- Because the player has a choice in video poker play, it is possible to play the hands in a way that is most beneficial to the player. Most video poker players use hunches or play streaks. Only a mathematically derived video poker playing strategy will get you the most from your video poker play.
- Many video poker decisions are no-brainers. The choices will be intuitively obvious to anyone whose card career has passed old maid, go fish, and cut the deck for a dime. For instance, it doesn't take a poker pro or a math meister to know how to handle four sundry hearts and a club. Or three fours, a six, and a nine.
- Professional video poker players know that the best games are the full-pay Deuces Wild games. If you are able to play a perfect strategy in these games, the house edge will disappear, and your average return will be above 100 percent – somewhere in the vicinity of 100.7 percent.
BE KNOWLEDGEABLE. Know what game you want to play. It should be a low house edge, low. Play Texas Hold 'Em video poker with your friends for free Don't let sheltering at home keep you from watching your friends' tells as you bluff your way to the showdown.
Tourists often have a hard time finding good returns on video poker when visiting Las Vegas. This is mainly because most of the games on the Las Vegas Strip have a house edge of at least 2%. On top of that, the games at McCarran Airport are far worse than any of the games you’ll find at many Vegas casinos. Serious video poker players will want to stay away from the Strip all together when visiting Las Vegas, or at least take a short taxi ride to find the better games with a higher RTP.
While that is the case, there are still many options available to casino advantage players; you just have to know where to look. Below we’ll go into further detail on how you can find the best casinos to play video poker when visiting Las Vegas.
#1 The D: Best Video Poker Game in Las Vegas
The single best video poker machine in Las Vegas is located at one of my personal favorites; The D. The casino at The D is located downtown on the Fremont Street Experience, which you’ll recognize by the infamous red “D” logo. The game we are talking about is called Loose Deuces Wild and it returns 101.6% on five coins (with perfect play).
There is just one single machine with this game on it at The D, and it’s located on the second floor. All machines found on this level operate on coins. The denomination for this Loose Deuces Wild machine is a measly $.05. If that machine is taken, there is also a 10/7/5 Double Bonus game available in quarters just a few steps away.
Honorable Mention: Video Poker at The M Resort & Casino
We recently decided to add in The M Resort & Casino as an honorable mention. As of 2018, The M has one of the best overall video poker offerings for players among casinos in the Las Vegas area. When considering the 99% payback games available at machines around the resort, including at the bars, The M casino in Henderson is a great choice for video poker players.
There are many 99% machines available in the high limit room as well, with denominations as low as $1. This casino is about 20 minutes off the strip, but is one of the newest properties in Henderson and has one of the most modern layouts among Las Vegas Casinos.
Other Great Video Poker Games in Downtown Las Vegas
The D is not the only place on Fremont Street to find good video poker games that return over 100%. While the Vegas Strip’s positive payback video poker machines are few and far between, Fremont Street has a lot to offer in this regard. Below we have outlined the casinos with positive payback on video poker.
#2 El Cortez Video Poker
The El Cortez offers several $0.25 full pay Deuces Wild machines which have a 100.76% payback. Aside from this, they also spread 10/7/5 Double Bonus Poker in several locations on the casino floor. With this abundance of great options, it is one of the best casinos to visit for playing video poker.
#3 Las Vegas Club Video Poker (Now Closed)
The casino at Las Vegas Club in downtown Las Vegas spreads full pay Joker Poker which has a 100.64% return. All of these games operate on coins and return over 100%, which is much better than those located on the strip. This casino has since been sold, closed and a new property will take its place. For posterity and reference, we have left this in our guide.
#4 Boyd Gaming Video Poker
Two of the three Boyd Gaming properties in downtown Las Vegas offer video poker machines that return over 100%. In downtown Las Vegas, California and Main Street Station have 10/7/5 Double Bonus. These casinos also have a variety of full pay games that return 99.5% or better. Main Street Station has full pay Jacks or Better at the bar as well.
#5 Plaza Las Vegas Video Poker
It is also worth noting that Plaza Las Vegas recently upgraded all of its video poker machines, many of which now return over 100%. Its best game is 10/7/5 Double Bonus, which returns 100.17%. It also has 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe and 9/6 Jacks or Better. Both of these games are located at the bar, which is an added plus.
Vegas Locals’ Casinos with the Best Video Poker
If you are looking to get away from Fremont Street and the Las Vegas Strip, there are many locals casinos that offer 100%+ return video poker machines. All major Station Casinos properties offer video poker games that return over 100%. Red Rock, Santa Fe Station, Green Valley Ranch, Boulder Station and Texas Station are among the casinos that offer these games. Not all machines at these properties have the great returns. The ones that do will be clearly advertised, so they are fairly easy to spot.
Best Way To Play Video Poker
The best game on these video poker machines is full pay Deuces Wild. Other great options include 10/7/5 Double Bonus and 10/6 Double Double Bonus. Some of the machines also offer full pay Joker Poker. All games are available in quarters. The Double and Double Double Bonus games are also available in $.50 and $1 denominations.Palms spreads full pay Deuces Wild, Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus. Sam’s Town also offers these games. All are available in quarters.
Never Use Players Card in Full Pay Machines
When many Video poker players start out, they learn that they should always use a players card when giving video poker action. The games listed above are one of the only exceptions. The reason for this is that casinos will often assume players that play on these devices are experts who are giving up no edge on the game. This can stop all mailers from casinos which means no more free play or hotel offers. For this reason it will do you well to avoid using a players card on these types of machines; even if you have a players card at the casino.
Best Way To Play Video Poker Machines
How Can Casinos Make Money Off 100% Video Poker?
Casinos still make money from video poker games that return more than 100%. That is because many players will not play all five coins required for the extra royal flush bonus. Most of the games available require a complicated basic strategy that differs from Jacks or Better. Many players do not put in the time to learn these strategies, and the casinos know this. The Deuces Wild games found on these machines should not be played like a normal game with a lower pay table, since it has a completely different strategy.
For these reasons, casinos still manage to make money from the games we mentioned in this article. Always make sure to play five coins every hand and learn the proper strategy so that you can play at an advantage on full pay machines. This will result in a theoretical 100%+ return on your play.
Kevin King is a former professional gambler and casino expert from Las Vegas who now shares his expertise in the form of casino guides and reviews.
Five playing cards are initially dealt out to players in video poker, and they then have to decide which of those cards, if any, to hold and lock into place and which cards to get rid of to be replaced with a new card or cards dealt out of a single pack of playing cards.
There is nothing complicated about video poker, for players are simply aiming to form one of the winning hand combinations as displayed on the pay table of the machine they are playing, and by doing so they will then win the respective cash payout, based on the hand and the number of coins played.
Each variant of video poker will have its own unique pay table, and sometimes you will find some variants also have wild cards that can stand in for any other cards when dealt out to a player’s hand.
Most video poker games have a multi-denomination playing structure, and as such players are able to pick a coin value setting that they can afford to play for.
On each hand played, there is the option to play one to five coins per hand, and obviously the more coins wagered on each hand the higher in value the winning payout will become.
Those are the basics of how to playing video poker, but there are several ways to ensure players are always going to get the maximum winning chances when playing, and never make any strategic playing errors, which shall be revealed below.
Best Video Poker Odds
Pay Tables and RTP’s
Players do need to know just which video poker games are going to be the best ones to play, and often they will find dozens of variants on offer to them.
It will always be the pay table associated with each variant of video poker that will ultimately determine whether it is worth playing or not, for the number of coins awarded per hand will reflect the payout percentage of that game over the long term.
Obviously there are lots of different casino game designers who have launched an array of different video poker games, which are in use at most casino sites, but one company whose games are very popular with such sites and apps is Microgaming.
Therefore below is listed their range of video poker games and the long term expected payout percentage of each variant is listed alongside each game, so players should make a note of the following information and stick to playing the better paying variants only.
Jacks or Better 99.54%
Joker Poker 98.60%
Deuces Wild 99.37%
Tens or Better 99.14%
All American 99.38%
Double Bonus 99.11%
Bonus Poker 99.17%
Aces and Faces 99.26%
Double Joker 98.10%
Deuces and Joker 99.07%
Double Double 98.98%
All Aces 99.92%
Configuring Video Poker Games Optimally
As players do have to make a judgement call when playing video poker games, once the initial five playing cards have been dealt out to them, there is always the chance that they could make some basic playing errors when deciding which cards to hold and discard.
Therefore it is important for all players to know just which cards are the ones they should be holding on every possible hand combination initially dealt out to them, but that could take a players years to learn, of course.
By simply clicking onto the option settings button attached to most if not all video poker games players will find a range of different settings they can make use of.
One of those settings is known as an Auto- Hold setting, and when activated what the game will then do is deal out a players initial five playing cards but will then automatically hold the best ones as per the best strategy for the variant being played.
Therefore, all players should ensure if that option setting is available to them on the variant they are playing, it is turned on and activated, as by doing so they are never going to make any costly playing errors and will always be playing perfectly too.
Playing Maximum Coin Hands
The pay table of any video poker game does need close inspection by players, for often there are a range of bonus winning payouts that can be awarded to them when they play a certain number of coins.
The most common bonus payout is an enhanced jackpot on offer to players, and the only way to have any chance of winning that enhanced jackpot payout is to put into play the maximum number of coins on each hand a player chooses to play, which for reference is usually five coins.
To make that affordable, for every single video poker player will have their own gambling budget, players are strongly advised to adjust the coin value settings to ones that will allow them to get a fair number of hands based on the bankroll they have set aside to play with.
Be Careful When Using Casino Bonuses
One final thing about playing video poker games online that all players should be aware of, is that some of the bonus offers available to them are not going to be available on games such a video poker.
For example many casinos offer deposit match or reload bonuses to their customers, however hidden in the small print of the terms and conditions and bonus play rules it could stipulate that players are only allowed to play slot machines with their awarded bonus credits.
So, if any player out there does fancy playing real money video poker games online and are tempted to claim a casino bonus, they need to be 100% certain they can use any awarded bonus credits on the video poker game variants they wish to play, long before they claim such a bonus offer.
David is a keen slots player and has spent countless hours playing both online and in land based casinos. He enjoys sharing his knowledge of the gambling industry and keeps a keen eye out for the latest online slot games. Contact him by sending an email to david@casinochronicle.net.