Do you think you can make money playing video poker?
Do you think you can grind out a profit against the
house edge? If you want to seriously make money at video
poker you are going to need to hit a jackpot. It is
really that simple.
The first thing you need to understand about video
poker is that you can’t play it like you have
been taught if you want to win money in the long term.
Let’s say you are dealt an Ace of Hearts, 10 of
Heats, 3 of Spades, 5 of Spades, and 9 of Hearts. If
you look at this quickly you will see two basic options.
You either hold the Ace or you hold the Ace and the
10 and go for the bigger jackpot. How does this work
out?
If you hold the Ace and the 10 you are going to hit
the royal flush and the big jackpot, 1 in 16,215 times.
Those are long, long odds. The odds of hitting the Royal
flush by only holding the single ace are so high they
aren’t even worthy of discussion. If you want
to have a shot at hitting the jackpot then hold the
ace and the 10. If you look at the long-term numbers
you are better off holding the Ace over holding the
Ace and the 10. But the problem is that you can’t
hit a jackpot by holding only the ace.
If you want to hit the big jackpots you are better
off taking a few chances. It will hurt your bankroll
in the short term but you have to be willing to take
chances if you want to hit the big score.
