If you’re playing video poker online at Payday Casino, you’re playing a video poker machine that deals at random. The first five cards are dealt randomly and any cards you draw are also randomized. The math of poker hand probability takes care of the rest.

The fact that we know that video poker machines deal cards at random, along with the probability of each individual hand appearing plus the pay table of an individual machine provides some extremely valuable information.

It’s a simple mathematical function to determine the statistically best play in every situation and for every draw. All the player has to do in order to achieve ‘perfect play’ is learn how to properly play each situation based on the underlying math.

The overwhelming majority of video poker players will have no concept of ‘perfect play’. Instead, these players will rely on guesswork, hunches or try to track the cards that have been dealt to determine what has ‘already been drawn’ or alternately what cards are ‘due’.

Other players just play seemingly at random. Games that involve wild cards or other rule variations are even less intuitive to play correctly. To follow ‘perfect play’ there are situations where the correct move is to break up a winning hand to draw to a higher ranked hand. Many recreational players struggle with this thinking that the correct move is to ‘take what they’ve got on the table’. Many wild card-based games produce frequent situations where the correct move is somewhat counter intuitive based on ‘real world’ poker strategy.

There’s nothing wrong with playing video poker or any other casino game however you want. If you’re happy just playing hunches and hoping for the best, then more power to you!

No matter whether a player is trying to achieve perfect play or just a recreational player having some fun they share a common characteristic. Both would prefer to walk out of the casino having turned a profit.

Since it’s surprisingly easy to learn ‘perfect play’ for most games there’s no real reason not to do it.

Aside from knowing the correct play for the situation, the other major component of video poker strategy is machine selection. Assuming that your goal is to end up with more money in your pocket than when you started, your best option is to play the variation that you are most conversant with.

Many serious video poker players love Deuces Wild due to its generally high return rate. Even so, if you know nothing about Deuces Wild strategy and have a good grasp on Jacks or Better, that’s the game you should play.

The other component of machine selection is finding the best pay table. Like slot machines, you also have the option of playing a game with a set jackpot amount for a Royal Flush (typically 4,000 coins on a Jacks or Better machine) or one that features a progressive jackpot.

Ready to give Video Poker a try? Play it at Payday Casino today!