Video Poker: Return & Hand Frequencies
Full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better is one of the highest-returning games in the casino: 99.54% with optimal play, a house edge of just 0.46%.
These are the frequencies of each final hand when you play the exact-EV strategy — the same strategy the in-game coach grades you against. The pay table is what makes it: on short-pay 8/5 machines the return drops to about 97.3%.
99.54%
Return
optimal play
0.46%
House edge
9/6 full-pay
1 in 40,391
Royal flush
with strategy
How often you make each hand (optimal 9/6 play)
Frequencies with exact-EV strategy; a royal is far more common than 'natural' because you draw toward it.
| Hand (payout) | Odds | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush (800×) | 40,391 | 0.0025% |
| Straight Flush (50×) | 9,148 | 0.0109% |
| Four of a Kind (25×) | 423 | 0.236% |
| Full House (9×) | 86.9 | 1.151% |
| Flush (6×) | 90.8 | 1.101% |
| Straight (4×) | 89.1 | 1.123% |
| Three of a Kind (3×) | 13.4 | 7.445% |
| Two Pair (2×) | 7.7 | 12.928% |
| Jacks or Better (1×) | 4.7 | 21.459% |
| No win | 1.8 | 54.54% |
Pay table matters — return by machine
| Pay table | Return |
|---|---|
| 9/6 (full-pay) | 99.54% |
| 8/6 | 98.39% |
| 8/5 | 97.30% |
| 7/5 | 96.15% |
Hand frequencies under optimal 9/6 strategy (published exact figures). Payouts are 'for 1', so the return is the average payout per unit bet.
For entertainment only. No real-money gambling. 21+