Also, the machines let you play anything from 1 through 5 coins, with the payoffs improving at the high end of the scale. So if you know your Poker hands and take the time to learn your game, Video Poker can be fast, fun, and rewarding.

Old Poker salts should keep in mind that each game has its own strategy. All American, for example, pays better than the others on straights and flushes, so that will effect your approach to card selection. When I first started playing Video Poker, I thought it would be a lonely hearts version of the real thing. Not so. The games do indeed have their own individual winning strategies, and taking the time to learn your game means better payoffs.

Objective

As with all forms of Poker. the player aims to get the best hand possible. The payoffs are marked right on the face of the Video Poker machine so it's a fast lesson in what the hand ranks are. All Video Poker variations rank hands the same, though a given variation may add an extra rank or two.

Betting

As you would expect from a slots version of Poker, betting is pretty straightforward in Video Poker. On any given machine you can typically choose $0.25, $0.50, $1, or $5 games. And the bets are 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x (Max Bet) whichever game you're playing. So if you're playing a $1 game, you can place bets of $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5.

Payoff

The first thing to note is that the game face shows you the payoff for each betting level. Invariably playing Max Bet pays off better, overall, than any of the lower multiples. Smart players pick the betting level they are comfortable with and choose their game accordingly.

In other words, if you're comfortable with a $5 bet, then pick a $1 machine and play at Max Bet for $5. If $25 bets are more your speed, pick a $5 game because Max Bet (5x) puts you at the $25 level. In either case, you're getting the best payoff odds you can for that game. This is similar to Slots strategy.

Also of key importance is the fact that the payoff ratios vary from game to game. Where Jacks or Better may pay 25:1 for Four Of A Kind, All American typically pays 30:1 and Joker Poker only pays 20:1. These ratios do not necessarily reflect the true odds, so again, knowing your game helps you play smarter.

The odds on a given hand vary from game to game, of course, but generally speaking the house edge on Video Poker games is pretty small, even 0% in some cases. Where the Video Poker games get an edge is with players who do not follow an optimum strategy. In other words, winging any given game based on a loose understanding of Poker is going to lose you money.

Each Video Poker variation has its own quirks when it comes to the odds and optimum player strategy. In the next section we'll give you a rough guide to the most popular games, but detailed strategy guides would take pages. If you're serious about Video Poker, try some of the material in our reference section. Smart players can do pretty well at Video Poker.

Jacks or better

Jacks Or Better strategy can get a little complicated. For a full analysis check our references below, or follow this rough strategy guide:

Keep any hand that already pays. Possible exceptions, by potential value, are:

• Hold four card Royal Flushes to make Straights or Flushes.
• Four card straight flushes, inside or outside.
• High card Pairs rank here.
• Three card Royal Flushes.
• Four card Flushes.
• Low Pairs rank here, trying to build Three Of A Kind.
• Four card Flushes.
• Four card Straights. Hold inside Straights only if you've got three or more high cards (J, Q, K, A).

If you've got nothing worth money, here's a general strategy, in order of preference:

• Keep any two suited high cards. Discard unsuited high cards.
• Four mixed-suit high cards:
  -keep any three suited, toss the unsuited.
  -otherwise, keep them all.
• Three unsuited high cards:
  -keep all three of K-Q-J.
  -with A-K-J or A-Q-J, discard the A.
• Keep any two unsuited high cards.
• Keep any single high card.