Video poker strategy for beginners: how Jacks or Better works, why a 9/6 pay table costs far less than 8/5, why to bet max coins, and a simple 16-step hold chart.
Quick answer: Play Jacks or Better on a 9/6 pay table (9 coins for a full house, 6 for a flush), bet all five coins, and follow a simple hold chart. That combination returns about 99.5% of your bets over the long run, according to Wizard of Odds.
The best video poker strategy for beginners is simple: play Jacks or Better, pick a machine that pays 9 coins for a full house and 6 for a flush, bet the maximum coins, and follow a short hold chart. Do those four things and the game gives back about 99.5% of what you bet over the long run, according to the math published by Wizard of Odds.
That’s one of the fairest deals in any casino. Pick a worse pay table, though, and it can cost ten times more.
Key Takeaways
- A full-pay “9/6” Jacks or Better game returns 99.54% with perfect play. An “8/5” game returns 97.30%, per Wizard of Odds.
- On $1,000 of total bets, that gap is roughly $4.60 in expected losses versus about $27. Same game, different pay table.
- Betting fewer than five coins cuts the royal flush payout from 800-for-1 to 250-for-1. That drops the return to about 98.2%.
- A 16-step “simple strategy” chart gets you within 0.08% of perfect play, according to Wizard of Odds.
- BetOnline Casino and Bovada Casino both list Jacks or Better in their video poker lobbies. Check each game’s pay table before you play.
Written by Maya Torres, Regulatory and iGaming Writer, DailyWagerZone. Published and last updated September 30, 2026.
Fact-check: Pay-table returns and the hold chart were checked against Wizard of Odds’ Jacks or Better pages (last updated August 3, 2026) on September 30, 2026. Game availability was checked on BetOnline’s and Bovada’s public video poker pages the same day. Dollar figures are our own math from those returns.
Affiliate Disclosure: DailyWagerZone may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up with a casino through our links. That never changes the math in this guide. You must be 21+ (or the legal age where you live) to gamble.
How does Jacks or Better video poker work?
Video poker is a one-player card game on a screen. No other players. You just try to make the best five-card poker hand.
Here’s one round, step by step:
- Pick your bet. Most games let you bet one to five coins.
- The game deals you five cards.
- Tap “hold” on the cards you want to keep.
- Hit “draw.” The game replaces every card you did not hold.
- Your final hand gets paid based on the pay table on the screen.
The pay table is the list of winning hands and what each one pays. In Jacks or Better, the smallest winning hand is a pair of jacks, queens, kings, or aces. A pair of 10s or lower pays nothing.
Each deal is random, like a shuffled 52-card deck. What you hold is your only real choice. That’s where strategy comes in.
What does a full-pay Jacks or Better pay table look like?
“Full pay” means the machine uses the best standard pay table. Here is what it pays per coin bet, using Wizard of Odds’ published 9/6 table:
| Winning hand | Pays per coin (1–4 coins) | Pays per coin (5 coins) |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush (10-J-Q-K-A, same suit) | 250 | 800 |
| Straight flush (five in a row, same suit) | 50 | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 25 | 25 |
| Full house (three of a kind plus a pair) | 9 | 9 |
| Flush (any five of one suit) | 6 | 6 |
| Straight (five in a row, mixed suits) | 4 | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 3 |
| Two pair | 2 | 2 |
| Jacks or better (a pair of J, Q, K or A) | 1 | 1 |
Only the royal flush row changes at five coins. That jump from 250 to 800 is why max-coin betting matters.
Which video poker pay table should a beginner pick?
Check two numbers on the pay table: what a full house and a flush pay for one coin. A game paying 9 and 6 is called “9/6.” One paying 8 and 5 is “8/5.”
Those two small numbers change your cost a lot. The house edge is the casino’s built-in advantage, shown as a percentage of every bet. Our table below turns Wizard of Odds’ published returns into dollars.
| Pay table (full house / flush) | Return with perfect play | House edge | Expected loss per $1,000 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 (full pay) | 99.54% | 0.46% | about $4.60 |
| 8/5 | 97.30% | 2.70% | about $27 |
| 7/5 | 96.15% | 3.85% | about $38.50 |
| 6/5 | 95.00% | 5.00% | about $50 |
“Per $1,000 bet” means total money wagered, not deposited. At $1 a hand, that’s 1,000 hands. These are long-run averages, and any one session can swing far either way.
Our take: Skip any Jacks or Better game worse than 8/5. At 6/5, you pay nearly 11 times more per $1,000 than at 9/6. And you get nothing extra in return. If you want the full picture on these percentages, read our guide on how RTP and house edge work.
Why should you always bet max coins in video poker?
Because the royal flush only pays its full 800-for-1 when you bet five coins. At one to four coins, it pays 250-for-1.
A royal flush shows up about once every 40,000 hands with good play, based on Wizard of Odds’ probability tables. Rare, yes. But it still makes up about 2% of the game’s total return.
Here’s our math. At 250-for-1 instead of 800-for-1, the royal’s share of the return drops by about 1.4 percentage points. So a 99.54% game plays closer to 98.2%. On $1,000 of bets, that’s about $18 in expected losses instead of $4.60.
What is the best video poker strategy chart for Jacks or Better?
Use a ranked list. Find every way you could play your five cards on the list below, then pick the one that sits highest. This is Wizard of Odds’ 16-step “simple strategy” for 9/6 Jacks or Better, rewritten in plain English.
A “high card” means a jack, queen, king, or ace.
| Rank | What to hold | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush, straight flush, or four of a kind | Four 9s: hold all four |
| 2 | Four cards to a royal flush | 10, J, Q, K of hearts: hold, even if it breaks a flush |
| 3 | Full house, flush, straight, or three of a kind | Three 5s: hold the three |
| 4 | Four cards to a straight flush | 5, 6, 7, 8 of spades |
| 5 | Two pair | Two 4s and two 9s |
| 6 | High pair (jacks or better) | Two kings |
| 7 | Three cards to a royal flush | J, Q, A of diamonds |
| 8 | Four cards to a flush | Any four hearts |
| 9 | Low pair (2s through 10s) | Two 6s |
| 10 | Four cards to an open-ended straight | 7, 8, 9, 10 |
| 11 | Two high cards of the same suit | Q and K of clubs |
| 12 | Three cards to a straight flush | 6, 7, 8 of hearts |
| 13 | Two high cards, mixed suits (if you have more, keep the lowest two) | J and Q, different suits |
| 14 | A 10 with a J, Q, or K of the same suit | 10 and J of spades |
| 15 | One high card | A lone ace |
| 16 | Nothing on the list: discard all five | 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 in mixed suits |
An open-ended straight, like 7-8-9-10, can be finished at either end. An inside straight, like 6-7-9-10, needs one exact middle card. It’s not on the list, so don’t chase it.
Wizard of Odds says this list returns 99.46% on a 9/6 game, versus 99.54% for perfect play. That gap costs about one bet every 1,178 hands. Worth it for a beginner.
How do you use the hold chart on a real hand?
Here are three hands that trip up new players.
Hand 1: 4, 8, J, Q of hearts plus the 4 of clubs. You have a low pair (rank 9), a four-card flush (rank 8), and two suited high cards (rank 11). The flush draw ranks highest. Hold the four hearts.
Hand 2: K of spades, K of diamonds, 3, 7, 9 of spades. Four spades is tempting. But a high pair (rank 6) beats a four-card flush (rank 8). Keep the kings. They already pay back your bet.
Hand 3: 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds, J of spades, Q of hearts, 2 of clubs. A low pair (rank 9) beats two mixed high cards (rank 13). Hold the 6s, even though the jack and queen look nicer.
What mistakes cost video poker beginners the most?
Most losses come from a handful of habits. Here are the big ones, starting with the most expensive:
- Playing a short-pay machine. A 6/5 game costs over 10 times more than a 9/6 game.
- Betting fewer than five coins. A 99.54% game becomes roughly 98.2%.
- Keeping a “kicker.” A kicker is an extra high card held next to a pair, like an ace with two jacks. The chart never says to do this. Hold just the pair.
- Chasing inside straights. The chart skips them.
- Breaking a paying pair for a flush draw. See Hand 2.
Where can you play Jacks or Better video poker online in the U.S.?
Offshore casinos accept U.S. players, but they are not licensed by U.S. state gaming regulators. Read each site’s terms before you deposit. Two of our partner casinos list Jacks or Better on their public lobby pages:
- BetOnline Casino says it offers Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, and All-American Poker.
- Bovada Casino lists Jacks or Better in 1-hand, 3-hand, and 10-hand versions.
We have not confirmed the pay table on every game in these lobbies. Open the pay table first and look for 9 and 6 on the full house and flush rows.
Want another low-edge table game? Try our beginner blackjack guide or baccarat rules for beginners. Video poker isn’t poker against real people, though. For that, see our online poker rooms where you play against real opponents.
Editor’s Note on Methodology
Returns and probabilities come from Wizard of Odds’ Jacks or Better pages, checked September 30, 2026. Our dollar figures are simple math: (100% minus the published return) times $1,000. The 98.2% figure scales the royal flush’s share of the return from 800-for-1 down to 250-for-1 and holds everything else steady. It’s an estimate, since perfect strategy shifts a little at 250-for-1. Casino game lists come from BetOnline’s and Bovada’s public lobby pages on the same date and can change.
References
- Wizard of Odds — “Jacks or Better” pay tables and returns (last updated August 3, 2026). (accessed September 30, 2026)
- Wizard of Odds — “Jacks or Better Simple” strategy (last updated August 3, 2026). (accessed September 30, 2026)
- Wizard of Odds — “Jacks or Better optimal strategy.” (accessed September 30, 2026)
- BetOnline — “Play Online Video Poker at BetOnline.ag Casino.” (accessed September 30, 2026)
- Bovada — “Video Poker Online Games for Real Money.” (accessed September 30, 2026)
- National Council on Problem Gambling — Helpline 1-800-522-4700. (accessed September 30, 2026) Source
Gambling should be fun, not a way to make money. If it stops being fun, call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1-800-522-4700. You must be 21+ (or the legal age where you live) to gamble.
