Is Jacks or Better the Best in Video Poker?
I am sure that most video poker players are familiar with the expressions ‘full pay,’ ’short pay’ and ‘partial pay’, but, others may ask what these mean. The explanation given below should be required reading before play on any VP machine: reading the pay schedule. The best place to start is with a basic ‘plain vanilla’ vp machine pay schedule for jacks or better (jacks+). This version is usually the choice of newbie VP players because of its simplicity, however many VP veterans nominate Jacks or Better as the best VP game. Following is a full-pay 9/6 regular VP pay schedule for jacks or better: (Multiply by 5 for maximum coin play.)
| pay schedule – jacks or better. 9/6 | one-coin return | max. coin return |
| pair: jacks or better | returns the bet | 5 coins |
| two pair (2 PR) | pays 2-1 | 10 coins |
| three-of-a-kind (3/kind) | pays 3-1 | 15 coins |
| straight (ST) (sequence, not same suit) | pays 4-1 | 20 coins |
| flush (FL) (non-sequential, same suit) | pays 6-1 | 30 coins |
| full house (FH) (3 of a kind and a pair) | pays 9-1 | 45 coins |
| four-of-a-kind (quad) fives to kings | pays 25-1 | 125 coins |
| straight flush (SF) (in sequence, same suit) | pays 50-1 | 250 coins |
| royal flush (RF) (except with max. coins) | pays 250-1 | 4000 coins |
strategy tips for jacks+:
- Always keep a five-card winning ‘pat’ hand unless you can draw one card to a royal flush, or a straight flush
- Break a high pair only for a 4-card royal or any 4-card straight flush including an inside draw
- Break a low pair for any 3-card royal flush or any 4-card flush or straight flush
- Break a 4-card flush or open-ended straight for a 3-card royal
- If you have both a 4-flush and 4-straight, go for the flush, the better paying hand.
- An inside straight is completed with one card only, (e.g. dealt 6, 7, 9, 10). Here only the eight can produce a winning hand. This is a good bet to complete a straight flush or royal.
- An outside straight is completed with two possible cards, (e.g. dealt 6, 7, 8, 9). Here a ten or five can produce a winning hand. This hand should always be held for a possible win.
- Ace is not the most important card, especially if not suited with another high card. The jack is, because you have more opportunities to develop winning hands around a jack than around an ace. To form a sequence, a jack has two possibilities: a queen on one side and a 10 on the other. The ace however, has only one possible sequence partner: the king. In addition, when dealt two face cards and an ace, not suited, keep the two face cards only and discard the ace allowing three opportunities, rather than two, to either match the face card(s) or form a straight.
- Never keep a kicker. That’s an additional face card with any pair; this reduces your return by 5%. Hold only the pair and draw three cards. Approximately 1/3 of all hands dealt will have no value other than high card(s) and 20% will be paying hands.
Jacks+ 9/6 strategy is easy to learn and that is the beauty of this VP version. Note: These strategy tips are for Jacks+ 9/6 version only. All other VP versions with varying pay tables require specific strategies for each. I have included a Jacks+ Strategy Card below for your convenience.
Jacks+ VP strategy card draw to the hand higher on the list high card is a jack or better.
| Your Hand | # Cards to Draw |
| royal flush | 0 |
| straight flush (SF) | 0 |
| 4 of a kind | 0 |
| 4 card royal | 1 |
| full house | 0 |
| 4 card straight flush | 1 |
| flush | 0 |
| 3 of a kind | 2 |
| straight | 0 |
| 2 pair | 1 |
| high pair | 3 |
| 3 card royal flush | 2 |
| 4 card flush | 1 |
| low pair | 3 |
| outside 4 card straight | 1 |
| Inside 4 card straight | 1 |
| 3 card straight flush | 2 |
| 2 card royal, no 10 | 3 |
| 3 high cards (no aces) | 2 |
| 2 high cards (jacks +) | 3 |
| none of the above | 5 |
Keep in mind that in a grouping of video poker machines, known as banks or carousels, some casinos will ‘mix-in’ several VP machines with inferior pay programs (short/partial pay). This means that the educated player, on the full-pay Jacks+ 9/6 machine, will be winning more for the same hands than the other players will.
