Jacks or Better Video Poker

The oldest variant of video poker is the game of Jacks or Better, and even though this game has been around for decades it is often the very first variant of video poker players will play, and many players choose to play only this game due to its very easy to understand playing structure and set of payouts.

You will find both single hand and multi hand variants of Jacks or Better are available at casino sites using the Playtech or Microgaming software platforms, and as such finding a casino offering this game, whether a downloadable or instant play casino site is never going to pose any problems!

There is an industry standard pay table that most casino sites have attached to all of their Jacks or Better video poker games and that pay table will return to players, over their long term play a payout percentage of 99.54% when this game is played with the best strategy in place.

Optional stakes levels are also available and as such when playing this game you will be able to play it for very low coin value settings, or you will be given the option of playing for much higher stakes if you are a high rolling player!

How to Play Jacks or Better Video Poker

You will be able to learn how to play the Jacks or Better video poker game in a matter of minutes for all that you need to do initially is pick one of the different coin value settings to have in place and then choose from one to five coins to play per hand.

By taking a look at the pay table of the Jacks or Better game you will notice that the Royal Flush hand, which is the highest paying hand on offer on the pay table of this game, has an enhanced payout being offered to players who play five coins per hand.

It should be obvious then that is the best way of playing this game, as by playing five coin hands coupled with optimum playing strategy you will get as close to its 99.54% return to player (RTP) as possible over your long term play.

It will also not surprise you to learn that the lowest ranked hand combination that will return a winning payout when you play the Jacks or Better game is a pair of Jacks, as the name of this variant does sort of imply that.

Once you have chosen what stakes to play this game for then by clicking onto the deal button the game will select five cards at random from a single deck of playing cards and will then deal those card facing upwards to you.

You then need to click on the card you wish to hold from those five cards, if any of them, and then click onto the deal button a second time. Once you do so any card you have chosen not to hold from those five cards are removed from live play and a set of replacement cards are then dealt out to replace them.

If after the second set of cards have been dealt out you form any of the hands listed on the pay table of the jacks or better game you will be awarded with their associated winning payout. Be aware that at that stage you can choose to collect those winnings or play off an optional gamble game.

If you are playing the Jacks or Better game at a Microgaming powered casino site that gamble game will require you to gamble your entire base game hands win by selecting one of four cards dealt face down which you think are higher than the up facing card, if you select a higher valued card your base game winning payout is doubled, guess wrong and you lose instantly that base game hands payout!

However, when playing at Playtech software powered online casino sites the gamble game option will permit you to gamble all or half of your base game hands winning payout. The gamble game will then see you having to select a higher card that the one displayed don the gamble game screen from the face down cards offered to you in much the same way that Microgaming’s video poker game gamble game works and operates.

Jacks or Better Video Poker Strategy

It is worth remembering that there are going to be some very subtle differences in regards to the pay tables attached to some variants of Jacks or Better video poker. In fact, if you decide to play at a Playtech software powered casino you will have the option, as you will at a Microgaming site of playing a variant of this game on which you can play more than one hand per game.

However, the ten hands or more multi hand games offered by Playtech have a slightly lower paying pay table attached to them and as such you should always avoid playing those particular multi hand games as you will get a lower payout percentage over your long term play when playing them!

Also as you may not have the time or inclination to learn how to play this game optimally by finding out how to play every single initial five card hand dealt out to you, then one way of being able to play the game with the best strategy in place is to ensure you have the auto hold option activated.

The auto hold option is a great option for beginners

All that will entail you doing before you play the Jacks or Better game is to click onto the option settings tab and activate the auto hold option. Then whenever you play this game and have been dealt out your very first five cards the game will hold the best cards for you without you having to click onto them to hold them.

One final tip we can pass onto you is to avoid playing the optional gamble game, as a series of losing outcomes when you have chosen to play that gamble game will reduce your gambling bankroll and will also reduce the overall payout percentage of the game.