Full-pay Joker Poker (Kings or Better) returns 100.65% with perfect play. This chart is two ordered lists — hands dealt with the joker, hands without — and its order was optimized by solving every one of the 2,869,685 possible deals exactly.
What makes Joker Wild different
Fifty-three cards: the joker is fully wild and becomes whatever makes your best hand — even a fifth card of a rank you already hold. Only a pair of kings or aces pays; jacks and queens are just cards. Four of a kind pays 20, five of a kind 200, a wild royal 100, a natural royal 800. Two consequences drive the whole chart: you never throw the joker away, and four of a kind is always a draw (hold the four, discard the fifth) because the joker can turn it into five of a kind.
| Hold (deal: 8♣ W 4♦ 2♥ Q♦) | EV per coin | |
|---|
| W 8♣ — joker + a middle card | 1.4869 | correct |
| W alone — draw four | 1.4360 | what intuition says |
| W Q♦ — joker + queen | 1.3889 | a queen doesn't pay here |
The signature Joker Wild play: with nothing but the joker, keep a 6, 7 or 8 (or a 5, 9 or 10) next to it. Middle cards make the most straights and straight flushes with the joker, while a jack or queen adds nothing — pairs of them pay zero in Kings or Better. Every number on this page is exact and reproducible in the analyzer.
The pay table
| Hand | Pays (per coin) |
|---|
| Natural royal flush | 800 |
| Five of a kind | 200 |
| Wild royal flush | 100 |
| Straight flush | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 20 |
| Full house | 7 |
| Flush | 5 |
| Straight | 3 |
| Three of a kind | 2 |
| Two pair | 1 |
| Kings or better | 1 |
How the chart was built
We solved all 32 holds of every suit-isomorphism class of the 53-card deck (150,891 classes covering 2,869,685 deals) with an exact enumeration engine, classified every hold into a named pattern, and then searched the ORDER of those patterns for the highest exact return of “hold the first line you can make”. Then we merged the graded variants into one teachable line each, keeping only the splits that measurably pay, and scored every candidate chart the same exact way:
| Chart | Lines | Exact return | Cost vs perfect play |
|---|
| Perfect play (every hold solved) | — | 100.646% | — |
| Full chart (every gradation) | 54 | 100.633% | one bet per ~39,000 hands |
| Same lines, every graded variant kept separate | 39 | 100.616% | one bet per ~16,000 hands |
| This chart (what the trainer teaches) | 35 | 100.597% | one bet per ~10,000 hands |
| Every graded idea merged away (29 lines) | 29 | 100.454% | one bet per ~2,600 hands |
The 35-line chart is built to be remembered: both sections run in the same order — pat hands, four-card draws, three-card holds, two-card holds, one card — and every line says exactly which cards to hold. Its fixed, natural order is also the exact optimum for those lines. Going simpler costs real money: a pat straight above the straight-flush draws, one line for every two high cards, or dropping J-10/Q-J/Q-10 suited each cost far more than they save.
With the joker (17 lines)
| Hold the first line you can make | # |
|---|
| Pat five of a kind, wild royal or straight flush — hold all five | 1 |
| Four of a kind — hold the four, draw one for five of a kind | 2 |
| Pat full house — hold all five | 3 |
| 4 to a wild royal flush — W + 3 suited royal cards | 4 |
| Pat flush — hold all five | 5 |
| 4 to a straight flush — W + 3 suited cards inside a 5-card straight (gaps, 2-3-4 and ace-low included) | 6 |
| Three of a kind — W + a pair, draw two | 7 |
| Pat straight — hold all five | 8 |
| 4 to a flush with a K or A — W + 3 suited cards including a K or A | 9 |
| W + 2 suited royal cards (10, J, Q, K, A) | 10 |
| W + 2 suited CLOSE cards — touching (4-5 up to 9-10) or one gap (4-6 up to 8-10), plus A-2 to A-5 and K-9 | 11 |
| W + an Ace or a King | 12 |
| W + 2 suited FAR cards still inside a straight — two gaps (3-6 up to 7-10), or 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-4, 3-5, J-8, J-9, Q-9 | 13 |
| 4 to a flush without a K or A — W + 3 suited low cards | 14 |
| 4 to an open straight — W + 3 unsuited touching cards | 15 |
| W + one middle card (5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10) | 16 |
| The joker alone — draw four | 17 |
Without the joker (18 lines)
| Hold the first line you can make | # |
|---|
| Pat royal flush or straight flush — hold all five | 18 |
| Four of a kind — hold the four, draw one for five of a kind | 19 |
| 4 to a royal flush — 4 suited royal cards | 20 |
| Pat full house or flush — hold all five | 21 |
| 4 to a straight flush — 4 suited cards inside a 5-card straight | 22 |
| Three of a kind — draw two | 23 |
| Pat straight — hold all five | 24 |
| Two pair — draw one | 25 |
| Pair of kings or aces — draw three | 26 |
| 3 to a royal flush — 3 suited royal cards | 27 |
| 4 to a flush — 4 suited cards | 28 |
| Low pair (2s to Qs) — draw three | 29 |
| 3 to a straight flush — 3 suited cards inside a 5-card straight | 30 |
| 4 to an open straight (5-6-7-8 … 9-10-J-Q, 2-3-4-5, K-Q-J-10) | 31 |
| Two high cards — a K or A with a suited 10, J, Q, K or A, or A-K unsuited | 32 |
| One Ace or one King | 33 |
| J-10, Q-J or Q-10 suited | 34 |
| Discard everything | 35 |
“High card” on this chart always means a king or an ace. “Inside a straight” means the held cards all fit one run of five (the wheel A-2-3-4-5 counts). With the joker, two suited close cards (touching or one gap) beat W + A/K; two suited far cards (two gaps, or the edge pairs 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 3-4, 3-5, J-8, J-9, Q-9) do not.
Open the interactive chart →Appendix: the full 54-line chart (100.633%)
For players who want the last 0.035%: the same order with every gradation kept — which suited two-card joker draws outrank W + Ace, the exact 3-royal splits around the pair of kings, the 6/7/8 vs 5/9/10 split.
| With the joker | # |
|---|
| Five of a kind · wild royal flush · straight flush | 1 |
| Four of a kind — hold the four, draw one for five of a kind | 2 |
| Pat full house — hold all five | 3 |
| 4 to a wild royal flush — W + 3 suited royal cards | 4 |
| 4 to a straight flush, open — W + 3 suited connectors (3-4-5 to 9-10-J) | 5 |
| Pat flush — hold all five | 6 |
| 4 to a straight flush, 1 gap (or 2-3-4) — or 2 gaps with a K or A | 7 |
| Three of a kind — W + a pair, draw two | 8 |
| 4 to a straight flush, 2 gaps, no K or A | 9 |
| Pat straight — hold all five | 10 |
| W + K + Q, J or 10 suited | 11 |
| 4 to a flush with a K or A — W + 3 suited cards including a K or A | 12 |
| W + A-K, A-Q, A-J, A-10 or J-10 suited | 13 |
| 3 to a straight flush, open — W + 2 suited connectors (4-5 to 9-10) | 14 |
| W + A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5 or K-9 suited | 15 |
| W + Q-J or Q-10 suited | 16 |
| W + Ace | 17 |
| W + 2 suited with one gap, 6- to 10-high (4-6 up to 8-10) | 18 |
| W + King | 19 |
| W + 3-4, 3-5 or J-9 suited | 20 |
| W + 2 suited with two gaps, 6- to 10-high (3-6 up to 7-10) | 21 |
| 4 to a flush without a K or A — W + 3 suited low cards | 22 |
| W + 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, J-8 or Q-9 suited | 23 |
| 4 to a straight, open — W + 3 unsuited connectors | 24 |
| W + 6, 7 or 8 | 25 |
| W + 5, 9 or 10 | 26 |
| The joker alone — draw four | 27 |
| Without the joker | # |
|---|
| Royal flush · straight flush | 28 |
| Four of a kind — hold the four, draw one for five of a kind | 29 |
| 4 to a royal flush — 4 suited royal cards | 30 |
| Full house | 31 |
| Flush | 32 |
| 4 to a straight flush, open — or inside with a K or A | 33 |
| Three of a kind — draw two | 34 |
| 4 to a straight flush, inside, no K or A | 35 |
| Pat straight — hold all five | 36 |
| Two pair — draw one | 37 |
| 3 to a royal flush: Q-J-10, or any three with a King | 38 |
| Pair of kings or aces — draw three | 39 |
| A-Q-J, A-Q-10 or A-J-10 suited | 40 |
| 4 to a flush — 4 suited cards | 41 |
| Low pair (2s to Qs) — draw three | 42 |
| 3 to a straight flush, open | 43 |
| K-Q-J-10 unsuited | 44 |
| 3 to a straight flush, 1 gap (or 2-3-4) — or 2 gaps with a K or A | 45 |
| A-K suited | 46 |
| 4 to an outside straight (2-3-4-5 to 9-10-J-Q) | 47 |
| 3 to a straight flush, 2 gaps, no K or A | 48 |
| K + Q, J or 10 suited | 49 |
| A-K unsuited | 50 |
| A + Q, J or 10 suited | 51 |
| Ace or King | 52 |
| J-10, Q-J or Q-10 suited | 53 |
| Discard everything | 54 |
Practice it in the trainer — every graded hand shows which line you played and which was right. New to video poker? Start with the 9/6 Jacks or Better chart. Training and math only; no real-money gambling, 18+.