Jacks Or Better Strategy Table
- Jacks Or Better Optimal Strategy
- Video Poker Jacks Or Better Strategy
- Video Poker Strategy Chart Jacks Or Better
- 9 6 Jacks Or Better
When we compare casino games’ odds, we look at the house edge. That’s a mathematical projection of how much you can expect to lose in the long run as a percentage of your action.
Here’s an example:
Jacks or Better Guide Jacks or Better is the most common video poker game in the world, online or offline. Besides being popular, Jacks or Better also happens to be one of the simplest and best paying video poker variations out there (as long as it is full pay). Jacks or Better is a video poker game where the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks. In Jacks or Better strategy, the aim is to at least have two Jacks in your hand or better, hence the name Jacks or Better. It follows rules similar to five card draw poker. In Jacks or Better, or any other video poker game, you have 1 to 5 coins to play with. Jacks or better 1. The 90-9-6 Table – 99.9% RTP Possibility. With a perfect strategy played on this table, you can get up to 99.9% of your wagers back over time. Mix it it in with VIP casino programs and such and you’ll be able to actually get the casino to pay you to play. The magic numbers you are looking for on this paytable are the 90. Jacks or Better is a video poker game where the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks. In Jacks or Better strategy, the aim is to at least have two Jacks in your hand or better, hence the name Jacks or Better. It follows rules similar to five card draw poker. In Jacks or Better, or any other video poker.
The house edge for blackjack is usually around 1%. This means that every time you wager $100, the casino expects you to lose $1.
The house edge, by the way, is not a sure thing. In the example above, on a single hand of blackjack, you’ll never win or lose just $1. You might lose $100, or you might win $100. You might evenwin $150 if you get a blackjack.
The house edge is a long-term average.
Casino players sometimes walk away from the casino as winners. It’s called short-term variance. It’s the nature of why casino gambling works.
Sometimes players walk away winners. That’s what keeps themcoming back. Often they walk away losers, but their friends or nearby strangers walk away winners.
But in the long run, over thousands of bets, the average will eventually almost assuredly start to resemble the house edge.
Also, the lower the house edge, the better your odds of walking away a winner.
Here’s a numbered list of the 10 games in the casino with the lowest house edge:
No. | Game | House Edge |
---|---|---|
10 | Single Zero Roulette | As Low as 2.70% |
9 | Pai Gow Poker | As Low as 1.46% |
8 | Craps | As Low as 1.36% |
7 | Baccarat | As Low as 1.06% |
6 | Bonus Poker | As Low as 0.83% |
5 | Jacks or Better | As Low as 0.46% |
4 | Spanish 21 | As Low as 0.40% |
3 | Blackjack | As Low as 0.28% |
2 | Deuces Wild | As Low as 0.27% |
1 | Pick’em Poker | As Low as 0.1% |
These are the most common, low-house-edge-casino-games you’ll find. You should be aware of a few things, though:
- Roulette only has a 2.70% house edge if you find a table with a single zero. A roulette game with 2 zeros (which is more common), has a house edge of 5.26%.
- The house edge for craps is listed for the don’t pass bet, which is the best bet on the table. You should combine that with the maximum odds bet to get the best deal. That bet has no houseedge at all, but you can’t make it unless you’ve made a pass or don’t pass bet first.
- You should always bet on the banker in baccarat. Also, if you’re looking for the best odds without having to make decision, baccarat’s your game.
- Bonus Poker, Deuces Wild, Jacks or Better, and Pick’em Poker are video poker variations. The house edge listed is for the best pay tables for each game.
- Some video poker games offer the player an edge over the house, but only with certain rare pay tables. You also need to play every hand perfectly to achieve those numbers. I didn’t includethose games in this post.
- The numbers listed for blackjack and Spanish 21 assume rules that are favorable to the player.
Jacks or Better video poker offers some of the best odds in the casino. The best version of Jacks or Better video poker, the 9/6 variant, has a payback percentage of 99.5%, which is better for the player than just about any other game in the casino. Even 8/5 Jacks or Better has a payout percentage of 97.3%, which is far worse than a full pay but still far better than most bets on most other casino games.
But in order to enjoy the high payback percentage, you have to play using expert Jacks or Better strategy. The casinos and the manufacturers estimate that players who don’t use an expert strategy are giving up between 2% and 4%, which is a significant amount of money.
How significant?
Consider the average hourly loss of an expert player who’s running true to the mathematical expectation of a game. She’s making 600 wagers per hour at $1.25 per wager, so she’s putting $750 per hour into action. With a house edge of 0.5%, she can expect to lose $3.75 per hour. Assuming she gamblers for ten hours on her trip, she’s got lots of entertainment for just $37.50.
Then let’s take a look at her husband, who ignores expert Jacks or Better video poker strategy and just follows his hunches. (We’ll also assume that his hunches aren’t very good.) He’s losing 4.5% of his bets, which means that he’s losing nine times as much as his wife. At the end of the trip, he’s lost $337.50.
That’s a significant difference.
How to develop an expert Jacks or Better strategy
Computer programs can determine the expected value of any given hand. There are 32 different ways to play any given hand, but only one way has the best expectation for the player. The more often the player chooses to play her hand in that way, the lower the house edge becomes.
But since there are 2.5 million different possible starting hands in video poker, expert strategy groups hands according to types, in order to make the process easier to learn. After all, memorizing 2.5 million different potential decisions is probably impossible unless you’re a machine, but memorizing several types of hands isn’t as hard.
When you consider that 55% of your hands will lose no matter what, you can see that strategy decisions can be narrowed down pretty fast. In fact, a pair of jacks or better will make up 21% of the number of winning hands you get. The small hands, including three of a kind, two pair, and a pair of jacks, make up 70% of the total return on the game.
How to use a Jacks or Better strategy
All Jacks or Better strategy tables consist of a list of hands. The player starts at the top, which is the best possible hand, and then moves down until she finds the hand that she actually has. She then plays it according to the strategy instructions.
Jacks Or Better Optimal Strategy
Different Jacks or Better strategy charts offer somewhat different instructions. Below I’ve provided one Jacks or Better video poker strategy that’s easy to learn. The house edge against someone using this strategy is only 0.8%, which isn’t as kind to the player as 0.5%, but it’s still considerably better than just about every other game in the casino. And of course, this assumes that you’re playing a full pay, 9/6 Jacks or Better game.
The Jacks or Better Strategy Chart
Keep any 2 pair or better paying combination, UNLESS you also have a 4 card royal flush. If you have a 4 card royal flush, then you’ll always draw to the royal flush. |
Keep any 4 card straight flush. |
Keep any pair of jacks or better. |
Keep any 3 cards to a royal flush. |
Keep any 4 cards to a flush. |
Keep any pair lower than jacks or better. |
Keep any 4 card open straight draw. |
Keep any unsuited AKQJ. |
Keep any 2 suited high cards. |
Keep any 3 cards to a straight flush. |
Keep any unsuited KQJ. |
Keep any 2 unsuited high cards. |
Keep any K, Q, or J if you have a 10 of the same suit. |
Keep any single high card. |
Discard all 5 cards and draw a new hand. |
One of the main principles behind most video poker strategies is that you want the machine to deal you a winning hand. If you’re dealt a winning hand, you will very rarely discard any of those cards to draw to something else. The only exception is 4 cards to a royal flush, and that exception is only there because the payout on that hand is so large compared to the other hands.
Video Poker Jacks Or Better Strategy
In fact, you’ll notice that a lot of the Jacks or Better strategy focuses on the royal flush. You’ll only see a royal flush once in every 40,000 or so hands, but the payout makes for a big part of your overall expectation. If you have four cards to a royal flush, you’ll always draw to it. If you have three cards to a royal flush, you’ll always draw to it UNLESS you have a winning combination, in which case you’ll keep the winning cards instead.
A four-card flush draw is better than a low pair, but both of them are better than a straight draw. The reason, again, has to do with the differences in the payouts as compared to the possibility of finishing your hand.
Video Poker Strategy Chart Jacks Or Better
This Jacks or Better strategy requires memorizing 15 lines of rules/guidelines, but it’s far easier than a more advanced strategy. Once you’ve mastered this, you can easily move up to a more advanced strategy with about 21 lines or rules/guidelines, and then you can gain back that additional 0.3%. Play for free or real money today! Put this Jacks or Better video poker strategy into practice and watch your winnings grow!
9 6 Jacks Or Better
Interested in trying your hand at other online video poker games? Check out this article on 7 tips to improve your video poker strategy to ensure you play at the top of your game.