Jacks or Better was one of the earliest video poker variations created, and it remains very popular today.
One reason for Jacks or Better’s popularity is that it’s among the simplest video poker games to understand. You don’t have to learn multiple hands, wild cards, multipliers or bonus payouts.
Another reason why people like Jacks or Better is because the full pay (highest paying) version offers 99.54% payback and is found at many land-based and online casinos.
The Video Poker Trainer defaults to Jacks or Better with the 9/6 payout table. This means that this game pays 9 credits (per coin) to a Full House and 6 credits to a Flush. These are the optimum payouts for Jacks or Better and what you can find when you play online. VpFREE2 has 18 unique pay tables for the Jacks or Better (aka: JoB) video poker game. Of these, vpFREE2 considers 7 games 'good' or 'playable', under typical circumstances, with a return of at least 99%, including 9/6/90 JoB and JoB (FP). Jacks or Better Optimal Strategy. The third and final strategy when playing Jacks or Better is the optimal strategy. Playing while utilizing this can up your theoretical RTP to 99.54%. In some ways, this tactic is easier to put into play than the intermediate, as all you have to do is look up a chart again.
This contrasts other full pay video poker variants, which aren’t commonly found in casinos.
If you want to take advantage of this high payback and simplistic strategy, keep reading as we discuss Jacks or Better’s history, how to play, pay tables and strategy.
Jacks or Better is a video poker game where the lowest paying hand is a pair of jacks. In Jacks or Better strategy, the aim is to at least have two Jacks in your hand or better, hence the name Jacks or Better. It follows rules similar to five card draw poker. In Jacks or Better, or any other video poker game, you have 1 to 5 coins to play with. If you want to take your video poker more seriously you can research correct strategy for any pay table or variation you come across. That being said, you’ll do pretty well on any Jacks or Better machine using this strategy. This strategy will get you an expected return of between 99.10 and 99.50 percent on a 9/6 or 8/5 Jacks or Better machine. JACKS OR BETTER STRATEGY FOR FULL PAY 9/6 MACHINES.
Jacks or Better History
Because Jacks or Better is commonly associated with video poker, many think that it didn’t exist until video poker machines entered casinos in the 1970s.
But Jacks or Better can actually be traced back to the nineteenth century when poker became popular on Mississippi riverboats.
The first known reference comes from gambler and writer J.H. Green who, in 1834, compared Jacks or Better to Three Card Monte. Green felt that Jacks or Better was a fair game, while Three Card Monte was a cheating game.
Like many forms of poker that originated on the Mississippi River, there’s no clear date on when people first started playing Jacks or Better. This leaves Green’s reference as the earliest mention of the game.
Jacks or Better Popularizes Video Poker
Jacks or Better remained in gambling circles throughout the years and was introduced as a video poker variant in the late 1970s.
Video poker was a failure when it was first introduced to casinos in 1970, namely because it was nothing more than a television monitor attached to a central processing unit. Players didn’t trust these machines, nor did they see any reason to gravitate away from the more popular slot machines.
By the mid 1970s, Si Redd and his company, SIRCOMA Si Redd’s Coin Machines, began creating better video poker machines and distributing them to more casinos.
SIRCOMA, later IGT, experienced moderate success with their first game Draw Poker, which is 5 card draw poker that starts payouts at a two pair.
SIRCOMA changed the lowest payout to a pair of jacks, which greatly increased video poker’s popularity. Today, Jacks or Better is still one of the most widely played machine based casino games.
Jacks or Better Betting
You can bet anywhere from 1 to 5 coins on your hand. Most land based casinos feature a $0.25 coin denomination, making the minimum bet $0.25 and the max wager $1.25.
9 6 Jacks Or Better
As we’ll cover later, the royal flush payout has a disproportionate jump when moving from a 4 coin win to a 5 coin win.
If you want to be eligible for this increase and achieve top payback, then you need to bet 5 coins. To quickly wager 5 coins, click the Max Bet button.
Despite Jacks or Better’s high payback, some players don’t feel comfortable betting $1.25 per hand. If you’re a low roller who still wants to achieve max payback, note that online video poker has coin denominations as low as one cent.
Once you’ve selected your betting options, click the Deal button to receive your 5 card hand. You then evaluate your hand and decide what to keep based on Jacks or Better strategy.
When you’ve decided what cards to keep and discard, click Draw to finalize your hand. The software will then determine if your hand qualifies for a payout according to the pay table.
Once the round is over, you can make betting changes. Or, you can just click Deal to use the same wager and get a new hand.
Jacks or Better Rules
Jacks or Better uses a standard 52 card deck with no wild cards. This game is programmed to make each card appear with the same odds that you’d expect from a real 52 card deck.
Random number generator software ensures that every deal and hand is randomized.
Land based casinos must submit to state audits to ensure that their video poker and other games are random. Online casinos must adhere to the specifications set forth by their licensing jurisdiction(s).
While Jacks or Better is straightforward, IGT has produced some new video poker variants that allow you to play this game in a different format. Here’s a look at games that put a twist on Jacks or Better:
- Triple Play Poker
- Triple Play sees you play three video poker hands at once, each requiring a separate bet. Any card that you hold in your bottom hand is mirrored in the other two hands. Triple Play Poker forms the basis for the other variants discussed here, which also use a multi hand format.
- Good Times Pay
- Featured in Triple Play format, Good Times Pay sees you get random multipliers on wins as long as you bet 5 coins per hand.
- Hot Roll Video Poker
- You can play 3, 5, or 10 hands at once, and you need to bet 10 coins on a hand to make it eligible for the Hot Roller multiplier. This feature randomly sees dice roll across the screen and gives you a multiplier equal to the two dice’s value (2x to 12x).
- Hyper Bonus Poker
- Hyper Bonus is very similar to Hot Roll with its two 12x multiplier range. The main difference is that no dice are involved in Hyper Bonus.
- Multi Strike Poker
- This game sees you play up to four hands, which are stacked on top of each other in levels. Every time that you win, you move to a new level/hand. The second level offers a 2x multiplier, the third level has a 4x multiplier and the fourth level has an 8x multiplier.
- Multi Strike Poker Super Times Pay
- This is the same as Multi Strike Poker, except you can activate the Super Times pay feature on each hand by betting another coin. Super Times Pay gives you a random multiplier on wins worth up to 10x.
- Peek and Play Poker
- For an extra 2 coin bet, you can activate the Peek and Play feature, which lets you see the first replacement card before you make discards. This can help you avoid making discards or keeping cards that would hurt your hand.
- Pick and Pair Poker
- This game sees four cards dealt– two on the left and two on the right. You pick one of the two cards to keep on the right hand side and the other card disappears. After this, the final two cards are dealt, and your 5 card hand is complete (no draw round).
Jacks or Better Video Poker Pay Tables and Odds
As mentioned before, Jacks or Better is one of the few video poker games where you can find the full pay version. This is called 9 / 6 Jacks or Better, because a full house pays 9 coins and a flush offers 6 coins.
But even with full pay Jacks or Better available, you’ll commonly find other versions in land based casinos that pay less for a full house and flush.
Let’s look at these pay tables below and discus how the lower full house and flush payouts affect payback:
Hand | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
Full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
Flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Hand | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
Full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
Flush | 5 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Hand | 1 coin | 2 coins | 3 coins | 4 coins | 5 coins |
Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
4 of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
Full house | 8 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
Flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
3 of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
2 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
As you can see, nothing changes between these pay tables except for full house and flush payouts. But, you may be surprised at how these little changes alter the payback:
- 9 / 6 Jacks or Better = 99.54% payback
- 9 / 5 Jacks or Better = 98.45% payback
- 8 / 6 Jacks or Better = 98.39% payback
Considering the drop from 9 / 6 to 9 / 5 Jacks or Better, you can see why it’s good to find the full pay version whenever it’s available.
Earlier, we mentioned the jump between the royal flush payout on a 4 coin and 5 coin win. As the pay table shows, you win 1,000 credits on a 4 coin wager and 4,000 credits on a 5 coin bet.
If you want to attain the highest payback, then you need to bet the max number of coins.
One more thing worth mentioning is that most video poker variants have pay tables that are based on Jacks or Better. Once you learn the Jacks or Better pay table, you’ll have an easier time adjusting to other games.
Video poker strategy is never easy, but Jacks or Better offers simpler strategy than many video poker variants.
This game doesn’t have a lot of winning hands, meaning you have less to look at when reviewing strategy charts.
In fact, you can even use a simplified strategy chart that’ll get you to 99.46% payback, which is very close to the optimal 99.54% pay.
Below, you can see the simplified strategy chart along with the advanced version.
When reading these charts, start from the top and scan down until you find your hand listed. If you don’t find your hand, then discard everything.
Simple Strategy Chart 99.46% Payback
- Royal flush, straight flush, 4 of a kind
- 4 cards to a royal flush
- Full house, flush, straight, 3 of a kind
- 4 cards to a straight flush
- 2 pair
- High pair J J to A A
- 3 cards to a royal flush
- 4 cards to a flush
- Low pair (10s or lower)
- 4 cards to an outside straight
- 2 unsuited high cards
- Suited K 10, Q 10, or J 10
- One high card
- Royal flush, straight flush, 4 of a kind
- 4 cards to a royal flush
- Full house, flush, straight, 3 of a kind
- 4 cards to a straight flush
- Two pair
- High pair J J to A A
- 3 cards to a royal flush
- 4 cards to a flush
- Unsuited K Q J T
- Low pair
- 4 cards to an outside straight w/ 0 2 high cards
- 3 cards to a straight flush
- Suited Q J
- 4 cards to an inside straight w/ 4 high cards
- Suited K Q, K J
- Suited A K, A Q, or A J
- 4 cards to an inside straight w/ 3 high cards
- 3 cards to a straight flush
- Unsuited K Q J
- Unsuited Q J
- Suited J T
- 2 unsuited high cards w/ king high card
- Suited Q T
- 2 unsuited high cards w/ ace high card
- Jack only
- Suited K T
- Queen, king, or ace only
- 3 cards to a straight flush
Conclusion
One of the biggest reasons why people choose video poker is because they want to use strategy and have a solid chance to beat the casino. Jacks or Better offers both of these benefits, without forcing you to look at a novel-like strategy chart.
Beyond these parks, another advantage to Jacks or Better is that it offers the perfect introduction to video poker.
This game’s pay table forms the backbone of every video poker variant. If you already know the Jacks or Better pay table, then you can quickly adapt to new payouts offered in games like Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, Deuces Wild and Deuces Wild Bonus.
One more perk to Jacks or Better is that you’ll find its full pay version more often than any other video poker game. When available, full pay Jacks or Better gives you a chance to achieve up to 99.54% payback.
The only problem is that advanced strategy is more complex than the average player wants to deal with. For this reason, we recommend that beginners use the simplified strategy chart and go for 99.46% payback.
In any case, Jacks or Better is definitely worth playing if you’re looking for an alternative to slot machines that actually has strategy.
The internet has caused a lot of things to change since its inception, one of the most striking is in the world of Video Poker. Although the first versions were released back in the 1970s, the look, feel and variations that are now available compared to when the internet was first launched are vastly different. The rules for each are very simple and only very slightly from one game to another, the easiest to play and one of the oldest and most popular is Jack or Better, which we outline below.
Before you read this strategy, ensure you know poker hand rankings.
Once you have mastered this, you are ready to consider the best way to play the Jacks or Better Video Slot.
How to Play Jacks or Better
There are lots of versions of video poker and although some differences between versions are fairly minor, the version does affect the best strategy.
All versions share the same basic rules, however, which involve you choosing your stake, receiving 5 cards from a standard 52 card deck (some versions have an extra Joker – not Jacks or Better though) after which you can discard as few or as many as you want. Any cards you discard are replaced using the remaining cards in the deck, at which point winnings are paid depending on the strength of your hand. You don’t need to worry about what the dealer or other players get as there are none, it is just you against the machine.
This article concentrates on the most popular version of Video Poker, Jacks or Better which pays out on any hand that has a pair of Jacks or better all the way up to a Royal Flush. A screenshot of a typical Jacks or Better Video Poker game is below.
Jacks-or-Better gives you a 99.54% expected rate of return when played correctly. On the front of the machine, you can check the payouts and pick the ones with the best odds.
Here are payouts for a Full House and a Flush respectively on various machines.
The best odds when you play Jacks or better Are best on a 9 / 6 machine, it simply pays out more money to go with this machine.
Jacks or Better Paytables
Paytables can vary a small amount when playing Jacks or Better at different casinos, generally speaking though, the following is fairly standard:
Hand | Payoff |
---|---|
Royal Flush | 800 |
Straight Flush | 50 |
Four of a Kind | 25 |
Full House | 9 |
Flush | 6 |
Straight | 4 |
Three of a Kind | 3 |
2 Pair | 2 |
Pair of Jacks or Better | 1 |
As you can see, the difference between a Royal Flush and all other hands is huge, in order to win we, therefore, need to maximize the chances of getting a Royal Flush whilst banking as many smaller wins as we can to keep us ticking over until the Royal Flush arrives.
Another thing to realize when playing Jacks or Better is that around 79% of hands will be losing hands, so don’t feel despondent if you go several hands without a win. Perseverance is the key to playing any form of Video Poker, what you need to do is keep plugging away picking up small wins wherever possible to keep your funds ticking over until the big one arrives.
When you decide on the stake to play, ensure you play the maximum coins if you can, this will give the biggest possible payout when the Royal Flush does arrive and ensures you get a nice return. It is much better to reduce the value of a coin and play maximum coins than play a higher value coin but only bet 1 coin per go.
Patience is key, so take your time to study the strategies and make the right move, there is no time limit on Video Poker unlike some games as you are playing by yourself and others won’t be waiting on your move like you will get in some forms of Roulette and Blackjack. Make the most of this and get the decision correct to maximize your chances of a payout.
We have listed 2 strategies below, get used to the simple version if you are new to Video Poker, feel free to jump straight to the advanced version if you are more experienced.
Jacks Or Better Strategy
Using this strategy should increase the return over time to around 99.45% if played correctly. Reducing the House Edge in any casino game is important and although this may not seem like much, over a long period of time, it can make a big difference.
As with all Video Poker, patience is key. The only real way to make money is by hitting a Royal Flush, and due to the low odds of this happening, it can take a long time.
Start from the top of the table below, and hold the first set of cards that are applicable to the hand you are dealt:
Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind |
4 cards to a Royal Flush |
Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind |
4 cards to a Straight Flush |
2 Pair |
High Pair |
3 to a Royal Flush |
4 to a Flush |
Low Pair |
4 to an Outside Straight |
2 Suited High Cards |
3 to a Straight Flush |
2 Unsuited High Cards – Choose just 2 if more than 2 |
Suited 10/J, 10/Q, 10/K |
One High Card |
Discard All |
Terminology
In the above table, the following applies:
High Card – Jack, Queen, King or Ace. A Pair of these returns your stake, so it is worth holding.
Outside Straight – 4 Cards that are consecutive and where a card at either end can provide you with a Straight – EG. 5,6,7,8
Inside Straight – 4 Cards where there is one number missing that would complete a Straight. EG 5,6,8,9
Advanced Strategy
Once you have mastered the above, take a look at our more in-depth Advanced Strategy. This will increase the payout percentage to around 99.54%, one of the highest returns of any casino game. If you are lucky enough to hit a Royal Flush early, a nice return is on offer…
As with the Simple Strategy, start at the top of the below table and work your way down until you find the cards applicable to your hand.
Jacks Or Better Strategy Tablet
Dealt Royal Flush |
Dealt Straight Flush |
Dealt 4 of a Kind |
4 to a Royal Flush |
Dealt Full House |
Dealt Flush |
3 of a Kind |
Dealt Straight |
4 to a Straight Flush |
Two Pair |
High Pair |
3 to a Royal Flush |
4 to a Flush |
Unsuited 10, J, Q K, A |
Low Pair |
4 to an Outside Straight that includes 2 High Cards |
3 to a Straight Flush |
Suited JQ |
4 to an Inside Straight, all High Cards |
Suited QK or JK |
Suited AK, AQ or AJ |
4 to an Inside Straight, 3 High Cards |
Unsuited JQK |
Unsuited JQ |
Suited 10J |
2 Unsuited High Cards with K s the highest |
J |
Suited 10 K |
Q |
K |
A |
Discard Everything |
Borderline Hands
The below are hands that very nearly make it into the above list, but an optimal play would be to make a different decision.
Suited 10 A – Hold the A only
3 Unsuited High Cards with A as the highest – Keep the lowest 2 High Cards as the chances of a Straight are higher when open-ended
4 to an Inside Straight with 2 High Cards – Keep the 2 High Cards
4 to an Inside Straight with 1 High Card – Keep the 1 High Card
4 to an Inside Straight with 0 High Cards – Discard all
Jacks or Better Tips
The jacks or better tips are the same for any video poker game, the only thing that’s different is the strategy card. I will go over some of the basic tips as part of our jacks or better strategy.
- Always play the maximum number of coins in order to be eligible for the bonus payout for a royal flush. You can’t win without hitting it in any video poker game so this is the hand that is vital. To do this you need to be able to play for a long time banking smaller wins until you hit it.
- Take your time to study every hand and play correctly. The machines at casinos are in no hurry when you play Jacks or Better and neither should you be.
- Only 21% of the hands dealt are winning ones in Jacks or Better, meaning 79% are losing hands. The difference between success and failure for players is the ability to convert the 79% of losing hands to potential winners and this involves using strategy. If you follow the rules below you will convert a good number of losing hands to winners in Jacks or Better video poker
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