Full Pay Jacks or Better Video Poker

The Full Pay Jacks or Better is part of the base of video poker’s overall family tree. Standard Jacks or Better provides the foundation on which almost all other styles are formed.

More than 35 years have passed since the first Jacks or Better machines were placed in a few Las Vegas casinos, but in that time, the classic version of video poker has become a standard offering in gambling establishments all across the planet. And even with a multitude of new video poker variants to choose from, standard Jacks or Better remains one of the most popular entries ever introduced.

Best Full Pay Jacks or Better Online Casinos

This page was written to provide beginners with a comprehensive introduction to full pay Jacks or Better video poker. An overview of Full Pay Jacks or Better historical origins, basic information on rules, game-play setup, and operating a video poker machine will be covered. From there, you’ll find a lesson on the role of pay tables, along with the impact made by slight adjustments made to the most common pay tables. Finally, a primer on the optimal play and basic strategy for Jacks or Better can be found, including a chart used by advanced players to decide between the closest decisions.

How to Play Full Pay Jacks or Better

Full Pay Jacks or Better operates according to the traditional hand hierarchy used in the majority of poker games. The minimum qualifying hand needed to earn the basic even money payout is one pair of jacks or higher, hence the game’s name. If you need a refresher on poker hand rankings, a full list of the hands used in Full Pay Jacks or Better has been compiled below, in descending order of strength:

Royal Flush

10 J Q K A, all in the same suit.

Straight Flush

Any five card straight that are all in the same suit.

Four of a Kind

Four cards of the same rank.

Full House

Three of a Kind AND One Pair.

Flush

Any five cards all in the same suit.

Straight

Any string of five consecutive cards.

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank.

Two Pair

Two different sets of two cards of the same rank.

One Pair

One set of two cards of the same rank.

The objective of Jacks or Better, and all associated video poker games is to complete the highest hand possible. Players must choose between holding pat low hands, or chasing draws to higher hands.

After your payout has been awarded, or your credit has been deducted, pressing the “DEAL” button again repeats the process. You can always opt to remove your credits and step away from the game by pressing the “CASH OUT” button.

Full Pay Jacks or Better Pay Table

Perhaps the most important item of information needed to play Full Pay Jacks or Better video poker at a high level is the pay table. Before diving into the details of pay table differentials, it’s necessary to begin with an introduction to the most advantageous pay table found on any Jacks or Better machine, also known as the “9 / 6” or “full pay” game.

Review the 9 / 6 pay table below to determine the payouts for all of the possible hand rankings:

Beginning with the left most column, which describes the payouts when making the minimum wager, the first four payouts are all quite basic. A single pair of full pay jacks or better pays out even money or 1 credit. Two pair is good for 2 credits, three of a kind returns 3 credits, and a straight pays back 4 credits.

Falling back on the example used earlier, let’s imagine we’ve loaded the $1 machine with $100, and despite the strategic importance of betting the maximum (more on this to come), we’ve decided to bet $1 to make the math easier. On the first two spins, we make no qualifying hands, so our credit meter is reduced to $98 ($100   $1   $1 = $98).

Then, on our third hand, we receive the 7s 8c 9h 10d 2h and decide to hold the first four cards for an open-ended straight draw (four cards to a straight, with two cards that can complete the draw). After discarding the deuce, the Jc arrives on the screen to complete the straight draw, and our credit meter rises to $101 with the 4 credit win ($98   $1 + $4 = $101).

On the very next deal, we receive the Qh Qs 6s 4d 2h combination, and after holding the pair of queens and discarding the other three cards we receive the Qd, the 9h, and the Ac. With three of a kind, our credit meter increases to $103 with the 3 credit payout ($101   $1 + $3 = $103). Below we provide an extended analysis.

Mathematicians and game theorists have long since analyzed the expected return rates for any video poker pay table, and you can review this crucial piece of data in the bottom row of each column. Of course, the number listed here assumes that players are employing optimal strategy – but you’ll be able to do just that after finishing the strategy section which concludes this page.

The terms “expected return” and “house edge” are often used to describe the same concept – a player’s odds against in a casino game – but both metrics cover the opposite end of the spectrum. When assessing expected return rates, the final figure is based on calculating what the player should bring back after wagering $100 an infinite number of times. In the game of Jacks or Better with a full pay 9 / 6 pay table in place, the expected return rate stands at 98.37 percent when betting between one and four coins. This means that an infinite number of $100 sessions should theoretically result in an average return of $98.37.

Put another way, the casino’s house edge in Full Pay Jacks or Better, when players are betting less than the maximum, is 1.63 percent. This figure can always be calculated quite simply, by subtracting the expected return rate from 100, so (100 – 98.37 = 1.63). For the sake of comparison, the house edge for roulette when a double zero wheel is used stands at 5.26 percent, games like keno can rise to 20 percent and higher while blackjack played correctly drops down to under 0.50 percent.

When examining the expected return rates listed beneath each pay table column above, you’ll notice that the figure jumps from 98.37 percent to 99.54 percent when betting the maximum of five coins. This is a statistically significant increase, one which definitely favors the player by reducing the house edge down to just 0.46 percent. The reason for this change is the juiced payout for the royal flush, a “jackpot” setup which makes maximum bets the correct play in Full Pay Jacks or Better over the long run.

With the full pay 9 / 6 pay table thoroughly covered, you may wonder why players would ever sit down at a lesser machine, but casino operators make their living by playing the odds. Even the slightest of adjustments to the standard 9 / 6 pay table can significantly reduce the player’s expected return rate, thus increasing the house edge on which all casinos survive.

In usually subtle fashion, casino managers and game manufacturers decided to keep most of the payouts identical on their updated versions of the Jacks or Better machine. By changing only two numbers, the higher ups realized that most casual gamblers would never even notice that the odds against them had jumped in a major way.

The two numbers that give the full pay 9 / 6 table its name are for the respective payouts for the full house and the flush. By changing either one, or both, of these key numbers, the odds you’ll face in Full Pay Jacks or Better are drastically altered – and never in the player’s favor. You’ll find games in which the full house pays out 8 credits rather than 9 credits, versions that pay 5 credits rather than 6 credits for a flush, and vice versa. The adjustments may not seem like they matter all that much, but the casinos are counting on players to fall into that trap.

Take a moment to review the following grid, which lists the most commonly used alternative pay tables for Full Pay Jacks or Better video poker. Pay attention to the # / # heading at the top of each column, as these numbers represent the revised payouts for a full house and a flush. The numbers below assume a maximum wager of five coins has been made, but the payouts have been divided by five to their base number. You can simply multiply any credit amount by five to calculate the amount you’ll actually receive when wagering five coins.  These machines aren’t full pay machines and should be avoided.

As you can see by examining the bottom row of each column, this grid has been ordered by expected return rate, with the pay table offering the highest percentage at the far left.

As we transition to the strategic elements of Full Pay Jacks or Better, you should take note that the most important aspect of playing this game properly has already been discussed. By limiting your action to full pay 9 / 6 machines, or at the very worst the 9 / 5 or 8 / 6 varieties, you’ll automatically have a much higher chance of breaking even (every gambler’s true optimal outcome) over long sessions, all while chasing the big score of a max bet royal flush. Simply sitting down at a video poker machine offering an inferior pay table instantly increases the house edge against you, and even with optimal strategy guiding your decision making, the game will already be too disadvantageous to overcome. To see more pay table information, visit VPFree.

Strategy Guidelines

Video poker is a skill-based game in which the outcome is influenced by player decisions. Much like online blackjack and other decision oriented games, probability and game theory analysis has determined the most profitable play over the long run given any possible scenario.

When playing blackjack, skilled players rely on memory to sort through the available decisions after assessing their cards and the dealer’s card. No matter which cards the player holds, and which card the dealer is showing, a mathematically correct play can be determined. In online video poker, the same holds true, and no matter which combination of five cards you happen to hold, an optimal decision regarding which ones to hold and which to discard can be made.

The beauty of standard Jacks or Better video poker is that, by and large, the majority of your decisions will be simple and straightforward. You’ll either have a single pat hand or a high card to hold, or you’ll drop all five cards and draw a new hand. When you see three of a kind on the screen, in a hand like 7d 7h 7s Ad Qc for example, holding the three sevens and collecting the sure 3 credit payout, while drawing two more cards with a chance to improve, is obviously the right play. Conversely, when you see something like 2s 5c 6h 9h 10d – nothing at all, no pairs, no draws, and no high cards – throwing the hand away and drawing five new cards is a clear choice.

Of course, the best games are never that simple, and invariably you’ll be faced with tough situations in which you hold two or more possible hands at the same time. As an example, let’s consider the following five card deal: Kd Qd Jd Kh 9d

With these five cards, you have three viable choices to work with:

• Collect the sure win and hold the pair of kings
• Draw to the four cards straight flush draw
• Go for the tempting royal flush on a two card draw.

Believe it or not, many players take the first option by habit and go with the sure thing, others try to fill in their four cards straight flush draw, and some even try to score the royal flush.

With three options on the table, decisions like this (and the hundreds of other close calls you’ll face) make Full Pay Jacks or Better video poker a challenging mental exercise. Just like real poker, you need to have a good card sense and grasp on the odds of drawing in order to succeed. And like blackjack, the power of your pivotal decision plays a big role in determining whether or not your cards are winners or losers.

Navigating through five card combinations like the example hand above can be difficult at first, but fortunately, an optimal strategy chart has been created to help players make the correct decisions at all times.

To read the chart and properly apply optimal strategy given any five card combination in Full Pay Jacks or Better, you’ll rely on a simple three-step process is used. First, check out your hand to see which combinations you currently hold. Second, scan the chart and locate the positions of each hand. Third, hold the hand which is ranked highest on the chart and employ the appropriate hold / discard actions.

Returning to the Kd Qd Jd Kh 9d example, we can follow the three step process to see it in action. Step one was described above, so we’ve determined that these five cards give you either one pair of kings, a four card straight flush draw, or a three card royal flush draw. Moving on to the second step, we can see that a three card royal flush draw sits in 7^th position, one high pair is ranked in 6^th position, and a four card straight flush draw holds the 4^th position. Step three recommends holding on to the highest ranked hand, so we should always hold the Kd Qd Jd 9d combination and discarding the Kh, before drawing one card.

Risk averse readers may be hesitant to follow this course of action, thinking that a draw at hitting only one card in the deck, the 10d for a straight flush, is unwise. And this would be correct because more often than not, you’ll find yourself swinging and missing on the straight flush draw.

Of course, your possibilities when holding the Kd Qd Jd 9d combination are not limited to the straight flush draw. You can always fall back on hitting any of the other three 10s in the deck to make a basic straight while any of the nine diamonds left in play will complete a flush. You also have three high cards, so any J, Q, or K that arrives will give you one pair for an even money save. When all of these possibilities and their corresponding payouts are examined as a whole, holding the four card straight flush draw becomes the most profitable play over the long run.

Making optimal decisions at every possible juncture is the only way to realize the extremely favorable expected return rate promised by the full pay 9 / 6 table.

Deceptively simple adjustments like this instantly triple your chances of earning 4 credits in this example, which is why consulting the optimal strategy chart for Full Pay Jacks or Better video poker is always advisable.

History of the Game

The origins of video poker begin with William “Si” Redd, the pioneering slot machine and casino equipment distributor who founded Si Redd Coin Machines (SIRCOMA) in 1975.

You can learn more about the inspiration behind video poker, and Redd’s creative process, by heading over to the video poker book page.

After retaining the rights to his original video gambling concept, Redd released the first “Draw Poker” machine through SIRCOMA in 1979. This was the prototype for modern video poker models, combining a slot machine cabinet with a television screen to present players with the world’s first video version of five-card draw poker.

Video poker expanded on the slot machine experience by integrating the one on one game-play of casino games like blackjack, which pits players against an unseen “dealer” during every hand, as well as the concept of a player decision which partially determines the outcome.

In order to operate a Draw Poker machine, players simply deposited their preferred amount of coins to purchase game credits and pressed “DEAL” to receive a hand comprised of five playing card graphics. Based on the relative strength of these five cards, using the traditional poker hand rankings, players decided which cards to hold and which to discard, before drawing replacement cards to complete their hand. The strength of that final five card hand determined the resulting payout, with players looking to make the highest hands possible.

During the first year or two after Draw Poker was launched, casino players regularly passed by the new game. At the time, the first Draw Poker machines set a minimum hand strength of two pairs or better, meaning players must make a hand of two pairs or higher in order to receive even the base payout of even money. This threshold proved to be quite steep, and players routinely walked away from their first video poker experience feeling unsatisfied by the lack of winning hands.

That all changed in 1981, however, when Redd and the SIRCOMA team introduced a slight adjustment to their original model, responding to player feedback by lowering the minimum hand requirement to just one pair. In the new and improved version of video poker, players needed to make one pair of at least jacks or higher in order to receive an even money payout. The resulting Jacks or Better video poker machines proved to be an immediate hit and players throughout Las Vegas, and eventually, all of America, began gravitating toward the new game.

Now needing just a single pair to claim the minimum payout of one credit, players could extend their sessions by landing easy hands, all while chasing the game’s huge payouts for the highest hands like four of a kind, the straight flush, and the royal flush.

For seasoned gamblers who knew the score, Jacks or Better video poker represented a rare addition to the selection of skill based games found in casinos. Like blackjack and other casino games in which a player’s decision-making ability influences the outcome of their wager, video poker allowed savvy gamblers to improve their odds by coming to the correct decision. As the gambling community would soon discover, Jacks or Better video poker created some of the most favorable conditions for players found on any casino floor, offering extremely low house edges to those employing even the most basic strategies.

As the 1980s progressed into the 1990s and beyond, Jacks or Better became a staple of the casino environment everywhere, and today the game can be played in tiny video poker parlors, local casinos, cruise ships, mega resorts, and even private residences. Video poker has also been successfully adapted by online casinos, giving players the chance to enjoy Jacks or Better and dozens of variations through any internet connected device.