Jacks Or Better Pay Table

• Jacks Or Better Video Poker Pay Table
• Jacks Or Better Table
• Jacks Or Better Pay Table Odds
• Jacks Or Better Pay Table

Jacks or Better is one of the most popular video poker variations available in both land based casinos and in online casinos.

It’s also often listed as one of the best games to play if you want to play a low house edge game. But Jacks or Better games are found with a wide variety of pay tables.

Jacks or Better is the least volatile of common video poker games, a game that’s designed to keep you in your seat. There are no big four-of-a-kind bonuses that are going to make your day. All quads pay 125 coins for a five-coin wager. Jacks or Better Pay Tables. Here are many of the common pay tables available on Jacks or Better machines. The best pay table available in many online and land based casinos is the 9 / 6. It’s called a 9 / 6 because the full house pays nine and the flush pays six.

In this post, I show you the most popular pay tables, how to read them, and what all of the numbers mean, and how they change the payback percentage.

With this information, you can make sure you’re playing on a machine that offers the best possible pay table.

It’s important to compare several different Jacks or Better pay tables side by side to see how one small change can alter the payback percentage. I’ve done this in the chart below. But before getting to the chart let’s cover a few other important things.

Payback Percentage

Before moving on, I want to make sure you understand exactly what payback percentage means and how it relates to the house edge.

The payback percentage is the average amount the machine returns for every dollar wagered. This percentage is based on hundreds of thousands of hands and also includes the elusive royal flush.

This means that in the short term, which can consist of thousands of hands, your return may be higher or lower than the numbers listed below.

To get the house edge simply subtract the payback percentage from 100.

Here’s an example:

The 9 / 6 game in the chart below shows a payback percentage of 99.54%. This means the house edge is .46%.

Most Jacks or Better players show a larger house edge because remember the payback percentage includes the large pay out for a royal flush. According to the mathematical calculations done on Jacks or Better you hit a royal flush on average one out of every 40,391 hands.

What this means is to achieve the actual payback percentages listed in the chart below you’re going to need to play 40,391 hands on average.

And worse than the thought of playing that many hands to reach the payback percentage is that it’s entirely possible to play that many hands and still not hit a royal flush.

Of course, it’s also possible to hit two or three royal flushes in that many hands.

Every hand of Jacks or Better you play has a one in 40,391 chances to hit a royal. So, a machine is never due to hit a royal, even if it hasn’t hit one in years. And if a machine has just hit a royal flush it has the same chances of hitting another one the net hand as it did the previous hand.

Jacks Or Better Video Poker Pay Table

Video Poker Machine Memory

Video poker machines have no memory so each hand has the same odds and chances as any other hand played.

Unlike slot machines, video poker machines are specifically based on a deck of playing cards so the chances of getting any particular card is one in 52. This is specific to Jacks or Better and other video poker machines that don’t use jokers.

This information is useful in determining the exact payback percentages listed in the chart and is also useful when making strategy decisions.

Here’s an example:

If you get four to a flush on your starting five card hand you know the deck still has nine cards to complete your flush. You’ve seen five cards so the rest of the deck consists of 47 cards. This means that if you play this hand 47 times discarding your non-flush card and drawing one, on average you’ll win nine times and lose 38.

Here’s another example:

If you have four cards to a royal flush you know that only one card will complete it. This means that one time out of 47 you’re going to get the card you need on average.

I keep saying on average because you can’t actually play the exact same situation 47 times at once. But over time the correct percentages work out.

The Chart

I’ve put together a chart listing the six pay tables you’re most likely to find in a casino and three special pay tables that offer higher returns. The most common ones are the first six and the special ones are the last three.

The best pay table I’ve played on is the regular 9 / 6, but if you ever run across one of the last three in the chart you should jump at the opportunity to play.

The chart lists the payout numbers you see in the first column to the left on most Jacks or Better machines. The only exception is for the royal flush. The number in the royal flush column in my chart is the top jackpot amount divided by five.

You only qualify for the top jackpot amount by playing five coins per line. If you play fewer than five coins the payout for a royal flush is less, which in turn reduces the overall payback percentage.

On the pay tables that list 800 for the royal flush it shows 4,000 in the five coin payout spot on the actual machine. The 940 machine listed below shows 4,700 and the 976 machine shows 4,880.

The payback percentages listed in the chart are all based on you playing perfect strategy.

Key:

• RF – Royal flush
• SF – Straight flush
• 4K – Four of a kind
• FH – Full house
• FL – Flush
• ST – Straight
• 3K – Three of a kind
• 2P – Two pair
• JoB – Pair of jacks or better
• % – Payback percentage

Common Tables

The most common tables are the first six in the chart. The 9 / 6 is the hardest to find, but you can still find them in many land based casinos and in most online casinos.

The other five common machines are found everywhere, with the worst ones usually in bars and illegal gambling houses. Any machine using less than the 8 / 6 pay table should be avoided, and many people won’t play on anything less than a 9 / 6.

One thing you need to watch for is on machines that offer single hand and multi hand play. Multiple hand play is the ability to play five, 10, or even 52 hands at the same time.

The way it works is you receive a five card starting hand and decide what to hold. The same cards are held for all of the hands and each hand uses its own deck to complete your draws. Each of the decks removes the same five cards you start with and then randomly draws a card or cards to replace your draws.

The thing to watch for is many of these machines offer the 9 / 6 pay table if you only play one hand but switch to a lower paying table if you play more than one hand at a time.

Many players assume all of the games are at 9 / 6 and end up playing with a higher house edge for a long time without realizing it.

Best Tables

The three best pay tables are rare. I only include them in the chart so you can see what a pay table needs to look like to be better than the 9 / 6 that’s commonly the best you can find.

Notice that in order for a machine to offer a 100% payback percentage the royal flush payout has to be 976 per coin compared to 800. And even if you find one of these machines to play, in order to achieve a break-even level of play you have to eventually hit a royal flush.

Also notice that with payback percentages of 99.9% and higher, if you get any kind of comps through a player’s club while playing these machines you’re basically playing with an edge against the casino.

Conclusion

When you see a Jacks or Better video poker machine use the chart above to determine the payback percentage. You’re fairly safe playing a 9 / 6 machine, but be wary of any other pay tables without checking their exact payback percentages.

BEST JACKS OR BETTER VIDEO POKER GAMES

By Henry Tamburin

If there were two identical slot machines side by side and I asked you which machine was “looser” (i.e., paid out more), would you be able to tell me? The answer is no, because there is no information on the face of a slot machine that gives you a clue as to what the machine is programmed to return to players. However, this is not the case with video poker machines.

It’s relatively easy to tell which video poker machine has a higher payback by simply looking at the pay schedule on the machine’s video screen. Smart video poker players always do this before they sit down and play any video poker game..

There are many different types of video poker games in casinos. For example, there are Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus Poker, Triple Bonus Poker, Deuces Wild, Joker Wild, and other variations of these games. The pay schedules for every, say, Jacks or Better game is not necessarily the same. Smart players know when a pay schedule is “full pay” (best) or ‘short pay” (worst). For example, if you examine the pay schedules for Jacks or Better, you will most likely find the following six pay schedules in casinos. (Note: I’ve only listed the pay schedule per coin played for reference, even though you should always play the maximum five coins when you play video poker.)

Jacks or Better Pay Schedule

The first column shows the per coin payout for a 9/6 Jacks or Better game. The 9/6 designation represents the payout for the full house and flush. The second column lists the pay schedule for an 8/6 game, the third, a 9/5 game, and so forth. Notice that I’ve included the Expected Return (ER) percentages at the bottom of each column for each pay schedule. Of course, you won’t find this percentage on a video poker machine. This number is calculated based on the Pay Schedule and the assumption that you will play every hand perfectly. The higher the ER percentage, the more the machine will return to players. Saying it another way, smart video poker players will only play Jacks or Better games that have the highest ER. (The casinos will not tell you the ER of their video poker games ... this is something you, the player, need to know if you are serious about winning.)

(Note: Notice that even the worst paying Jacks or Better game returns more than the vast majority of slot machines. Doesn’t that tell you something as to why playing video poker is much better than playing slots?)

The important figures to focus on when you look at the pay schedule of a Jacks or Better game is the per coin payout for the Full House and Flush (highlighted in the above table). Casinos who want to lower the ER for this game (to generate more revenue), will usually decrease the payout for the full house and flush. Therefore, a 9/6 Jacks or Better game is the best Jacks or Better game that you can play (because it returns 99.54% of all the coins played back to players in the long run). Many casinos opt for the 8/5 Jacks or Better pay schedule, which has an ER of only 97.30%. One of the worst Jacks or Better games (that you should avoid) is a 6/5 game (here the ER is only 95.00%, about 4.5% lower than a 9/6 Jacks or Better game). As a general rule, you should try to play a video game that has an ER that is greater than 99% (the higher, the better).

(Note: Besides looking at the per coin payout for the flush and full house when you check pay schedules, glance at the payouts for the other hands to be sure they are the same as listed in the above table.)

Jacks Or Better Table

A good rule of thumb to estimate the ER of a Jacks or Better game is for every one-coin decrease in the full house and flush, the ER will decrease by 1.1%. Therefore, decreasing the full house payout by one coin (from 9/6 to 8/6) will decrease the 9/6 ER by about 1.1% (from 99.54% to 98.39%).

Some casinos offer progressive Jacks or Better games. This means the payout for the royal flush with max coins will be greater than 4000 coins (normally, in a non-progressive Jacks or Better game, you will be paid exactly 4000 coins for a royal flush). The amount of the royal flush in a progressive game will steadily increase as more coins are played from a series of linked video poker machines (casinos earmark a percent of every coin played toward the progressive jackpot). Usually, you will find progressives on an 8/5 Jacks or Better base game (but sometimes you’ll find them on 9/6 base game). A good rule of thumb to estimate the ER of a progressive game is the following: For every 1000 coins the royal flush exceeds the 4000 base game, the ER will increase by 0.5%. So, for example, if you find a $1 denomination 8/5 Jacks or Better progressive game where the royal flush meter is at $5000, the ER for the game is 97.30% + 0.5% = 97.80%. (If the base game happens to be 9/6, then the ER for a progressive game where the royal flush is at $5000 would be 99.85%.

As I mentioned earlier, the above ERs assume you play each hand perfectly. That is not as difficult as it first appears. For example, you can play any video poker game on your home computer, using video poker training software. When you make a playing error, the software will alert you and tell you what the correct play is. The software will also keep track of your playing accuracy. (You need to play with at least 99% accuracy before you risk money in a casino, which is easy to achieve with the software.) In addition, you should always take a video poker strategy card with you when you play (they are casino legal). You can refer to the strategy card if you not sure how to play a particular hand. (You’ll find the video poker training software and strategy cards that I use when I teach video poker in my online catalog at www.smartgaming.com.)

Jacks Or Better Pay Table Odds

Lastly, you can check whether your local casino offers a 9/6 Jacks or Better game (or any other video poker game for that matter) by checking the inventory of games in casinos located in different regions of the U.S. at www.vpfree2.com.

Jacks Or Better Pay Table

What should you do if your local casino doesn’t offer a 9/6 Jacks or Better game? I’d contact the slot manager at the casino and let him or her know that you will be taking your business to another casino that offers 9/6 Jacks or Better games. When enough players complain and casinos lose customers, that’s usually when they will take some action.