The general rule is that before you make any decision or start any game, you should think about the strategy first. The same is with Video Poker. Also, you must not forget that in any game of video poker you are playing against the computer – in other words, the casino. It is difficult to make your chances better, but certainly you have more control over the game than in, for example, roulette. So, if you want to make your chances for success greater, you should read some of the important video poker strategies which we write below.

        First of all, you should know that Video Poker has many different variations – more than any other casino game! That is why, you should know the rules and payouts of the type of Video Poker you are playing. This is important - different types of games need different strategies because they have different pay out tables and probabilities! After getting to know different games and their rules, you need to chose a machine. Many players ignore that, but you must be wiser and choose the machine that has the best payout tables and then use it. You should know that Video Poker machines usually pay out more than other slot machines and also you are able to control the house edge to some extent. You may think that everybody knows that, but the fact is that many players are in such a hurry to sit down and play that they do not care about the machine. As a result they choose the one with rather low payouts compared to what they could have found if they spent some time looking at payout tables.

        Again, once you make a decision about the type of the game you are going to play, we suggest playing one form at a time. Jacks or Better is one of the most known and popular, it pays out rather high and because it is similar to regular 5-card draw poker, it is perfect for any beginner. Next, you should ask yourself, how much you can spend on gambling. Because payouts are based on both your cards AND the sum of money you bet, you should think a while about it. If you want to win a fortune, you’ll need some more money, but still your chances of winning the big one are rather small. On the other hand, you don’t want to miss a truly GIGANTIC sum of money just because you bet the minimum. This decision depends only on you and should be based on your bankroll and ambition.  The only advice we can give is that if you don’t aim for a fortune, play at least with a little more than the minimum. In this way, you are really saving money and not just regretting you are not a millionaire.

        If you’ve chosen your game and the machine, you’ve got another thing to do – to decide which cards you want to keep and which to replace. If you’re a beginner, it may be good for you to have some strategy card or something like that because it teaches you which card or cards to replace by any typical card. All you really need to be able to do is to know which combination of two or more cards is a good combination, and then throw away the cards which don’t fit into that combination. Once you can do that, it is half of the success. Some people advise to replace all 5 of your cards if you have a really poor combination, but in our opinion, with time and practice you should almost always be able to notice one or two cards that could form a high combination and be profitable. While no other brilliant strategy or system works, our advice of keeping that best combination and replacing all other cards seems the best we can give. If you add a wise game and knowledge of payouts, you may be among those successful in Video Poker.

        Below we give simple strategy guides for Jacks-or-Better and Deuces Wild draw poker – two of the most popular and commonly played types of Video Poker. If you are an experienced player, those tips may be quite obvious, but if you are a beginner, read them and remember about them while playing either of these two games.