How to Win at Video Poker
Let's face it - everyone who plays video poker or any other casino game for that matter is looking to win, and win big. The issue with this is that most casino games make it impossible to win in the long run because of the "house edge." Fortunately, video poker is one of the very few games where players can actually escape the house edge and turn things in their favor. This article will teach you how to play profitable video poker by indentifying positive expectation machines, as well as using a few other tips and tricks.
What is "Winning?"
Tons of people come to this page looking for ways to cheat the casinos and rig the video poker machines - that's not what this guide is about. Rather, this page will teach you how to find slight edges and ways to increase your odds so that in the long run you're a small favorite. Don't expect to win tons of money in a short time period. These methods will work, but you have to be patient and be in it for the long haul.
Expected Value
Casinos make money by instituting a "house edge" into their games. For video poker the house edge usually ranges between 0.3% and 8% depending on the specific game/pay table. What this means is that every time you put a dollar into a video poker machine, you can expect to receive between $0.92 and $0.997 back, depending on the individual machine. This is called the "expected value" - basically, the value you expect to get back out of the machine.
To win at video poker you simply need to get the expected value above 100%, and play long enough to let the variance settle down. Sounds simple right? Well, it's easier said than done.
Picking a Game
The first way to increase your expected value is to choose a video poker game with the best rate of return. The rate of return varies depending on the game's rules and pay table. Here are the video poker games with the highest rates of return:
| Game | Max Payout Percentage | Play Online At |
| Double Bonus (10/7) | 100.1725% | Bovada Casino |
| Double Double Bonus (10/6) | 100.067% | Bovada Casino |
| Aces and Eights | 99.78% | Bovada Casino |
One thing to keep in mind about the games listed above is that the payout percentage is calculated assuming that you're playing a "full pay" version of the game, and that you're using perfect strategy (which we'll discuss later). If you're playing a game with a reduced pay table or if you use incorrect strategy, you'll have a lower payout percentage.
Perfect Strategy
The second way to increase your expected value is to play with perfect strategy. Since you can determine the outcome of every situation in video poker, it's easy to determine the correct move in every possible situation. Perfect strategy isn't hard to achieve - you just have to utilize discipline and focus.
Since strategy is an entire topic itself, we'll leave that off this page. To learn perfect strategy for the above games, check out our video poker strategy page.
Reduce Variance
If you're playing 10/7 Double Bonus with perfect strategy, your payout percentage will be over 100% which means you have to win, right? Well, not really. Let me explain:
Even though you're a long run favorite you can still lose a lot of money in the short run. The casino has a basically infinite bankroll, and if you sit down at a video poker machine with only a small bankroll it is likely that at some point you'll have enough bad hands in a row that you will go broke.
To prevent this you need to make sure you bring plenty of money to the casino to account for short term downswings, and to play tens of thousands of hands to even things out. The more hands you play, the closer you'll get to the 100.1725% return (aka your profit).
Player Cards
One way to increase your expected return even more is to take advantage of player cards at live casinos. Most casinos let players use their cards at video poker machines, and you'll get points for every hour you play. Usually you'll get extra points for playing more coins and making larger bets.
These points can be used to pay for your food and your hotel room at the casino, so they increase your bottom line even more.
Winning at Progressives (Sometimes)
Although we recommend sticking to the video poker games in the table above, there are certain times when other games may have higher expected returns. One situation where a different game can have a higher payout percentage is when the game has a progressive jackpot that has reached a huge sum.
If you'd like to learn more about when these games are profitable, check out our progressive video poker machines page. MAKE SURE to never play progressives unless the jackpot is big enough, because without a big jackpot they're a sucker's bet.
Ready to Win?
All of the games we discussed above are available for real money play online at the Bovada Casino. Although you can probably find better odds at a live casino, you can still start practicing at Bovada so you'll be ready to crush the casino when the time comes.
