Video poker pay tables explained

What video poker pay tables actually tell you

Every video poker game shows a grid listing each winning hand and what it pays for each coin bet. That grid is the pay table, and unlike the hidden reel weightings of a slot, it gives you almost everything needed to work out the game's return. The deck is a standard 52 cards (plus wild cards in some versions), each hand is dealt from a freshly shuffled deck, and the only things that vary between machines are the rules on wild cards and the numbers in that grid.

Video poker payouts are quoted "for one", not "to one". A pair of jacks or better paying 1 means you get your stake back, so it is effectively a push. Two pair paying 2 doubles your stake. Keeping that in mind stops the bottom rows looking more generous than they are.

Players name pay tables by the payouts on the rows that change most between versions. In Jacks or Better, "9/6" means the full house pays 9 and the flush pays 6. "8/5" means 8 and 5. Everything else on those two tables is usually identical, which is exactly why the shorthand works.

A pay table is not a promise of results. It tells you what each hand pays; the return figures quoted on this page are long-run averages that assume the player makes the best decision on every hand.

Reading a 9/6 Jacks or Better pay table row by row

The 9/6 Jacks or Better table is the reference point for most video poker comparisons. Standard game maths, as published by the Wizard of Odds 9/6 Jacks or Better analysis (opens in a new tab), gives it a return of 99.54% with optimal strategy, which is a house edge of 0.46%.

Read from the bottom up and you can see how the return is built. The lower rows land often and return modest amounts; the upper rows land rarely and carry big multiples. A royal flush is the rarest hand of all: the chance of being dealt one outright is 4 in 2,598,960 (the number of five-card hands in a deck), or 1 in 649,740. Drawing improves that, but it stays a rare event, so the royal's 800-per-coin rate is a sizeable slice of the total return that most sessions never collect.

Why the royal row has a coin condition

The 800-per-coin royal payout is normally paid only on the maximum bet, often five coins. On fewer coins the royal pays at a lower rate, which pulls the overall return down. The returns quoted throughout this page assume the maximum coin bet. If you want a smaller stake, the usual approach is to choose a lower coin value and still bet all five coins, rather than betting fewer coins at a higher value. Check the game's help screen to see exactly how its royal row scales.

Full-pay vs short-pay video poker pay tables

"Full pay" is the label for the strongest commonly seen version of a game; "short pay" covers versions with one or more rows cut. The cuts are almost always made on the mid-level hands, because those land often enough to move the return a lot without players noticing much difference from hand to hand.

Those drops look small as percentages, but the house edge is what you pay, and that is where the change bites. Moving from 9/6 to 8/5 Jacks or Better takes the edge from 0.46% to about 2.7%, so the expected cost of the same session is nearly six times higher. The cards, the speed and the screen look identical.

Some cuts are subtler. In Double Bonus, the Wizard of Odds video poker summary (opens in a new tab) shows that keeping the 10/7 rows but paying 4 rather than 5 on a straight drops the return from 100.17% to 98.81%. Always scan every row, not just the two that give the table its name.

The best video poker pay tables by game

Each video poker game has its own rows to check. The table below lists the strongest pay table for each main game in standard published analysis, the rows that identify it, and the return with optimal play. Follow the links for full guides to each game.

Three of those tables are above 100%. That figure is real in the mathematical sense, but it assumes flawless play on every hand, it comes with high variance, and which tables UK-licensed online casinos actually run is something you have to check game by game. Our video poker RTP guide explains what an over-100% figure does and does not mean.

Wild-card pay tables: Deuces Wild and Joker Poker

Wild-card games look different because the wild cards make strong hands far more common. To compensate, the bottom of the table starts higher (three of a kind is the lowest paying hand in Deuces Wild) and the mid-level rows pay less than in Jacks or Better. So you cannot compare a Deuces table with a Jacks table row by row; compare each one with the best version of its own game.

Full Pay Deuces Wild against Not So Ugly Ducks

The full-pay Deuces Wild analysis from Wizard of Odds (opens in a new tab) lists these rows: natural royal 800, four deuces 200, wild royal 25, five of a kind 15, straight flush 9, four of a kind 5, full house 3, flush 2, straight 2 and three of a kind 1. That table returns 100.76% with optimal strategy. The version known as Not So Ugly Ducks changes the middle: five of a kind rises to 16 and straight flush to 10, but four of a kind falls to 4, full house rises to 4 and flush to 3. Its return is about 99.73%.

Four of a kind lands so often in Deuces Wild that cutting it from 5 to 4 outweighs the rises elsewhere. That is why the four of a kind row is the first thing to check on any Deuces game.

Joker Poker's wide spread of tables

Joker Poker (Kings or Better) shows how wide the gap between tables can get. The best table listed by the Wizard of Odds Joker Poker pay tables page (opens in a new tab), with 800 for a natural royal, 200 for five of a kind, 100 for a wild royal, 50 for a straight flush, 20 for four of a kind, 7 for a full house, 5 for a flush and 3 for a straight, returns 100.64%. The same source gives 98.60% for the table it attributes to Microgaming casinos and 97.9% for NetEnt's, and other Kings or Better tables go as low as 94.00%.

What a weaker video poker pay table costs in pounds

The house edge multiplied by the total you stake gives your expected loss. Video poker is quick, and the money cycles through many times, so turnover grows faster than people expect. Assume a £1 bet per hand (five coins at 20p) and 500 hands, which is £500 of total turnover.

The arithmetic is just stake × hands × edge: £1 × 500 × 0.46% = £2.30. The same session on the 94% Joker Poker table carries an expected cost thirteen times higher. These are averages, not forecasts. Video poker results swing a lot in the short run, mostly because of how rarely the top hands land, so any one session could end well above or well below these figures. Our expected value and cost per hour guides show the same method across other games.

How to check a video poker pay table before you play

You can assess a table in well under a minute once you know which rows matter. Use this routine on any game.

1. Open the game and find the pay table, either on the main screen or in the help or info menu.
2. Identify the game: Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, Deuces Wild or Joker Poker.
3. Check the rows that define that game's full-pay version (full house and flush for Jacks; four of a kind, full house and flush for Deuces).
4. Read the royal flush row on the maximum coin bet and on fewer coins, and note whether the top rate needs all coins.
5. Scan the remaining rows for any cut, such as a straight paying 4 instead of 5 in Double Bonus.
6. Look for the return-to-player figure in the help screen and compare it with the strongest version of that game.
7. Set your coin value so that a full-coin bet fits your budget, then decide how many hands you will play before you start.

UK rules back this up. Under the Gambling Commission's Remote Technical Standards on game rules and the likelihood of winning (opens in a new tab), the rules and the potential payouts must be easily available before you commit to gamble, along with information such as the RTP or house edge. For a game with a skill element like video poker, the RTP shown is calculated using an auto-play or standard published strategy, which is why it matches the optimal-play figures more closely than your own play might.

Video poker pay table myths and common mistakes

• "All Jacks or Better games are the same." They share rules, not returns. The 9/6 and 8/5 versions differ by 2.24 percentage points.
• "An over-100% table is a way to make money." The figure assumes perfect play over a very long run, and a big share of it sits in rare hands. Gambling is entertainment that costs money; see can you make money from casino games.
• "Bigger bonus rows mean a better game." Double Double Bonus pays 400 per coin for four aces with a low kicker, yet its best common table (98.98%) returns less than 9/6 Jacks or Better because the full house and two pair rows give money back.
• "Betting fewer coins is cheaper." It lowers the stake but usually also lowers the royal payout, so the return falls too. A smaller coin value at full coins keeps the return intact.
• "The machine is due a royal." Each hand is dealt from a freshly shuffled deck by the random number generator. Past hands have no effect; see the gambler's fallacy.

One more mistake is comparing returns across games without checking the strategy needed. Deuces Wild and Double Bonus tables reach their quoted figures only with a strategy built for that exact pay table. Our video poker strategy guide shows how hold decisions shift when the table changes.

Video poker pay tables at UK online casinos

Which pay tables UK-licensed online casinos offer is not published in one place, so the only reliable check is the game's own help screen. RNG video poker deals each hand from a full, shuffled virtual deck, and under the Gambling Commission's standards, games are tested by approved test houses before release.

A few UK rules shape how the game plays. Since 17 January 2025, autoplay is banned for all online casino games, and casino games other than slots must allow at least 5 seconds per game cycle. You cannot play several games at once, and your net spend and time played must be shown as you play. The £5 and £2 online slot stake limits apply to reel-based slot games, so a card game such as video poker sits outside that definition; the casino's terms will show any stake limits it sets. Our UK game speed rules page has the detail.

Bonuses are a separate question. Wagering is capped at 10x the bonus since 19 January 2026, but video poker is often excluded from bonus play or counts for less towards wagering, so read the game weighting section of any offer before relying on it.

Where to play video poker with a UK licence

Our partner offers are built around slots, not video poker, so treat them as separate from anything on this page. 18+ and terms apply to each. Check each casino's game lobby to see whether it runs video poker and which pay tables it uses.

• Casumo: new customers, opt-in required, 50% bonus up to £100 on a first deposit of at least £20; wager the bonus 10x within 7 days, maximum £5 per bet while the bonus is active, and game, play and payment restrictions apply.
• 10bet: new UK customers choosing the casino welcome bonus get a 100% match up to £25 on a first deposit made within 7 days of sign-up; wager the bonus 10x on slots within 3 days, maximum bonus winnings £1,000, Skrill and Neteller deposits excluded.
• Coral: new players who deposit and bet £10 or more on slots get 100 free spins at 10p each on selected games, to be accepted within 48 hours and used within 7 days, with no wagering on free spin winnings; certain deposit types, including PayPal, Skrill and Neteller, don't qualify. The offer runs from 1 October 2026 to 1 February 2027.

Table and card games are often excluded from bonuses or count for less, so for video poker your choice of pay table will matter far more than any welcome offer.

18+. Every casino game has a built-in house edge, so over time you should expect to lose what you stake. Set a budget before you play and stop when it’s gone: safer gambling tools and support. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.