Before video poker was popularized in the 70's at casinos, people had to choose between playing slot machines alone, or playing skill-based games in a group. There was a sizable difference in casino house edge, too, with casino slots games having a higher casino house edge than casino table games. Video poker at casinos provided a third option. It’s ideal for casino players who like skill-based play games with low casino house edges, but also prefer to play solo.
Getting to know video poker online is simple. After putting one to five coins into the game machine, you receive a five-card hand from a 52-card deck. Choose which cards to hold on to, and the rest of them will be swapped for new, and hopefully improved, cards. Then, you win a real money payout if you received the minimum required hand as outlined in the game’s real money paytable.
Although all casino video poker machines follow the same basic game premise, several variants offer their own unique game play twists. Café Casino offers 11 online casino video poker games, and we’re going to explain how they compare in terms of minimum required hand, wild cards, which sub in to create winning play hands, and the real money payouts based on online five-coin bets. All online casino video poker games at Café Casino offer a 4,000-coin jackpot for landing a Royal Flush on five-coin wagers.
Deuces Wild and Bonus Deuces Wild Rules
3 of a Kind Minimum | Deuces are Wild
Deuces Wild and Bonus Deuces Wild offer players a chance to land more winning play hands than normal thanks to all deuces substituting for other cards. The minimum play hand needed to land a real money payout in both Deuces Wild and Bonus Deuces Wild is a Three of a Kind. The “bonus” version includes bonus real money payouts for four Deuces with an Ace kicker and Five of a Kind hands. To compensate, the payouts for landing a Straight are reduced from 10 to 5. The wild card makes it possible to land Five of a Kind hands.
| Hand | Deuces Wild | Bonus Deuces Wild |
| Royal Flush | 4000 | 4000 |
| 4 Deuces w/Ace | 1000 | 2000 |
| 4 Deuces | 1000 | 1000 |
| Wild Royal | 125 | 125 |
| Five Aces | 75 | 400 |
| 5 3, 4, or 5 | 75 | 200 |
| 5 6-K | 75 | 100 |
| Straight Flush | 45 | 45 |
| 4 of a Kind | 20 | 20 |
| Full House | 20 | 20 |
| Flush | 15 | 15 |
| Straight | 10 | 5 |
|
3 of a Kind |
5 | 5 |
Loose Deuces
3 of a Kind Minimum | Deuces are Wild
Another online casino video poker game with wild deuces, Loose Deuces video poker game has a minimum hand requirement of Three of a Kind to win a payout. The pay structure is similar to that of Deuces Wild, except for Loose Deuces has a much bigger payout for 4 Deuces (2500 instead of 1000). Alternatively, the online payouts for Straight Flush and Full House are lower. Once again, the inclusion of a wild Deuce makes it possible to land Five of a Kind hands.
| Hand | Loose Deuces |
| Royal Flush | 4000 |
| 4 Deuces | 2500 |
| Wild Royal | 125 |
| 5 of a Kind | 75 |
| Straight Flush | 25 |
| 4 of a Kind | 20 |
| Full House | 15 |
| Flush | 10 |
| Straight | 10 |
|
3 of a Kind |
5 |
Bonus Poker and Bonus Poker Deluxe
Pair of Jacks Minimum | No Wilds
There are no wild cards included in Bonus Poker and Bonus Poker Deluxe video poker games, and as a result, the minimum required play hand to trigger a real money payout is lower than the wild card games—a pair of Jacks instead of Three of a Kind. When you compare Bonus Poker with Bonus Poker Deluxe, Bonus Poker Deluxe is the more volatile one, as it has big online payouts for all Quads (Bonus Poker only has a big payout for four Aces) and also for the Flush. However, Bonus Poker video poker game has a better payout 2 Pair, which you’ll be landing far more often than Quads and a Flush.
| Hand | Bonus Poker | Bonus Poker Deluxe |
| Royal Flush | 4000 | 4000 |
| Straight Flush | 250 | 250 |
| 4 Aces | 400 | 400 |
| 4 2-4 | 200 | 400 |
| 4 5-K | 125 | 400 |
| Full House | 40 | 40 |
| Flush | 25 | 30 |
| Straight | 20 | 20 |
| 3 of a Kind | 15 | 15 |
| 2 Pair | 10 | 5 |
| Pair | 5 | 5 |
Double Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus Poker
Pair of Jacks Minimum | No Wilds
Double Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus Poker video poker games have even bigger payouts than Bonus Poker and Bonus Poker Deluxe. Landing Four of a Kind pays 800 coins with Double Bonus Poker and up to 2,000 coins with Double Double Bonus Poker. The trade off between these two online video poker games is in the payouts for the Straight to Full House hands, which have bigger real money online payouts in the Double Bonus Poker video poker game.
| Hand | Double Bonus Poker | Double Double Bonus Poker |
| Royal Flush | 4000 | 4000 |
| Straight Flush | 250 | 250 |
| 4 Aces w/ 2,3,4 | 800 | 2000 |
| 4 2,3,4 w/ A-4 | 800 | 800 |
| 4 Aces | 800 | 800 |
| 4 2-4 | 400 | 400 |
| 4 5-K | 225 | 250 |
| Full House | 50 | 45 |
| Flush | 35 | 30 |
| Straight | 25 | 20 |
| 3 of a Kind | 15 | 15 |
| 2 Pair | 5 | 5 |
|
Pair |
5 | 5 |
Double Jackpot Poker and Double Double Jackpot Poker
Pair of Jacks Minimum | No Wilds
You’re aiming for a pair of Jacks or better with Double Jackpot Poker and Double Double Jackpot Poker games. The Double Double version offers equal or bigger real money online payouts than the Double version for all play hands except for Two Pair, which pays 5 coins instead of 10.
| Hand | Double Jackpot Poker | Double Double Jackpot Poker |
| Royal Flush | 4000 | 4000 |
| Straight Flush | 250 | 250 |
| 4 Aces w/KQJ | 600 | 800 |
| 4 Aces | 400 | 800 |
| 4 KQJ w/ AKQJ | 400 | 400 |
| 4 KQJ | 200 | 250 |
| 4 2-10 | 100 | 100 |
| Full House | 40 | 45 |
| Flush | 25 | 30 |
| Straight | 20 | 25 |
| 3 of a Kind | 15 | 15 |
| 2 Pair | 10 | 5 |
|
Pair |
5 | 5 |
Jacks or Better (1 to 52 hands)
Pair of Jacks Minimum | No Wilds
Jacks or Better video poker is the game that started it all. We have four online versions of the game that make it possible to play 1, 3, 10 or 52 hands per round. This video poker game doesn’t include flashy bonus money payouts, but rather, offers standard online money payouts for all nine play hands.
| Hand | Jacks or Better |
| Royal Flush | 4000 |
| Straight Flush | 250 |
| 4 of a Kind | 125 |
| Full House | 45 |
| Flush | 30 |
| Straight | 20 |
| 3 of a Kind | 15 |
| 2 Pair | 10 |
| Jacks or Better | 5 |
Joker Poker (one to 52 hands)
Pair of Kings Minimum | Jokers are Wild
Joker Poker also comes in four online game versions, making it possible to play 1, 3, 10 or 52 hands per round. Jokers are wild in this video poker game, substituting for all other cards to create more winning play hands. The minimum hand needed to win is a pair of Kings. This is the only video poker game in our online casino that has a 20000-coin jackpot for landing a Sequential Royal Flush, which is a Royal Flush that lands in consecutive order from left to right.
| Hand | Joker Poker |
| Sequential Royal Flush | 20000 |
| Royal Flush | 4000 |
| 5 of a Kind | 750 |
| Royal w/Joker | 400 |
| Straight Flush | 250 |
| 4 of a Kind | 100 |
| Full House | 30 |
| Flush | 25 |
| Straight | 15 |
| 3 of a Kind | 10 |
| 2 Pair | 5 |
| Kings or Better | 5 |
VIDEO POKER TIPS
Most video poker machines offer a jackpot for the Royal Flush, but it’s only available on five-coin bets. If online betting five coins seems too expensive for your bankroll, simply decrease the coin values in order to stay within budget. For example, betting five nickel coins costs the same as betting the default (one $0.25-coin per hand).
In addition to betting smart, make sure to carefully inspect the online paytables when you play for your favorite online video poker games because there are “full-pay” online video poker machines, and ones that pay less. Full pay-machines pay 9 coins on a 1-coin bet for a Full House and 6 coins on a 1-coin bet for a Flush. An example of a full-pay video poker machine is 9/6 Jacks or Better at Cafe Casino. The 8/5 machines are “short-pay” machines because of the increased casino house edge. On the other hand, video poker games with wilds will always have smaller payouts for the Full House and Flush because the wild card increases the odds of winning real money.
You now know to be strategic with your online casino betting configurations and look for full pay video poker machines. One final tip is concerning multi-hand video poker games like Jacks or Better and Joker Poker. Most of the time, when you get into multi-hand games, there will be a slight reduction in the casino payouts for one or two winning hands. For example, with Jacks or Better, the 1-Hand variant pays a bit more for Full House and Flush hands compared to the Multi-Hand games. This slight increase in cost is often worth the thrill of playing multiple hands per round, but it’s something to be aware of when it comes to crafting your video poker play strategy.
Casino video poker online is available in Real Play and Practice Play at the Video Poker Lobby of Cafe Casino. Try all 11 games to see which one you like the best.