Video Poker Hands

Playing Video Poker requires an understanding of the various poker hands.

Video Poker card suits

Video Poker is played with a 52-card deck split into four different suits. This suits are: Clubs - Diamonds - Hearts - Spades.

Clubs	Diamonds	Hearts	Spades

Neither suit is more or less powerful than another except on specialized machines.

Video Poker card ranks

Each of four suits contains 13 cards. Cards rank from lowest (2) to highest (10) in value. Above the numbered cards are the Jack, Queen and King. The Ace is ranked as the highest card but can also be ranked as a 1 if required.

Video Poker hands

A poker hand consists of 5 cards. There are various card combinations in Video Poker and each combination has a different value based on the difficulty and odds of getting such a hand. They are listed below in order of difficulty from the most difficult (and most points) to the easiest (and fewest points).

Remember that the cards will not usually be in order when displayed on the screen.

Royal Flush

This is the highest value hand possible. It contains all "royal cards" (Aces, King, Queen, Jack, and a 10), all in the same suit.

Straight Flush

The five cards must be in sequential order, and they must be of the same suit. This is both a straight and a flush in the same hand.

The Ace can be used as a low card in order to achieve a straight flush e.g.. Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 all of the same suit.

Four of a Kind

Four cards of the same rank, such as four jacks. It's often called "quads" or "4oak"

Full House

A Full House (also called "Full Boat") contains 3 cards of the same rank along with 2 other cards of the same rank.

Flush

Five cards of the same suit. They do not have to be consecutive.

Straight

Five consecutive cards, such as 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. They need not be of the same suit. An ace can be used in two ways. It can be have a value of 1, and be placed in an A, 2, 3, 4, 5 sequence, or it can also be placed above the king in a 10, J, Q, K, A sequence.

Three of a kind

Three cards of the same value along with 2 other unrelated cards. Example: three "tens". It's often called "trips" or "3oak".

Two pair

It contains 2 cards of the same rank and another 2 cards of the same rank There is also a fifth unrelated card. Suits are different.

One pair

Two of the five cards are the same value. The cards must be jacks or higher to be considered a winner (eg. Jacks or Better Video Poker). But some machine will not pay for a pair of any kind but will require two pair or three of a kind as their minimum winning hand (eg. Dueces Wild).

High card

It is the lowest type of hand possible. You cannot create a better hand with your 5 cards then what remains . This has no value to the Video Poker player.

Wild Cards

Wild cards can be used as any other card in the standard 52 card deck. The hand that is made up using a wild card is sometimes valued equally to the normal hand and sometimes it is valued less - this all depends upon which machine you are playing.

The most often used wild cards are the 2's (deuces), jokers and 7's.