Jacks or Better is the most commonly played video poker. The objective of the game is to obtain a five-card poker hand that contains a winning combination. The lowest winning hand is a pair of Jacks. So a pair only qualifies with Jacks or Better. Jacks or Better is one of the most popular video poker formats. This has been the go-to version of the game since video poker terminals hit casinos and bars. It is based on draw poker, when you get a single draw and aim to hit jack-jack or better to win.
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. If a 9 / 6 machine isn’t available where you pay we don’t recommend playing Jacks or Better.
The way you use the table below is match it with the column under one coin on the machine you’re looking at. The only exception is the royal flush. The machine won’t show 800 in the first column under royal flush, but the 800 represents the bonus for betting max coins. The royal flush should show 4,000 in the five coin column, or five times 800.
Game | 9 / 6 | 9 / 5 | 8 / 6 | 8 / 5 | 7 / 5 | 6 / 5 |
Royal Flush | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 | 800 |
Straight Flush | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
Four of a Kind | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
Full House | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
Flush | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Straight | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Three of a Kind | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Two Pair | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Pair Jacks or Better | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
House Edge | .46% | 1.55% | 1.61% | 2.70% | 3.85% | 5.00% |
Notice how a simple change in the pay table changes the house edge. The casinos try to take advantage of players who don’t know about pay tables and players who think one number change doesn’t change the house edge much.
Here’s a jacks or better strategy chart you can use any time you play. The correct way to use this chart is to start at the top and go down until you find a hand that matches yours. Then hold the listed hand and discard everything else.
Rule # 1 – Always bet five coins per hand.
It might seem like the strategy chart has a great deal you need to remember. But you don’t have to memorize it. You can use t when you play Jacks or Better online or print out a copy and take it with you to the casino.
You’re going to find that once you start using your strategy chart that you’re quickly going to memorize the most common plays. If you want to start memorizing the most common plays before you get started here’s how to do it.