Jacks or Better (Jacks+) Video Poker

I recommend that your Video Poker education begin with the classic Jacks or Better (Jacks+) version. This is the game that started it all and is an ideal game for newbies and veterans alike.

Strategies:

TheGayle Mitchell is the most recognized female expert of casino gambling and has written extensively and presented seminars about casino gambling since 1996.  She is the author of the Casino Gambling Made Easier series of books, numerous E-Books, booklets and the Slots Trilogy.  She is also the editor of five online gaming newsletters including Casino Players Ezine.  Gayle's website is www.easycasinogambling.com  ace is not the most important card. A jack, queen or king will also return your bet when paired.  
The jack, queen or king offers more opportunities to develop winning hands around it than an ace. For example, to form a sequence, a jack has two possibilities — a queen 
on one side and a 10 on the other.   An ace, however, has only one possible sequence partner — the king. 
 
Never keep a kicker — that’s an additional face card — with any pair.
To do so reduces your return by 5%. Let that pair stand and draw 3 cards. 
 
Always keep a five-card winning pat hand, with one exception: if you can draw one card to a royal flush. 
 
Don’t break a flush even if you can draw one to a straight flush. However, always break a flush to draw one card to a royal flush. 
 
Never break a straight to draw to a straight flush. If you have three cards to a flush and no high cards, draw two cards for the flush. 
 
If you have four cards in succession for a straight, draw one card.   Four consecutive cards is called an ‘outside’ straight when there are two possibilities for a winning hand at either end. So, if you have 6, 7, 8, 9, either a 5 or 10 will payout.

An ‘inside’ straight narrows your odds of completing that straight.   For example, if you have 5, 6, 8, 9—trying for the 7 is called drawing to an inside straight, because the single card you need is on the ‘inside’.   Additionally, draw to an inside straight only if one of the other cards is a jack or better where you can at least return your bet if you match that high card.
 
Keep a small pair (jacks or less) for three of a kind. 

If all your cards are 10 or under with no possibility in sight for a winner, it’s best to opt for five new cards.  
 
20% of all original first hands dealt are winners.

A Jacks+ VP will generally hit the royal flush each 40,000 hands played, or every 80-100 hours of play.

As with all VP games, maximum coin play for each hand is the best strategy.
 

Below is a VP pay schedule for Jacks or Better.

This schedule illustrates the payout for specific winning hands, one coin return payout and maximum coin return payout.

Here is a sampling of other VP versions that offer the Jacks or Better minimum payout.
Bonus Poker
Double Bonus
Double Double Bonus
Triple Bonus
Jackpot Poker, aka, Aces & Faces.

Multi-Hand VP is available for nearly all VP versions.

As with standard video poker, you’re dealt five cards, you may hold from zero to all five. The cards you keep appear in all the other hands as you discard/deal.
Multi-hand VP can feature three, five, ten, fifty, even one hundred hands per bet.

Example Strategy Card for Jacks+Draw To the Hand Higher On the List. High Card Is A Jack Or Better.

YOUR HAND                        # CARDS TO DRAW

ROYAL FLUSH                                0
STRAIGHT FLUSH (SF)                 0
4 OF A KIND                                      0
4-CARD ROYAL                               1
FULL HOUSE                                   0
4-CARD STRAIGHT FLUSH          1
FLUSH                                               0
3 OF A KIND                                      2
STRAIGHT                                       0
2 PAIR                                               1
HIGH PAIR                                      3
3-CARD ROYAL FLUSH               2
4-CARD FLUSH                              1
LOW PAIR                                       3
OUTSIDE 4-CARD STRAIGHT      1
INSIDE 4-(no high cards)                 5
3-CARD STRAIGHT FLUSH          2
2-CARD ROYAL, NO 10                3
3 HIGH CARDS (JACKS +)             2
2 HIGH CARDS (JACKS +)            3
NONE OF THE ABOVE                  5
Note: Strategy Tips above are for Jacks+ 9/6 version only. Bonus, Double Bonus and Triple Bonus Jacks+ require specific strategies for different pay tables.