points — that is how often those two hands land (once in 87 and once in 91 hands). The table is always shown above the cards or in the game’s help screen, which often states the RTP too. If you can find neither, pick another game. For the general method, see our guide on how to check a game’s RTP.
How often does each hand land?
9/6 Jacks or Better, optimal strategy: how often each final hand lands and how much of the RTP it accounts for.
| Hand | Pays (per coin) | Frequency | Share of RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 1 in 40,391 hands | 1.98 pts |
| Straight flush | 50 | 1 in 9,148 hands | 0.55 pts |
| Four of a kind | 25 | 1 in 423 hands | 5.91 pts |
| Full house | 9 | 1 in 87 hands | 10.36 pts |
| Flush | 6 | 1 in 91 hands | 6.61 pts |
| Straight | 4 | 1 in 89 hands | 4.49 pts |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 1 in 13 hands | 22.33 pts |
| Two pair | 2 | 1 in 8 hands | 25.86 pts |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 1 in 5 hands | 21.46 pts |
Half of all hands pay nothing and one in five just returns the stake. The royal flush lands once every 40,391 hands on average: at 500 hands an hour, that’s around 81 hours of play, and many players will never see one. Yet it carries 1.98 points of RTP: until it lands, your “lived” return is about 97.56%, not 99.54%. It’s a much milder version of how progressive jackpots work.
Why always bet 5 coins?
At 1, 2, 3 or 4 coins the royal pays 250 per coin. At 5 coins it pays 4,000 — 800 per coin. We recalculated the optimal strategy for both: at 1 coin, the 9/6 table drops from 99.54% to 98.37%, an extra 1.17 points of loss. To bet €1 a hand, play 5 coins of €0.20 rather than 1 coin of €1.
Which cards to hold? 7 hands worked out
Expected value below is what each play returns on average, in bets (1.54 = €1.54 back on average per €1 bet), calculated over every possible draw on a 9/6 table.
| Dealt hand | Best play | EV | Common mistake | EV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 3♠ | Keep A-K-Q-J of spades (break the flush) | 18.43 | Keep the dealt flush | 6.00 |
| J♠ J♥ 4♠ 7♠ 9♠ | Keep the pair of jacks | 1.54 | Keep 4 spades | 1.19 |
| 5♠ 5♥ 8♠ K♠ 2♠ | Keep 4 spades | 1.21 | Keep the pair of fives | 0.82 |
| 6♣ 7♦ 8♥ 9♠ 9♦ | Keep the pair of nines | 0.82 | Keep 6-7-8-9 (open-ended straight) | 0.68 |
| A♥ K♥ Q♥ A♣ 3♦ | Keep the pair of aces | 1.54 | Keep A-K-Q of hearts | 1.39 |
| 10♠ 10♥ 4♣ 4♦ 8♠ | Keep both pairs | 2.60 | Keep one pair only | 0.83 |
| K♦ Q♣ 8♠ 5♥ 2♣ | Keep K-Q (two high cards) | 0.49 | Keep the king alone | 0.46 |
Two lessons stand out. A high pair beats a flush draw, but a flush draw beats a low pair. And with 4 to a royal, you break even a paying flush: expected value goes from 6 to 18.43 bets.
The priority list to keep handy
Use the first line that matches your hand (the standard simplified strategy for 9/6 Jacks or Better, consistent with our calculations above):
- Dealt royal flush, straight flush or four of a kind: hold everything
- 4 to a royal flush (even breaking a dealt flush or straight)
- Dealt three of a kind, straight, flush or full house
- 4 to a straight flush
- Two pair
- High pair (jacks, queens, kings, aces)
- 3 to a royal flush
- 4 to a flush
- Low pair (2 to 10)
- 4 to an open-ended straight (e.g. 6-7-8-9)
- 2 suited high cards
- 3 to a straight flush
- 2 unsuited high cards (if more, the 2 lowest)
- Suited 10 with a jack, queen or king
- One high card
- None of the above: discard everything
High card = jack, queen, king or ace. This simplified version costs very little compared with perfect strategy; playing by feel costs far more. Most games offer a demo mode to practise first.
200 or 1,000 hands: what to expect
Simulated sessions at €1 a hand, optimal strategy. “Ahead” = ending the session with more money than you started with.
| Table · hands | Average loss | Median result | Sessions ahead | 1 session in 10 ends below / above |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 · 200 hands | €0.91 | −€7 | 39% | −€38 / +€32 |
| 9/6 · 1,000 hands | €4.56 | −€25 | 35% | −€100 / +€64 |
| 6/5 · 200 hands | €10.01 | −€16 | 26% | −€44 / +€20 |
| 6/5 · 1,000 hands | €50.04 | −€71 | 13% | −€139 / +€13 |
Even on the best table, about two sessions in three end in a loss, and the median result is much worse than the average loss: the average is pulled up by rare quads and royals. On a 6/5 table, only 13% of 1,000-hand sessions finish ahead. Video poker swings less than most slots, but the swings are still wide; our article on volatility explains how to size your bet to your budget.
Video poker and bonuses: the calculation that changes everything
Take a €100 bonus with 30x wagering: €3,000 of bets to reach. The average cost depends on the game and on its contribution (the share of each bet that counts):
| Game | Contribution | Amount actually bet | Average cost of wagering |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 video poker | 100% | €3,000 | €13.68 |
| 96% slot | 100% | €3,000 | €120.00 |
| 9/6 video poker | 10% | €30,000 | €136.83 |
| 6/5 video poker | 100% | €3,000 | €150.12 |
Counted at 100%, 9/6 video poker would be by far the cheapest way to clear wagering — which is exactly why casinos often exclude it or count it at a low percentage. The break-even point: below roughly 11.4% contribution, it costs more than a 96% slot. Before playing with an active bonus, look for video poker in the excluded games list and the contribution table; playing an excluded game can void your winnings. Our article on hidden bonus rules shows where to find them, and the bonus calculator works out the betting volume.
Where to play video poker online
Casinos in our selection whose published review mentions video poker:
- Golden Mina — Wide video poker selection among RNG table games
- Unique Casino — Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Double Double Bonus
- Party Spinz — Video poker alongside jackpots, crash games and scratch cards
- Go4Casino — Video poker, poker, keno and scratch cards (MGA licence)
Game libraries change: open each game’s pay table before betting, and pick the 9/6 version when several are offered.
⚠️ A fast game: set a limit
A video poker hand takes a few seconds. Even at 99.54%, 1,000 hands at €1 means €1,000 bet, and results can stray far from the average. Set a budget and a time limit before you start, use the deposit limits in your casino account, and don’t chase losses after a bad run: the next hand doesn’t depend on the previous ones. If gambling is getting hard to control, our responsible gambling page points you to help.
The 4 most expensive mistakes
- Playing a 6/5 table instead of 9/6: €50.04 average loss per 1,000 hands at €1, instead of €4.56.
- Betting fewer than 5 coins: 1.17 RTP points lost.
- Holding a low pair over a flush draw: 0.82 bets of EV instead of 1.21.
- Playing with a bonus without checking contribution: an excluded game can void your winnings.
Frequently asked questions
What is the RTP of video poker?
It depends on the pay table and on how you play. In Jacks or Better with optimal strategy, our calculations give 99.54% for the 9/6 table (full house pays 9, flush pays 6), 97.30% for 8/5, 96.15% for 7/5 and 95.00% for 6/5. Without a strategy, the real return is clearly lower.
Does video poker pay better than slots?
A well-played 9/6 Jacks or Better table returns 99.54%, against 94–97% for most slots: the average loss is almost nine times smaller than on a 96% slot. The casino still keeps the edge in both cases, and a badly played 6/5 table loses that advantage entirely.
Should you always bet 5 coins in video poker?
Yes. The royal flush pays 4,000 coins on a 5-coin bet (800 per coin), against 250 per coin when you bet 1 to 4 coins. Betting 1 coin drops the 9/6 RTP from 99.54% to 98.37%. To bet less, lower the coin value, not the number of coins.
Can you clear a bonus playing video poker?
Rarely at a good price. Because its RTP is high, video poker is often excluded from wagering or counted at a low percentage. Below roughly 11% contribution, clearing wagering on video poker costs more than on a 96% slot. Check the excluded games list and the contribution table before you play.
Is online video poker rigged?
Online video poker simulates a 52-card deck drawn by a random number generator. Each hand is independent of the last. The casino’s edge comes from the pay table, not from manipulating cards — which is why the displayed table is enough to calculate the RTP.
📚 Read next
9 years of experience in the iGaming industry. Former analyst for two European operators, Thomas tests every casino with a real account and real wagers before any publication.
For other low house-edge games: our guide to online blackjack, to online baccarat, and our explainer on casino RTP.
Gambling involves risk. If it stops being fun, get help — see our responsible gambling page or visit begambleaware.org.