Victory at Video Poker

Of the hands dealt in video poker, only 21% of them are Jacks-or-Better winners. 79% are downright dogs, and it's what you do with those mongrels (that need to be groomed into winning greyhounds) that marks the difference between a winner and a loser. If you want to give yourself the best chance of winning at video poker, then you'd do well to read, absorb, embrace and pledge eternal allegiance to the following playing tips:

• Look for Jacks-or-Better machines that pay six coins for a flush and nine coins for a full house.
• If you decide to play a progressive video poker machine that pays five coins for a flush and eight coins for a full house, play on a progressive where the jackpot is more than $250 on a nickel machine, $2,500 on a quarter, and $10,000 on a dollar.
• On a progressive machine, always bet the maximum amount of coins to get the bonus for royal flushes.
• If you're a novice player, you'd be wise to play on the lowest denomination machine until your level of expertise moved up a notch or two.
• Where possible, use a casino slot card to get play credits. You may as well get a return in the form of a comp benefit for your play on their video poker machines. Remember to ask how many points you'll receive per dollar played, and find out what those points are worth in comps. This will help you shop for better value on your play.
• Take your time and study every hand. You're playing against a machine; there's nobody to intimidate you if your play is too slow.
• All hail the Jack! Some players don't realize that the most important card in the deck is not the Ace, but the Jack. Holding the Jack over the Ace affords you more opportunities to make more lucrative hands than an Ace would.
• There are over a hundred different video poker machines to choose from. Games like Louisiana Jacks, Joker Poker, Gator Poker, etc. offer you a veritable supermarket selection, each with a different pay-tables and each requiring distinct playing strategies. I'd recommend that you learn and limit your play to two games, such as Jacks-or-Better and Deuces Wild.
• You can acquire video poker skills using either a hand-held video poker game or a computer. The main benefit of this type of training is that it gives you the ability to test you skills without the risk of financial ruin. You can collect data for later review, which will enable you to nix trends that would cost you dearly on a video poker machine. Under normal casino conditions, it would take you years to accumulate this information. The key here is that any knowledge you manage to obtain without a casino outlay means you'll net out better down the road.

And now for some playing strategies:

1. Never hold a kicker to any pair; your return is reduced by 5%.
2. Always go for the Royal, so rather draw 3 cards if you have the chance
3. Keep the pat hand - except if the chance of a Royal is there.
4. Never draw on a flush, except for the chance of a Royal
5. Never break a straight
6. Never draw if you hold a jack or better.
7. Don't keep a ten card if you are drawing four cards