Video Poker Hands

Playing video poker in a casino or online is fun, but it’s even much better if you get to win in several rounds. However, the only way to score huge payoffs in this game is to end up with any of the winning poker hand. That’s why for you to win loads of money or even hit the jackpot, you must first know the various video poker hands that will land you with pleasing returns.

Before you head out how to play video poker hands, though, keep in mind that each hand should be composed of five cards, regardless of the suit. Moreover, the order of the cards isn’t important as they can be shuffled and arranged to form a winning hand.

Here are the details about all video poker hands. They are ranked from highest to lowest along with the odds of catching them during game time.

  • Royal flush— Nothing beats this hand as it’s composed of the highest cards, which are 10, J, Q, K, A of diamonds. Catching this hand will earn you the jackpot in video poker. However, the probability of getting this poker hand is 1/650,000.
  • Straight flush—In order to get this, the five cards in hand must be in sequence. But the catch here is that all cards must belong to the same suit. So, it can be 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 of spades or 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of hearts. In essence, this is a combination of a straight and a flush. With odds of 75,000 to 1, a straight flush is easier to catch than a royal flush.
  • Four of a kind—This basically requires four cards of the same value plus any other fifth card. So, an example of a correct combination is 10 of hearts, 10 of diamonds, 10 of clubs, 10 of spades, and 7 of hearts. There’s a 1/4150 probability of having this hand.
  • Full house—This is composed of three cards of the same value and two cards of the same value like three 10s and two 5s. Basically, you will need a Three of a kind and a Pair to form this hand. The odds of getting this hand are 500 to 1.
  • Flush—All you need to have are five cards of the same suit, regardless of the sequence. So, if you have 6, 9, 5, 8, Q of diamonds, then it’s a flush. You will have a 1/500 probability of catching a flush.
  • Straight—Unlike the flush, this hand requires all five cards to be in consecutive order, regardless of their suit. An example of this is 9, 10, J, Q, K of at least two suits. With odds of 250 to 1, you will most likely catch this hand more than the other higher ranking video poker hands.
  • Three of a kind—This is simply composed of three cards of the same value plus any two other cards. So, you will automatically get this hand if you have 5, 7, 5, 2, 5. This has odds of 47 to 1.
  • Two pair—You just need to have two sets of pairs and a fifth card of any value and suit like 5, 7, 7, 8, 5. This is the second weakest of all video poker hands and has odds of 20 to 1.
  • Jacks or better—This hand is composed of two Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces together with three unmatched cards. The weakest of all video poker hands, Jacks or better video poker is the easiest hand to catch but has the least payoff.