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Free Video Poker – Play Free Video Poker Games in 2021 Free video poker and video poker for real money are some of the most popular games to play online. Our page offers you a rich selection of video poker.

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Our selection of real money online video poker games for USA players is simply fantastic (18 and counting…). Here at CoolCat we offer up the purrfect way to try your hand at video poker, start for free! That’s not an option you’ll ever find at a traditional, brick and mortar casino, is it? All you need to do is register for a free account and you can start playing our amazing assortment of all the best online real video poker games instantly. Remember practice makes purrrfect and video poker is a game of both skill and chance!

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Today's Winning Tip - Video Poker

It doesn’t matter how much of an expert you may think you are, it always pays (literally) to have an effective strategy when playing poker in a land-based casino, or an online one. Regardless of what variable you are playing i.e. Deuces Wild, Texas Hold’em, Five Card Draw etc. - your strategy can be in the form of studying the pay tables religiously, and also deciding on how much you can realistically wager.

Today’s winning video poker tip – develop a strategy

By working out the likely probabilities and outcomes in advance, you’ll drastically increase your chances of finishing on a winning hand in this game; or at least get very close to it!

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When it comes to game selection, CoolCat is the best real money video poker casino online today. There’s just so much to love. Here are just a few of the most popular variants that we offer:

• Jacks or Better: Perhaps the most well-known online video poker game in the USA, Jacks or Better is the basis of many other versions of video poker. The lowest winning hand is a pair of Jacks.

• Aces and Eights: This is a variant of Jacks or Better that includes higher pay-outs for four of a kind hands with Aces and eights.

• Bonus Poker: This is also a variant of Jacks or Better with higher pay-outs for four of a kind with Aces as well as twos, threes, and fours.

• Deuces Wild: In this version of video poker, the number two cards count as wilds, standing in for any other cards. The lowest winning hand is a three of a kind.

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Everything You’ll Ever Need to Know about Video Poker

The history of video poker – a brief timeline

1891: Sittman and Pitt invent a 5-reel poker machine with 10 playing cards per “drum” (or reel). The mechanism begins to spin once the lever is pulled, then the final 5-card hand is revealed. The machine is installed at bars around New York City, with prizes like free beers and cigars instead of monetary payouts.

Circa 1898: Charles Fey, “The Father of the Slot Machine,” perfects the most popular model of his invention: The Liberty Bell Slot Machine. His version simplifies the machine, decreasing the reels from 5 to 3 and including a mechanism that gives players cash payouts for winning combinations. The slot machine is installed throughout San Francisco and is soon followed by many imitators.

1901: Fey creates a poker machine that now includes a hold feature, allowing players to select cards to keep from the initial hand. The player then spins again in an attempt to improve his final hand. This Skill Draw machine is considered to be the first five-card draw poker machine.

1970: Dale Electronics releases the first electronic video poker machine. These machines are installed at many Vegas casinos, but the general reception is lukewarm.

1975-1981: Si Redd begins to push for a marketing strategy to popularize video poker machines, eventually creating his own company (SIRCOMA, now known as International Game Technology) to do so. Thanks to his efforts, video poker machines become highly popular and remain essential to any land-based and most online casinos today.

1994: The first online casinos are opened, with video poker as one of the first games to be offered online.

2000-present: The online casino industry grows at an exponential rate. With increased ownership of smartphones, mobile casinos are introduced and continue to grow in popularity, driven by its most well-loved game offerings – including video poker in the USA.

The Specifics of Video Poker

It’s easy to get confused about what online real money video poker online actually entails, particularly when it sounds like regular poker and looks like slots. Here are some of the similarities and differences between video poker and regular poker as well as video poker and slot machine games.

Video poker vs. regular poker

Video poker and normal poker share two fundamental traits. First, they’re both based on 5-card hands that are ranked. Some winning hands in both games include royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, and full house. However, online variants of video poker also include other hands that result in pay-outs, for example a pair of Jacks in Jacks or Better.

Second, they both require some knowledge of strategy when it comes to the probability of different hands. In both games, the player is dealt an initial hand. When it comes to predicting possible cards that can complete a hand, understanding the odds of different outcomes is necessary for both.

A defining trait of normal poker is that you have to win the round against other players.

In video poker, it’s just you and the “dealer.” You don’t need to beat anyone; you just need to end up with a winning hand to receive a pay-out after each round. In that sense, video poker offers the chance to focus on your own hand instead of having to wonder and worry about what your opponents are up to. It involves the perfect amount of strategy – just enough to stay engaged and motivated, and not too much to discourage or overwhelm you.

Texas Hold´em Poker Guides

Texas Hold’em Poker Guide

While a lot of people are intimidated when it comes to games like Texas Hold’em Poker, learning the game is actually remarkably simple, easy and fun. Based on classic 5-card poker, Texas Hold’em is a game that has been keeping video poker fans enthralled for decades.

Read more

Texas Hold’em Tips

Once you’ve mastered the basics of Texas Hold’em, it’s time to get down to business and learn tips and tricks from the experts. Video poker is as much a game of skill as chance. It’s about good decision making. These tips and tricks will help give you the winning edge.

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Real money video poker vs. real money slots

Video poker and slots are often lumped together because they’re the two main electronic gaming machines that you’ll find at your average land-based casino. The technology is similar: both depend on random number generator software – when it comes to slot machines, it’s used to determine the symbols that line up on each spin, and for video poker, the RNG ensures random “shuffling” and dealing of the playing cards.

Both types of electronic gaming machines are fun, flashy, and easy to pick up. They also don’t involve opponents, so you can play them at your own convenience and in your own space. Here’s where real video poker and slots are different. All slot machines are random. Don’t believe what you read about detecting patterns or other strategies to beating the system. While some slot games have better odds than others, there isn’t much in the way of complicated strategy that can go into improving your slots skills over time. Sure, there are general guidelines to follow when choosing the game, the pay table, the bet amount, and other factors, but there are no step by step methods for guaranteed wins. Most real money slots fans enjoy the randomness of each spin – there’s the stress relief that comes with every spin, and a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with lucky wins.

On the other hand, video poker does allow for improvement. In fact, it’s a well-known fact that video poker is one of the rare casino games that, if played well, can actually allow players to beat the house edge.

Strategies how to win at real money video poker

Video poker strikes a balance – a happy medium that takes the best advantages from normal poker and slots games. Take a look at some basic strategies for getting started with video poker online today:

1. Learn to analyze pay tables. Research payback percentages so that you’re able to choose optimal pay tables to maximize your winnings. The highest paying variant of a game is referred to as “full-pay.”

2. Internalize the rules. Once you’ve identified the full-pay games, you need to fully understand what makes those variants different from others. The basic rules aren’t hard to pick up, but if you want to master the game, you need to take it a step further and really internalize the specifics.

3. Place maximum bets to increase potential winnings – that also means managing your bankroll to accommodate max bets.

4. Study video poker strategy. There are specific strategy tables and guides with highly detailed methods, posted online and published in books. Do your homework, check out a great article here, and your hard work is guaranteed to pay off.

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“Jacks Or Better” is a fast-paced and extremely fun video poker game found at most online casinos.

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It is the oldest video poker game and is the game that truly started the video poker craze we see today.

Many people love to play Jacks Or Better because it has an insane RTP (return to player) percentage of 99.54%. You can’t find a game with better RTP percentages out there!

This guide will give you all you need to know about Jacks Or Better and where you can play this exciting video poker game!

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What Is Jacks Or Better?

Jacks Or Better is the original form of video poker where you are presented with five cards, and you must sort through it to strategically formulate the best possible poker hand.

It’s a fast-paced game with a great RTP%, making it one of the best choices for those looking to build a bankroll quickly.

Jacks or Better is also one of the easiest standard video games to play at a high strategy level, and it is ideal to learn because its general principles will apply to many types of other video poker games.

How To Play Jacks Or Better Video Poker

Once you get used to Jacks Or Better and its rules, it’ll be easy for you to play the game.

By knowing the rules, you’ll be able to play the game without hesitation!

Poker Jacks Or Better Rules

  1. Place Your Wager: Your wager is translated into coins in Jacks Or Better, we advise you to double-check the conversion rate on the specific game you’re playing.
  2. Receive Your Cards: You’ll receive five cards face up. It’s at this point you should start thinking about which cards you should discard.
  3. Sort Through Your Hand: Discard the cards that don’t benefit your winning chances (see the strategy guide and paytables). Once you discard, you’ll get new ones – this will now be your final hand, and you will be paid out according to the paytable.
  4. Receive Your Winnings: The AI will automatically calculate your winnings. If you’re playing multiple hands, then you may be in for a huge payday, depending on what hands you get!

How To Win At Jacks Or Better Poker

Although Jacks Or Better is indeed a game of luck, there is a bit of strategy involved to maximize your potential winnings.

Seeing as there is a choice to be made when you receive your five cards, what you choose to discard will significantly impact how much you win.

Jacks Or Better Strategy To Win

There is something called “optimal strategy” for Jacks Or Better, and it’s relatively similar to blackjack’s optimal strategy.

This hand-rank table will guide you to choose the best strategy to play with any given initial hand, providing you which cards to hold or discard.

If none of the ranks applies to your playing hand, then you should discard all five cards.

The table below is extrapolated from an extensive study on Jacks’s Or Better optimal strategy.

Check it out for an easy-to-understand format on what is the best way to play Jacks Or Better.

RankInitial HandDescriptionDiscard Strategy
15-RFRoyal Flush DealtNo discard needed
25-SFStraight Flush DealtNo discard needed
35-4KFour of a Kind DealtNo discard needed
44-RFFour to a Royal FlushDiscard one card
55-FHFull House DealtNo discard needed
65-FFlush DealtNo discard needed
73-3KThree of a KindKeep three of a kind, discard two
85-SStraight DealtNo discard needed
94-SFFour to a Straight FlushDiscard one card
104-2PTwo pairKeep two pair, discard the rest
112-HPHigh pairKeep the pair, discard the rest
124-FFour to a Royal FlushDiscard one card
133-RFThree to a Royal FlushKeep the key cards, discard the rest
144-F : AHTx + K, Q, J, or TFour to a FlushKeep the key cards, discard the last
154-S: KQJTUnsuited KQJ10Keep high card, discard the rest
162-LPLow pairKeep pair, discard the rest
174-S: 5432 – QJT9Four to an Outside Straight with 02 High Cards
183-SF: s + h >= 3Three to a Straight FlushKeep key cards, discard the rest
194-S :AKQJ if QJ fp or 9pFour to a Straight FlushKeep key cards, discard the rest
202-RF: QJSuited QJKeep QJ
214-S: AKQJFour to an Inside StraightKeep key cards, discard the rest
222-RF: KH, AHSuited KQ or KJKeep KQ or KJ, discard the rest
233-SF: s + h = 2, no spSuited AK, KQ, or AJKeep necessary cards, discard the rest
244-S:AHHT or KQJ9Four to an Inside Straight, Three High CardsKeep key cards, discard the rest
253-SF: s + h = 2Three to a Straight Flush (type 2)Keep key cards, discard the rest
263-S: KQJUnsuited KQJKeep high card, discard the rest
272-S: QJUnsuited QJKeep high card, discard the rest
282-S: KJ if JT fpSuited J10Keep J10, discard the rest
292-RF: JTTwo to a Royal Flush, J10Keep key cards, discard the rest
302-S: KHTwo Unsuited High Cards, King HighestKeep relevant cards, discard the rest
312-S: AQ if QT fpSuited Q10Keep high card, discard the rest
322-RF: QTTwo to a Royal Flush, Q10Keep key cards, discard the rest
332-RF: AHTwo Unsuited High Cards, Ace HighestKeep Ace, discard the rest
341-RF: K if KT fp and 9spOne to Royal Flush, KingKeep King, discard the rest
352-RF: KTSuited K10Keep key cards, discard the rest
361-RF: A,K,Q, or JOne to Royal Flush, Ace, King, Queen or JackKeep King, Q,Ace or Jack, discard the rest
373-SF: s + h = 1Three to a straight flush (type 3)Keep key cards, discard the rest
Strategy Abbreviation Key
  • A, K, Q, J, T denote Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten respectively.
  • High card is any A, K, Q, or J.
  • If multiple cards are italicized, it means that they are of the same suit.
  • s is the number of straight that can be made from your playing hand regardless of the suit, and h denotes the number of high cards in the hand that you decide to hold in accordance with the strategy.
  • fp, sp, and 9sp stand for flush penalty, straight penalty, and 9 straight penalty card.
  • hp represents high card penalty card and shp represents penalty card that is both sp and hp. nsp, nhp, nshp (n=number) refer to the number of specified penalty cards.

Penalty Cards

Penalty cards are discarded cards that actively hurt your chances of getting a good payout.

For example, suppose you have the opportunity to get a flush but discard cards that hurt your chances of getting it. In that case, that’s a “flush penalty card,” according to John Jungtae Kim’s analysis of Jack’s Or Better strategy.

Jacks Or Better Cheat Sheet

Below is our cheat sheet that was derived from Jacks Or Better optimal strategy and J. J. Kim’s analysis. You can use it when playing Jacks Or Better – no need to be afraid of having this out!

It’s not cheating as it’s simply a suggestion of strategy.

The study found when the optimal strategy is executed, the expected return significantly improves or the net gain is closer to breaking even.

The hand-rank table will guide you to choose a strategy that maximizes expected payout.

We can expect that the odds of lower-paying hands will contribute to ones of higher-paying hands as their potential to be qualified for higher-paying hands is realized by allowing better discards under optimal play.

The “Expected Return Per Hand” chart represents the contribution of each hand to the overall expected payout in Jacks or Better under optimal play strategy.

The chart shows the ratio of change in probability from pre-draw hand to the correct play under optimal strategy for each hand.

A horizontal line is drawn to indicate a ratio of one, the point at which optimal play does not improve the expected return.

Any paying hands that are above the dotted horizontal line, which is all the paying hands, are improved.

For example, the probability of royal flush improves by a factor of 16 and all the higher paying hands (full house and up) are improved by more than a factor of 5.

Tips For Playing Jacks Or Better

  • If you have four cards to a straight or a flush, hold all four of them and discard the fifth unrelated card.
  • If you have most of the cards for a royal flush, you should take a chance and keep them all to try and get a royal flush payout.
  • If you have a pair, hold the pair and discard the three extra cards.
  • If you don’t have any playable hand, hold a Jack or higher. If you don’t have any face cards, discard them all.

Jacks Or Better Pay Table

If you’re a newcomer, you’ll see that there are different versions of Jacks Or Better called “9/6” or “9/5,” and you might be confused.

Those ratios refer to the pay table differences, specifically revolving around the “full house” and “flush” hands.

Most casinos host 9/6 Jacks Or Better, but it’s not uncommon to see worse payouts like 9/5.

9/6 Jacks Or Better

9/6 Payout Jacks Or Better is the “full version” of the game, as it has the best payouts you’ll be able to find.

Most online casinos host 9/6 Jacks Or Better as a standard, but it’s not uncommon to see other versions that pay less.

HandPayout
Royal Flush800
Straight Flush50
Four of a Kind25
Full House9
Flush6
Straight4
Three of a Kind3
Two Pair2
Pair (Jacks or Better)1

Other Jacks Or Better Variants

There are other variants you may also run into. All these Jacks Or Better variants use the same payout table but with certain hand payout differences that can impact your potential winnings. Take a look at the details below:

9/5 Jacks Or Better

The only difference between 9/6 Jacks Or Better and 9/5 is that the “flush” payout is 1 coin less than in 9/6. Flushes are reasonably common in Jacks Or Better, so this is a definitive downgrade.

8/6 Jacks Or Better

In 8/6 Jacks Or Better, a “full house” pays x8 coins, and a “flush” pays x6. This pay table is almost the same as 9/5 Jacks Or Better in terms of ranking.

8/5 Jacks Or Better

8/5 Jacks Or Better is a further downgrade from 8/6. Here, the “flush” pays x5 coins. Once again, seeing as flushes are rather common in Jacks Or Better, this is a certain downgrade.

7/5 Jacks Or Better

From here on, you should be actively avoiding Jacks Or Better that pay this low. Having a payout of x7 on a “full house” is relatively low and not worth playing.

6/5 Jacks Or Better

6/5 Jacks Or Better is the worst version of the game out there – once again, you should try to actively avoid this version as much as you can.

Here, the “full house” pays a measly x6 coins and is definitely not worth your time or money.

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Jacks Or Better is a staple in all online casinos and is a real favorite among players.

The insanely high RTP of 99.54% is attractive as it gives you a great chance to build your bankroll. There’s also always the potential to win big with a royal flush!

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Feel free to use the cheat sheet in this article to climb your way to massive riches.