You are now entering an Alice-in-Wonderland world where, to quote Macbeth, "nothing is but what is not." Not all video-poker games are created equal. Even games with the same names on identical-looking machines are not necessarily the same game calling for the same strategies because the payout scale is different. The key variable in video poker of any type is the payout scale. For example, there are more than 20 varieties of Joker Wild Poker (Joker Poker) machines in operation. Yet, a close look at their payout scales shows that all are different in terms of the house's edge over the player—even if they appear to be the identical Joker Wild Game (for example: Joker Wild Jacks or Better). These payback percentages range from 102 percent (the player will get back $1.02 for every dollar put in the machine in the long run) to 88 percent (the player will get 88 cents back for every dollar put in the machine)—and this assumes that the player plays a perfect strategy for that machine. That's some big difference. You have to play perfectly to get back 88 percent? Yuck!
And the same holds true on the myriad machines and versions of machines throughout the video-poker world.
Indeed, at present count, over one hundred different video-poker games can be currently found on the floors of America's and the world's casinos. Many of these are variations of the following types: Jacks or Better Draw Poker, Tens or Better Draw Poker, Deuces Wild Poker, Joker Wild Poker (Joker Poker), and Deuces and Joker Wild Poker. Sometimes machines can be found that have bonus hands, second chance options and the like. To offer such options, the pay scale for the other hands has to be downgraded; more often than not such downgrading will totally eliminate the player's previous edge on this type of machine. Be doubly cautious because machines with the exact same names (say, All-American Draw Poker) can offer different payouts. You must read the payout schedule to know if a rose by the same name is a sweet-smelling flower or a horrible stinkweed. In video poker, what's in a name? Very little. It's the numbers that count. So pay attention to the payout scale.
It is also important to understand how to read a payout scale properly.
If we take the typical full-pay Jacks or Better, five-coin maximum machine, the payout will look like this:
Hand 1 coin 2 coin 3 coin 4 coin 5 coin
Royal Flush 250 500 750 1000 4700
Straight Flush 50 100 150 200 250
Four of a Kind 25 50 75 100 125
Full House 9 18 27 36 45
Flush 6 12 18 24 30
Straight 4 8 12 16 20
Three of a Kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two Pairs 2 4 6 8 10
jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5
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