Tens or Better Guide
Tens or Better is a common video poker game, and is very similar to Jacks or Better. In Tens or Better you need to make at least a pair of tens to receive a payout. Since it is easier to win, Tens or Better machines pay out less total money than Jacks or Better machines. If you're worried about the payout percentages, stick to Jacks or Better. Even though you need to make a better hand to qualify, it pays out more overall.
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Tens or Better Rules
Tens or Better plays like Jacks or Better, and is one of the easiest games to play in the casino. To get started you insert either your player card or your virtual money if you're at an online casino. Then, you have to decide how many coins you'd like to bet per hand. You can pick between one and five coins, and we always suggest playing five coins because there are huge bonuses for making a royal flush while betting five coins.
Your next step is to click "Deal." You'll receive five cards, and you then choose which of the cards you'd like to keep. Once you've decided and clicked the cards, click "Draw" to receive your new cards. If your final hand is a pair of tens or better you'll receive a payout.
Pay Tables
Tens or Better games use various pay tables depending on the casino you're playing at and the individual machine. We'll go over a few of the more prevalent pay tables now. For a full review of this topic, read more about Tens or Better pay tables.
Full Pay Tens or Better
"Full pay" means that the game you are playing uses the best pay table possible. It does not mean that you are at an advantage over the casino. Rather, it means that the machine you're playing has the best possible payouts for that specific game. Here is the full pay tens or better pay table:
| Hand: | 1 Coin: | 2 Coins: | 3 Coins: | 4 Coins: | 5 Coins: |
| Royal Flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four of a Kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full House | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Two Pair | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Pair (Jacks or Better) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
As you can see, the full house and flush payouts are much lower in Tens or Better than in Jacks or Better (6/5 vs. 9/6). It would seem as if Tens or Better is a huge sucker bet, but it's actually not that far behind Jacks or Better because the lowest qualifying hand is Tens instead of Jacks.
You should always play full pay Tens or Better because the payout percentage is significantly higher than low pay Tens or Better. If you'd like to play full pay Tens or Better online, make sure to check out Bovada Casino - a USA friendly online casino with tons of full pay video poker games.
Low Pay Tens or Better
Some casinos choose to use low pay Tens or Better pay tables, which increase the house edge by roughly 2%. The difference between low pay and full pay is that in low pay four of a kind only pays out 20x, 40x, 60x, 80x, or 100x for four of a kind depending on how many coins you bet, as opposed to 25x, 50x, 75x, 100x, or 125x for four of a kind in a full pay game.
Tens or Better Strategy
If you want to attain the maximum payout percentage at Tens or Better machines, you need to be using optimal Tens or Better strategy. We'll provide a few tips for you here, but since it's such a huge topic, we have a full article coming soon.
- Low pairs aren't worth much. Since the game only pays out for Tens or Better, you should discard low pairs in favor of straight or flush draws.
- If you have absolutely nothing, make sure to keep any Tens or higher. Your best move at this point is to hopefully make a pair Tens or better to get your money back.
- Go for big payouts. Most of the time you're better off to chase a royal flush or a straight flush over a made straight or pair.
- ALWAYS bet five coins. The royal flush bonus is huge when you bet five coins, and if you ever hit a royal and weren't betting five coins you'll really kick yourself.
