Video Poker Strategy – How To Win While Playing Video Poker

Learning and benefiting from proper video poker strategy is so much easier than the traditional online poker room format. Playing in a tournament or a sit-and-go situation online, you may make the “correct” play every time and still get beaten out by a donkey who, for all intents and purposes, should have left the hand long ago.

But since playing video poker for cash online simply has you deciding how many cards to keep and discard in a five card draw hand, and you are only playing against a computerized dealer, if you make the correct play every time your win loss ratio will reward you.

Having said that, video poker strategy involves a lot more than simply understanding which cards to keep and which to throw away. Your first strategic move is to find those online video poker sites that pay the most for a particular hand. If one particular online video poker game pays 250 credits on a one credit bet that hits a natural royal flush, but a second game pays 300 credits on the same bet, it makes no sense to play the first game, all things being equal. So make sure you check a potential game’s pay table before starting.

Did you know that proper video poker strategy can actually give the game a slight edge to you, the player? When you factor in welcome bonuses, player rewards and other incentives, and then play on games with the highest possible payout percentage, you can turn what was originally an “expected loss” situation on its heels.

Games offering an expected loss mean that over time you can reasonably expect to incur a loss, even if you play each hand properly. And almost all online casino offerings operate in this way, ensuring the house edge and a loss for the player in the long run.

Playing video poker for cash online actually offers the best possible odds to the educated player, along with basic blackjack strategy when playing 21 online, and a few smart bets at the virtual craps table. Making the right moves and the right bets in the right situations can actually return a positive expectation, rather than a negative one.

Many online video poker game versions of Full-Pay Deuces Wild offer nearly a 101% payout when you use an optimal strategy. With these attractive options, sitting down to a few fun and fast hands of video poker can potentially turn into a profitable pastime.

Just remember that basic video poker strategy changes according to the type of game you are playing, and the payout which that particular casino delivers. In similar situations, you may make very different “basic plays” when playing Jacks or Better as opposed to Joker Poker or Deuces Wild. And games like Aces and Eights, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker and other options with tantalizing progressive jackpots that build to over $1 million in some instances can entice you to play video poker games with a lower possible payout.

As long as you check the pay tables, maximize your freebies that are offered in the form of welcome bonuses and other player rewards, and play with a smart basic strategy, video poker can be as rewarding financially as it is exciting and fun. Now that you’ve learned the foundation of developing your own video poker strategy, go a step further and begin to understand the numbers game that comes with video poker in our article for Learning Video Poker By The Numbers.