Video poker strategy charts: which one, and what each is worth

Which chart do you need?

Charts are not interchangeable. Every line’s position is a consequence of the payouts, so a chart is only correct for the paytable it was solved against. Read the glass first, then pick:

Double Double Bonus comes on two paytables — 9/6 (98.9808% with perfect play) and the rarer 10/6 (100.0670%, a positive game) — and the trainer teaches the same 39 lines on both; the order was solved against the 9/6 table. Deuces Wild also comes on several tables — the chart here is solved for full-pay 25/15/9/5 (100.7620%), and its page states exactly what that chart returns on the common 25/16/10/4 and 25/15/9/4 tables.

What each chart is exactly worth

“Perfect play” is the return of solving every hand exactly — no human does this at a machine. “This chart” is what the ordered list itself returns when you play it literally, measured over every deal, which is the number that actually matters to a player. Four of the five are measured; the 39-line Double Double Bonus list is the published exceptionless order (Wizard of Odds prints 98.9792% for it) with one line moved after solver testing, and we have not yet re-measured the whole list end to end. Until we have, this page prints no return for it. How every figure here is computed and checked is written up in the methodology.

How to read a chart

A chart lists holds, not dealt hands. Start at line 1 and work down; the first line you can build out of your five cards is the play, and you stop there. That is the whole method — the difficulty is that a normal hand matches three or four lines at once, and the ordering is the strategy. “High card” means jack through ace on the Jacks or Better, Double Bonus and Double Double Bonus charts, but king or ace on Joker Wild, where a pair of jacks pays nothing — and on Deuces Wild no pair pays at all, so its chart never uses the phrase.

A worked example: three lines match, the highest wins

Dealt 10♥ J♥ Q♥ 4♥ 4♣ on 9/6 Jacks or Better, three lines of the 18-line chart apply at once: line 7 (3 to a royal flush), line 8 (4 to a flush) and line 9 (Low pair (2–10)). The chart says take the highest, and the solver agrees:

Playing the pair instead of the royal draw costs 0.6555 per coin — two-thirds of an entire five-coin bet. Nothing about the hand tells you that; the order of the list does. Every number came from the same exact solver that runs in the analyzer, so you can check it yourself:

The top lines of each chart

Each list below is rendered from the same code the trainer grades with, so it cannot drift from what the app teaches. The opening lines are the pat hands and the premium draws; the arguments start a few lines further down, where a made hand and a draw want the same cards. Full charts are on the linked pages.

9/6 Jacks or Better — first 8 of 18

The famous decision sits at lines 7–9: a three-card royal beats a four-card flush, which beats a low pair. Full chart and the reasoning: the 18-line Simple+ chart.

10/7 Double Bonus — first 8 of 36

Two pair pays 1 instead of 2 on this game, which drains the value of a paying pair — far enough that line 8 (a suited Q-J-10 or K-Q-J) outranks line 9, the high pair. That line is missing from the charts most books print; the measurement is in the Double Bonus study. Full chart: the 36-line Double Bonus chart.

9/6 Double Double Bonus — first 8 of 39

Lines 2 and 3 are the pair that surprises people: four of a kind holding a qualifying kicker (four aces with a 2, 3 or 4) is kept as five cards and pays 400 per coin, while four of a kind without one is kept as four cards — you throw the fifth away and draw for that kicker. Deeper down, line 12 (a pair of aces) sits above line 13 (two pair): you break two pair when the pair is aces. The full 39 lines are in the app: the interactive DDB chart.

20/7/5 Joker Wild — first 6 of 17 with-joker lines

Joker Wild is the only two-list chart here: 17 lines for hands dealt with the joker, 18 for hands without. Because only kings and aces pay, line 26 is “pair of kings or aces” and line 29 covers everything from deuces up to queens — a pair of jacks is a low pair here. Full chart: the 35-line Joker Wild chart.

25/15/9/5 Deuces Wild — the four-, three- and two-deuce sections (9 of 33)

Deuces Wild is the only five-section chart here: a deuce is never discarded, so every hand is played from the section for the number of deuces dealt — four, three, two, one, none. Nothing below three of a kind pays, which is why line 4 breaks a pat four of a kind for three bare deuces, line 9 breaks a pat flush for two, and line 28, the only pair line, says to keep ONE pair out of two pair. Full chart, and what it returns on the 25/16/10/4 and 25/15/9/4 tables: the 33-line Deuces Wild chart.

Chart choice matters less than machine choice

Playing the 18-line chart instead of solving every hand perfectly costs 0.0436% of everything you bet. Sitting down at an 8/5 Jacks or Better machine (97.2984% with perfect play) instead of a 9/6 one costs 2.2455% — about 52 times as much, and it is decided before you touch a button. Read the full-house and flush rows on the glass before you sit: the paytable comparison shows what each downgrade costs. Learning a chart is worth doing; it is worth doing second.

Where to practice

The trainer deals hands from any of these five games and grades every hold against the exact best play, naming the chart line you played and the one you should have — that is the fastest way to convert a printed list into a habit. The hand analyzer goes the other way: give it any five cards and it ranks all 32 holds with exact EVs and a permalink you can share. Both are free and run in your browser, and both explain themselves in full below the tool. Related: the classic hand questions, answered exactly. Training and math only; no real-money gambling, 18+.