Free Tool

Video Poker Strategy Maker

Enter any Jacks or Better family pay table and get a ranked strategy chart in seconds, computed exactly in your browser from the same engine behind every strategy page on this site. No minutes-long wait, no signup.

Preset

Quads structure

Royal Flush

Straight Flush

Four of a Kind

Full House

Flush

Straight

Three of a Kind

Two Pair

Jacks or Better

Your strategy chart

Find the highest-ranked pattern present in your dealt hand and hold it. The vs 9/6 JoB column shows whether this pattern's rank moved compared to the standard game; a move means this pay table's incentives are different enough to change your play in that spot.

#	Hold this pattern	Example	EV	vs 9/6 JoB

Each row is one representative hand for that pattern, evaluated exactly by the engine (not a full-population average). Hands near a boundary between two patterns can vary by the specific cards involved; when in doubt, check the exact hand in the hand analyzer.

How to read this chart

Video poker strategy comes down to one repeated decision: of everything your dealt hand could become, which draw has the highest expected value? A full strategy table would list every one of millions of specific hands; this chart compresses that into the patterns that matter, ranked in order for the pay table you entered. When your hand matches more than one pattern (a low pair that's also three to a flush, say), hold whichever pattern ranks higher on the chart.

What this does and doesn't cover

This covers 22 representative patterns spanning the decisions that come up in essentially every real session: pat hands, the flush and straight draws, pair types, and the common high-card holdings. It's built for the Jacks or Better family (Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, and similar pay-table structures). A few narrow exceptions live outside this chart:

Kicker-holding in bonus-quad games. Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus have a real exception around holding a kicker with three of a kind when it's an ace or 2-4, chasing the bonus quad payout. That's specific enough to deserve its own explanation; see the Double Double Bonus strategy page.
Deuces Wild. Wild-card strategy is organized around how many deuces you're dealt, not this hierarchy. See the full-pay Deuces Wild strategy page instead.
Extremely close calls. A handful of real hands sit within a few hundredths of a coin between two patterns and can flip based on exact ranks, not just pattern type. The chart gets you correct in the overwhelming majority of hands; the analyzer is exact for any specific hand.

How it's computed

For the pay table you enter, the engine first scores every one of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands once, then uses exact inclusion-exclusion over those payout sums to get the precise expected value of all 32 holds for any specific hand, the same technique behind the return calculator. Each of the 22 example hands on this chart is evaluated with that same exact math, not sampled or simulated, and not copied from another source. See the full explanation on the methodology page.

Common questions

How is this different from the return calculator?

The return calculator gives you a pay table's overall return percentage. This tool gives you the ranked order of hand patterns for that same pay table, so you know what to hold when your hand qualifies for more than one.

Does this cover every possible hand?

It covers 22 representative patterns that account for the large majority of real decisions. A few narrow exceptions, noted above, are covered on that game's dedicated strategy page instead.

Does this work for Deuces Wild?

Not yet. Deuces Wild strategy is organized around deuce count rather than this hierarchy. See the full-pay Deuces Wild strategy page.

Keep going

Once you have a chart for your pay table, drill it in the trainer until the right hold is automatic, or check its overall return in the return calculator. Not sure which game to play at all? Start with the best games ranked.