Our in-depth Video Poker Strategy page will teach you how to win at video poker, every time. Get the maximum out of every video poker game you play! BE KNOWLEDGEABLE. Know what game you want to play. It should be a low house edge, low. Check the video poker strategy to determine the proper hold. Once you have made your choice, there is no need to play out the hand, just deal the next hand. Keep practicing until you are able to correctly play at least 95 percent of the hands correctly.

1. How To Win Playing Video Poker Deuces Wild
2. How To Win Playing Video Poker Slot Machines

Perfect basic strategy is a must for this high volatility game

By Henry Tamburin

Let me repeat this because it’s important: The volatility is very high. This means that if you are not lucky and don’t get a winning hand followed by another winning hand, your bankroll will head south very quickly. This greater volatility requires a much bigger bankroll to withstand the big bankroll swings that will occur with this game.

In previous articles in Strictly Slots, I wrote about the six-coins-per-line games Super Times Pay and Quick Quads. This month, I’ll describe the mother of multi-coin-per-line games known as Ultimate X.

Ultimate X is available as a multi-hand and single-hand video poker game. If you wager 10 coins per line instead of five coins, you will earn a multiplier, not on the current hand, but on the following hand (i.e., betting 10 coins per line puts you in the Ultimate X mode). Essentially, you are doubling your initial bet in the hopes that you will get a greater payout on the following hand.

The easiest way to show you how Ultimate X works is to play a few hands. (The game is Triple Play Bonus Poker.)

Suppose on the first hand you wagered the maximum of 30 coins (i.e., 10 coins per line) to activate the Ultimate X feature and are dealt the following hand:

Notice on the bottom right of the screen, the “Ultimate X Poker” logo shows that it is active (because you wagered the maximum of 30 coins). On the first line, you hold the pair of 4s. The 4s will appear in the same card position on lines #2 and #3, and each line will receive three draw cards. The result of the draw gave you these final hands.

You wound up with two pairs on line #1 (pair of 4s and 8s) but you didn’t get a winning hand on lines #2 and #3. Our winning two pair on line #1 paid 10 coins (which is a standard payout for two pairs for a traditional five-coin wager). The 10-coin winning payout appears in the “Win” meter at the bottom left of the screen. Likewise, the 10 coins won increased the “Credit” meter (lower right) by 10 coins. Notice that to the left of line #1 (i.e., bottom hand), you’ll see “Next Hand 3X.” This signifies that the payout for a winning hand on Line #1 on the following hand would be multiplied by 3.

On the next hand, you are dealt:

Notice that “3X” appears to the left of line #1 (to signify whatever the payout is for a winning hand on line #1, it will be multiplied by 3). You hold the single ace, hit the draw button, and wound up with a pair of queens on line #1 and a pair of aces on line #3.

The payout for a high pair is five coins but on line #1, the payout is multiplied by 3 (because we had a winning hand on this line in the previous hand). Therefore, your total payout was 20 coins (five coins for the pair of aces on line #3, and 15 coins for the pair of queens on line #1). Since you have a winning hand on lines #1 and #3, the screen shows that you will have a 2x multiplier on any winning hands on lines #1 and #3 on the following hand.

On your third hand, you were dealt two unsuited high cards (J-Q) on line #1, you held them, and ended up with:

Unfortunately, you didn’t get a winning hand on lines #1 and #3 (with the 2x multiplier from the previous winning hands on these lines) but you got a winning hand on line #2 that gives you a 3x multiplier on this line for the following hand.

On the next hand, you were dealt two pair:

You hold the two pair, say a silent prayer, and after the draw ended up with the following hands:

Unfortunately, you didn’t get a full house or three of a kind on any line on the draw (darn!) so your final result was two pair on all lines. The payout was 10 coins on line #1, 10 coins on line # 3, and 30 coins on line #2 (because of the 3x multiplier from the previous winning hand line #2). Notice also that on the following hand, you will have a 3x multiplier on all three lines.

I hope after playing these sample hands, you get the gist of how the game plays and how fun and lucrative it could be if you get a winning hand on one or more lines followed by another winning hand on the same line(s).

The amount of the multiplier that you receive for any winning hand depends on which game you are playing (e.g., bonus poker, double double bonus, etc.), what the winning hand was (see below), and how many lines you played (e.g., Triple Play, Five Play, or Ten Play.). The multiplier is always 2x for winning hands higher than a full house. As an example, the multipliers for the Triple Play Bonus Poker game are:

Notice that if you get a full house or flush on any line, then on the following hand the payout for any winning hand (on the same line) would be multiplied by 12 and 11 respectively. (My biggest winning hand to date playing Ultimate X was when I got four 3s with a 12x multiplier (the payout was a very nice 2400 coins or $600 playing quarters).

Keep in mind that when you activate the Ultimate X feature, you are doubling your bet (betting 10 coins per line instead of 5 coins) in return at a potential shot at a bigger payout on the following hand. Because you are betting a total of 30 coins per hand on a Triple Play Ultimate X game, the volatility is very high. Let me repeat this because it’s important: The volatility is very high. This means that if you are not lucky and don’t get a winning hand followed by another winning hand, your bankroll will head south very quickly. This greater volatility requires a much bigger bankroll to withstand the big bankroll swings that will occur with this game. (Psychologically, you also have to be prepared for the negative swings.)

According to IGT, there are nine game families on the Ultimate X platform, mostly on Three-, Five- and Ten-Play machines, although a single hand version is offered on their bundled-theme Five Star Poker. The highest return Ultimate X game that is offered is 9/6 Double Double Bonus Poker on Ten Play (99.87%, assuming perfect strategy). You can review the returns for other games on the Ultimate X page at www.wizardofodds.com.

If you want to know which casinos in Las Vegas offer Ultimate X, go to the Best Video Poker Page on www.lasvegasadvisor.com. You can also go to www.vpfree2.com and use the search function to find out which casinos in different regions of the U.S. offer Ultimate X, or use the “Find in Casinos” function on www.videopoker.com. If you want to play Ultimate X for free, go to www.videopoker.com. (I highly recommend you do so to get a feel for how the game plays and the size of the bankroll swings.)

Tip of the Month

When you play Ultimate X, you are paying more on the current hand in the hopes of getting a multiplier on the following hand. Therefore, on your last hand before you quit playing, you should only bet five coins per line (i.e., don’t activate the Ultimate X feature on the last hand because it has no value since you won’t be playing another hand). Also, before you start playing, check the screen on different Ultimate X games to see if a previous player left a multiplier on the game. If you are lucky to find one with a multiplier, jump in and play the hand with only a five coin per line wager. As always, but even more so with Ultimate X because you are betting twice as much per hand, play each hand with perfect basic strategy. Good luck!

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Henry Tamburin is a blackjack and video poker expert. He is the host of the smartgaming.com website and the editor of the Blackjack Insider newsletter (for a free three-month subscription, visit www.bjinsider.com/freetrial). For a free copy of his Casino Gambling Catalog, which contains books, strategy cards, and software for casino players, call toll free 1-888-353-3234, or visit the web store at smartgaming.com.

Spin Poker looks a lot like a standard 3-line multi-play video poker game, but it has some significant differences.

The main hand is in the center line, and the other 2 lines are located above and below that line. When you decide which cards to keep and which cards to throw away, those cards are kept above and below, too.

But the cards are dealt from one deck with 47 cards left in it, which makes it impossible to get the same results on all 3 hands.

How to Play Spin Poker

All video poker games share certain gameplay features. You can find detailed explanation of those in our main video poker page. But I’ll share the basics here, too:

You start by placing a bet of between 1 and 5 coins. You should always go with the 5-coin bet, though, because that activates a higher payout on a royal flush. If you bet 1, 2, 3, or 4 coins, a royal flush pays off at 250 to 1. But when you bet 5 coins, the hand pays off at 800 to 1. It’s a significant difference that affects your bottom line over time.

Once you’ve placed your bet, you press the “deal” button, and the game deals you a 5 card poker hand. You can choose to keep or discard any, none, or all of the cards in front of you.

The computer deals you replacement cards for the ones you’ve discarded, and you get paid off based on the strength of your hand. These payoffs are detailed on the pay table for the game.

Some games are “multi-play” games, where you get the opportunity to play 3, 5, 10, or even 50 hands at a time. They all start with the same 5-card hand, but you get fresh deals on each line from a fresh 52 card deck. That’s where Spin Poker deviates from the norm. The cards are dealt from one 47 card deck, and they’re dealt from left to right in the discard spots.

Spin Poker, like many video poker variations, is just a variation that’s stapled onto an existing video poker game like Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild. It has a different name because of the 3-lines and the way the cards are dealt and replaced after the discard phase of the game.

Since this is the case, the pay tables and odds for Spin Poker are based on the base game.

If you’re playing Jacks or Better with a 9/6 pay table and a 99.54% payback percentage, the same numbers hold true for the Spin Poker variation of the game. (The 9/6 refers to the payouts for the full house and the flush, respectively.)

There is a difference in the volatility of the game, though, because of the extra hands. You can expect bigger swings and longer losing streaks followed by occasional larger wins that make up for them. In the long run, you’ll lose money at about the same rate as you would in any other video poker game with these pay tables. It will just take longer for the long run to kick in. (And the long run takes a while to kick in anyway—longer than most people think. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of hands.)

We’ve covered pay tables and payback percentages in detail on a lot of our other pages, but we’ll include an example of a typical pay table below to give you an idea (in case you’re a novice). This example is for a 9/6 Jacks or Better game:

This is also called a “full pay” Jacks or Better game because it’s the best common version of the game. The payback percentage for this version of the game, assuming you make the correct holding/drawing decisions on every hand, is 99.54%. The payback percentage is the amount of each bet that the casino expects to pay back in winnings over the long run (hundreds of thousands of hands).

Here’s how the payback percentage is used to calculate the expected profit on a machine:

You multiply the cost per hand by the number of bets you’re making per hour. You then multiply that by the payback percentage to get the amount paid back to the player in winnings. Subtract that from the amount bet per hour and you get the expected hourly loss.

How To Win Playing Video Poker Deuces Wild

Let’s say you’re playing the 9/6 game above. You’re placing 15 coins in action on each hand (3 hands X 5 coins per hand). Assuming you’re playing a quarter game, that’s $3.75 per hand. You’re going to average probably 600 hands per hour, so 600 X $3.75 = $2250 per hour. But the casino expects to pay you back winnings of $2250 X 99.54%, or $2239.65. You’re expected to lose the difference, $2250 – $2239.65, or $10.35 per hour.

But keep in mind that’s a long term expectation. In the short run, you’ll see a higher loss rate than that (probably) because you only see a royal flush once every 40,000 hands or so. The 800 to 1 payout for that hand makes up a lot of the return percentage.

The strategy for Spin Poker is exactly the same as it is for the base game. You can find strategy tables for almost all of the base games available on the appropriate game-specific page on our site. If you’ve never used a video poker strategy chart before, here’s how one works:

You’re given a list of possibilities from best to worst. You compare them to what’s on your list and keep the first one that applies to your hand. The royal flush is always at the top, because it’s a pat hand that pays off more than any other hand. The correct strategy choice with that hand is to hold all 5 cards and collect your winnings.

Most “pat hands”—hands that pay off without having to be improved—are held, but not in every case and not in every game. Sometimes you’ll throw away a winning hand to try to draw to a much better hand.

A game where you have a pair of jacks but also a draw to a royal flush. If you hold the pair, you’re guaranteed an even money payout. But if you draw to the royal flush, you have a 1/47 chance of winning 800 to 1. The difference in expected value is tremendous over time.

Spin Poker Deluxe is essentially the same game as Spin Poker with the addition of more pay lines. As with Spin Poker, your strategy doesn’t change, and the payback percentages don’t change. The only difference is in terms of standard deviation and volatility. In Spin Poker Deluxe, you’re dealing with 20 pay lines, which increases the chance of getting a paying hand every time you play. The difference is that you pay for each of those lines, which increases the amount of money you have in action, too.

Spin Poker with Dream Card

How To Win Playing Video Poker Slot Machines

Spin Poker with Dream Card is the same game as Spin Poker, but for an extra 5 credits, you get the “Dream Card” option activated. To activate this option, you place 5 additional coins on your bet. When you get your initial hand, you get 4 cards plus a “dream card”, which is similar to (but not exactly the same as) a wild card. The game suggests which card would be best for you, but you have the option to change it. (And sometimes you should – Michael Shackleford suggests that sometimes the game gives the wrong advice.)

Spin Poker is an interesting fusion of a couple of different slot machine concepts with video poker play. It also resembles multi-line video poker games in some interesting ways. The nice thing about this game is that the odds and strategies are the same as for the base game, so you don’t have to learn anything new. The only disadvantage is the increased volatility, which might or might not be a problem for you. It depends on your temperament.