Solving pay table
Jacks or Better
Pick a game, set your bet, and deal.
Bet$1.25
Win$0
Denomination25¢
| # | Game | Dealt | Held | Result | Lines won | Bet | Paid | Book | Bankroll |
|---|
Frequencies are per line from hands actually played in this session. “True” is the exact per-line probability under perfect play for the pay table on screen. The Monte Carlo tab runs millions for converged numbers.
| # | Hold | What it is | Value | vs best | Any win | Royal |
|---|
Value is the expected return of each hold per coin bet on this hand, counting every possible draw. Enumerated, not simulated.
Click a column header to play that table. Returns are exact under perfect play at five coins, computed by enumerating every deal and every draw. Pays are per coin at five coins — the royal pays 250 per coin at one to four coins.
| Measure | Simulated | Exact | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Plays the game on screen, every hand by the book, through the same engine that deals the live machine. | |||
Video poker returns most of its money in small pays and a meaningful slice in the royal. A royal is worth about 2% of the total return at a 4,000-coin top award and arrives once in roughly 40,000 hands, so a million-hand run still carries a few tenths of a percent of noise. The exact column is not simulated.
Robert Adam Clifford is an oil and gas consultant, an international arms dealer at Pathfinder Defense LLC, and a part-time passionate gambler. He writes and publishes through Lost Cabin Consulting LLC, where he produces mathematically rigorous, independently verified research on casino games, slot machine mathematics, table game theory, sports and pari-mutuel wagering, and prediction markets.
Seven volumes covering blackjack, baccarat, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, slots and video keno, roulette, craps, and horse racing — the combinatorial math behind the games worked from first principles.
All six are free, offline, single-file apps, and free to share. This one is the companion to the Lost Cabin Consulting Slot Intelligence Series, Volume X — Video Poker. More titles on the author page. Questions or a copy of any simulator: aclifford@lostcabinconsultingllc.com
Video poker is the one machine where you can see the math. The pay table on the glass is the whole game: read it, and you know the return to the hundredth of a percent before you put in a dollar. The only part of the house edge you control is the hold, and on most games sloppy holds cost two to four percent. That gap is what this trainer exists to close.
Play Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus and Deuces Wild and learn the right hold for every hand. The pay table on the glass sets the return: full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better returns 99.54% with best play, while the same game with a short pay table can drop to 95%. Check the pay table before you sit down.
Read the video poker strategy guide, carry a printable strategy card to the table, or get every number worked out in Casino Game Theory & Advantage Play. All six games are on the free casino simulators page. Play money only: no sign-up, nothing to buy.
Gambling carries real risk of loss, and no strategy removes the house edge. Play only where it is legal and you are 21 or older. If gambling stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER. Disclaimer. Lost Cabin Consulting LLC is not affiliated with any casino or game maker.