The Basic Foundations of Strategy for Jacks or Better Video Poker
Added: August 15, 2014
In the world of video poker, Jacks or Better is the most basic game. The fundamentals that you learn in this game help you to play any other type of video poker on a higher level, and that's why it's so important that you put a lot of effort into learning how to play this game correctly. We want to give you the foundations that you need to start off in this game with a solid step in the right direction, and we're going to do that with a few hand groupings.
If you have four cards to a royal flush, that's better than any made hand worse than a full house. Four to a straight flush, however, is not better than a made flush or straight, though it is better than a high pair of jacks or better. The next-lowest made hand is a low pair of tens or better, but there are two types of draws that fall between the two types of pairs. Three cards to a royal flush is better than four cards to a flush, and four to a flush is better than a low pair. It's also worth noting that four to a low pair is better than any open-ended straight draw except for a single exception: If you have KQJTT, then you should go for the draw instead of the pair of tens.
That covers all of the made hands and major draws, and that will get you through a lot of hands. However, lower ranking hands that are mostly high-card hands with no four-card draw are extremely important in Jacks or Better. Your payout rate overall will largely depend on your ability to make the most from these lesser-than-ideal hands.
If you have two suited high cards, then play that. Three to a straight flush is slightly worse, and if you don't have that, then go for two offsuit high cards. If you have three offsuit high cards, then just choose the bottom two of the set. In the absence of that, a suited combination of K-T or Q-T or J-T will work, but other than that, you should just keep a single high card. If you can't do any of that, then just go ahead and discard all five of your cards because that's the best play you have that you can make in the situation.
