Poker Machine Payouts
The other Bonus Poker variations offer different payoffs based on the ranking of the cards in the 4 of a kind. For example, in Double Bonus Poker, a 4 of a kind made up of aces pays off at 160 to 1. If it’s made up of 2s, 3s, or 4s, it pays off at 80 to 1, and if it’s any other. The Monthly Video Gaming Reports and the corresponding Comma Separated Values (CSV) File agree to Illinois Gaming Board data. The CSV file can be downloaded into other file types and managed for the ease of the user, however, the Illinois Gaming Board is not accountable for the reliability of disseminated information resulting from changes to the Illinois Gaming Board's data that are made.
Jacks or Better is the video poker game on which all other games are based. Understanding this pay table is one of the first things any prospective player should undertake. Here’s an example of a Jacks or Better pay table:
We want to point out a couple of things about the pay table above. First of all, notice the disproportionately higher payout for the royal flush when you bet 5 coins. See how it pays out 250 to 1 for every bet of fewer than 5 coins? But then it pays out 800 to 1 for the royal flush.
Poker Payout Table
The next 2 payouts that are especially important are the payouts for the full house and the flush, in this case, 9 and 6. This is the best version of Jacks or Better that you’ll find. Pros call this a “full pay” game, or a 9/6 Jacks or Better game.
Based on the payoff amounts above, if you play with optimal strategy, this game offers you a 99.54% payback percentage. That’s the amount that the machine pays back in the long run, based on the odds of hitting these hands compared with the payoffs for these hands.
But this is not the most common Jacks or Better pay table. You’ll also see 8/5 games, 7/5 games, and even 6/5 games. Each of these has lower payouts for those hands, and correspondingly lower payback percentages.
Here’s a table listing the most common pay tables for Jacks or Better along with the payback percentage for each if you play with optimal strategy:
- 9/6
- 99.54%
- 8/6
- 98.39%
- 7/5
- 96.15%
If you know anything about slot machines, you’ll notice that even the worst pay table at Jacks or Better video poker offers a better payback percentage than most slot machine games.
Poker Machine Payout Ratio
Unfortunately, other video poker games don’t necessarily make it so easy to determine the payback percentage. That’s because they vary the payoffs for more hands than just the full house and the flush. We’ll take a look at some of these other games and their pay tables below.