All Aces Video Poker Guide
All Aces video poker has quickly risen among the ranks of video poker games that are found only in online casinos. It offers unique pay tables and competitive payback percentages that can often only be found by those playing video poker in an actual casino. Once you know how to strategize, you can expect to break even or make a profit on the game over the long haul.
Have you ever played video poker in a casino? If you haven’t, you are missing out on one of the most enjoyable games around.
It’s a game that can be quite beneficial to gamblers if you know how to play the right way. Video poker combines all the good stuff surrounding table games and slot machines and tends to leave out the bad.
On top of all that, video poker stands out as the one casino game that translates the best to the world of online gambling. When you’re looking at the screen of a video poker machine, what you see can easily be replicated on the screen of your computer, smartphone, tablet, or other connected device. And you can get all the benefits of playing the game, including the potential of winning real money, without leaving the comfort of your home.
Many online video poker variations simply copy what you might see in a casino. But online gambling sites that are hungry for a way to stand out often demand games you can’t get anywhere else, not even at the local casino. That’s why games like All Aces video poker, which can only be found online, are becoming so popular.
All Aces video poker mimics pay tables you might find when playing a Bonus machine in a casino. Bonus pay tables reward more for four of a kind hands. That gives you more opportunities for jackpot-type hands than you would have if you were playing the most basic video poker pay table, also known as Jacks or Better.
The All Aces variation of online video poker actually outdoes a standard Bonus pay table in terms of what it awards for four of a kind hands. As you might expect from the name, it gives the four aces hand the biggest boost of all. In fact, getting four aces while playing this game will pay you more than any other hand apart from the royal flush.
All Aces video poker needs to compensate for these higher payouts by lowering some of the payouts for common hands. The big hit that you’ll take is on the two pair hand, which pays out only 50% as much as you would get if you were playing Jacks or Better. Since that hand comes up often during gameplay, you will feel the discount in your bankroll in a negative fashion.
For many people, the chance to get big payoffs in a hurry more than makes up for the discounted two pair on All Aces video poker. And the payback percentage of this game rises to a level that makes it one that we recommend.
In fact, playing All Aces well over the long haul while also receiving rewards from the online casino that you’ve chosen gives you the chance to break even or maybe even eke out a small profit.
In the following article, we’ll provide all the information you need to decide whether or not All Aces video poker is for you. We’ll talk about the pay tables and how they reflect upon the payback percentage you can get for playing the game. And we’ll also look at how you can learn strategies that will help you maximize your winnings over the long haul.
Why Play Video Poker Online?
To answer this question, we first have to talk about video poker as a game compared to all other casino games. Novice gamblers, perhaps confused by the fact that it is located in the same section of the casino, often think that video poker is just like slot machines. But that comparison doesn’t really hold up.
Slot machines give you no idea of what chances you have when you spin the reels. They include pay tables that show you how much you will win for each spin, but they don’t include any information about how many times those spins might show up on average. That pretty much leaves you in the dark.
Video poker, on the other hand, delivers results based on the probabilities of making winning poker hands. These probabilities are based on the cards in a standard 52-card deck and never change. You go into each game knowing roughly how many times you might hit hands like a flush or a straight in a given session.
Slot machines also leave you guessing about the payback percentage you might receive from the game. In other words, you don’t know if, on average, the machine that you’re playing pays back 95%, 90%, or 85%. For all you know, the machine next to you might have a significantly higher payback percentage than the one you’re currently playing.
Video poker removes all of that mystery. You know the probabilities, and you know the payout from the pay tables.
From that, you can calculate the payback percentage. Or, if you don’t want to do the math, you can look online to see what the payback is for each specific variation.
One more strike against slot machines is that you have no way of controlling the action. You simply spin and hope that luck works in your favor. While luck certainly comes into play when playing video poker, you can also help your chances by making the right choices (more on that when we get to gameplay and strategy).
Video poker also compares very favorably to table games when it comes to payback percentages. All of these factors make video poker an extremely beneficial game to gamblers, maybe the most beneficial of all casino games.
So, why play video poker online? Well, why would you force your way through traffic and crowds when you can get the exact same experience from a gambling website?
All you need to do is have an internet connection and a connected device like a computer, tablet, or phone. With those elements in place, you can get all the action from a casino with a ton more convenience. And you can win real money just the same.
In addition, most top online casinos also offer the same kinds of rewards and loyalty bonuses that you can get from brick-and-mortar casinos. As a matter of fact, you might find the online casinos even more giving.
After all, the number of online gambling operations grows all the time. As a result, those internet wagering sites have to work hard to secure their customer base.
Well, now you know all the answers as to why you should play video poker online. Now, you need to know how to play online video poker by learning the basics. Just follow this step-by-step tutorial and you’ll be up and playing All Aces video poker online in no time.
Step 1: Establishing an Online Account
If you’re going to play All Aces video poker, find a online gambling website that features video poker. This game is not available on any physical video poker machines.
As we said above, you’ll find no shortage of online gambling sites that will take your action. Since this is one of the more popular online-only versions of video poker on the market, many of those sites should offer All Aces video poker.
Once you’ve found a site you feel you can trust with your gambling exploits, sign up for an account. That will require you providing some sort of funding, so you can play for real money.
Credit cards stand out as the most popular method of funding. But many sites will accept other alternative means of funding as well.
From there, it’s just a matter of devoting some of the money to your All Aces video poker game. The money that you put into it will be registered as credits, or coins, on the screen. These credits or coins will be equal to a single unit of the denomination that you have chosen to play.
For example, imagine that you are going to devote $100 to All Aces video poker and the denomination is a quarter. You will have 400 credits to utilize (100 divided by .25 is 400).
Keep in mind that the money in your account can be used for other offerings available at the site. In terms of collecting winnings, that will be done via the withdrawal system at the site you’ve chosen. You should make yourself comfortable with how all of that works and what the procedures are before you settle on a gambling website to play All Aces video poker online.
Step 2: Making Your Bets
Once you have your bankroll established to play All Aces video poker, you’ll have to decide upon the amount you want to bet for each hand. This can be anywhere between one and five credits.
Many beginning players make the mistake of betting a different amount each hand. They hope they can try to guess when they are going to win or lose. Considering your probabilities never change and that each hand is completely random with no relation to the ones before it, this strategy will cause you to lose money.
Your best strategy when playing All Aces video poker is to bet the maximum amount of five coins per hand. This is also known as the max bet.
The max bet is your best choice because the payout for the royal flush, which is the most lucrative hand in all of video poker, rises considerably at the five-coin level. You will get odds of 250 to 1 on a royal flush from one to four coins played, but those odds stand at 800 to 1 at five coins played.
Don’t try to outthink the game with your bets. Keep it simple and make the max bet every time. Doing that will ensure you have a chance to reach the maximum payback percentage for All Aces video poker.
Step 3: Playing Hands of Video Poker
Right after you decide upon your bet, five cards will appear on your screen. These cards are dealt from a simulated deck that is constantly being shuffled by the game’s software. At the moment you make your bet, the top five cards in the deck become yours.
From that point, you have to try to make one of the hands that is determined to be a winning one by the pay table of All Aces video poker. Certain video poker variations, especially those that include wild cards in gameplay, will change up the winning hands somewhat. But most games, including All Aces, pay off whenever a player attains one of the following hands:
- Pair of jacks of better
- Two pair
- Three of a kind
- Straight (five cards of consecutive rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
- Flush (five cards of same suit)
- Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
- Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)
As you move down the list, the hands get more and more difficult to achieve in terms of their frequency during gameplay. But the payback, for the most part, also rises as you move down the list. And that plays a key part in your decision-making process when it comes to the draw.
When you play All Aces video poker online, you get a chance to improve your deal on the draw. It will be as if you were playing a version of Five-Card Draw at home.
During the draw, you get to discard whatever cards in your hand you don’t feel are helping you out. When you discard them, the game will draw however many cards you need to replace them from the 47 cards remaining in the simulated deck which gave you the deal.
Let’s take a look at a sample deal to see how this decision-making process might play out. Imagine receiving the following:
In this deal, you do have an immediate winning combination with a pair of kings. As you’ll see, once we talk about the pay table for All Aces video poker, that will return whatever your initial bet was.
If you keep the two kings and discard everything else, you have the chance to improve your hand. You can make two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind, which is a lucrative hand in All Aces video poker.
But you can go in a few other directions as well. Notice that you have four hearts in your hand. If you discard the king of spades, you can draw for a possible flush.
Finally, you might also notice that the five, six, and eight of hearts give you three cards to a straight flush. That draw would have to be just right for you to end up with that hand. But the possible rewards are great, as the straight flush represents one of the highest-paying hands in the game.
As you can tell, the range of possible outcomes makes this a tough decision. If you play it safe, you have an outside shot at a big payoff but more than likely will have to settle for something small in return.
Or you can take your chances with one of the tougher draws in the hopes of ending up with one of the more significant paybacks in the game. If you do this, you run the risk that you might end up with nothing.
When you first start playing All Aces video poker online, you might find that it takes you a while to think this all over in your head. Once you’ve been at it for a while, such decisions won’t slow you down and you’ll be able to make them in a snap.
Truth be told, this hand represents a tough decision. Many of the others that you play will be quite obvious.
In any case, once you have made your decision, you will press the screen on the buttons of the cards you wish to hold (if any). The game will then draw from the top of the deck to replace what you need. After that, your hand is over, and any winnings will be added to your total credits.
You can play as many hands of video poker as you like as long as you still have credits in play. Simply repeat the steps to keep going. If you run out of credits, you will have to dip back into your online account to continue.
It really is that simple. Once you get the hang of it, you can play several hands of All Aces video poker per minute. Now, it’s time to talk about the pay tables so you can learn how to base your gameplay off of what that tells you.
Pay Table for All Aces Video Poker
When you are playing online video poker, or playing in person, you should always check out the pay table before you even begin to play, especially if you’ve never played that version before. The pay table will indicate what you can expect from each winning hand. But that’s really only the beginning.
As we said above, you can find out the expected payback percentage from the pay table. You might also have to adjust your strategy in terms of what the pay table tells you.
In addition, the pay table will also tell you what style of play you’ll get. You might find a game where you have to grind out your winnings but will sustain a bankroll for a long time. Or you could end up with one where you might have to deal with larger swings between winning and losing in a short period of time.
Let’s start by looking at the pay table for All Aces video poker:
| Coins/Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Straight flush | 60 | 120 | 180 | 240 | 300 |
| Four of a kind (aces) | 400 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,600 | 2,000 |
| Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Full house | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 35 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Two pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
How do you read the pay table? Simply follow the winning hand over to the amount bet. For example, if you hit a straight on a five-coin wager, you’ll see that the “straight” row intersects with the “five coins” column at the number 20, which means you’ll receive 20 coins for that hand.
You can see at the top of the pay table what we told you about the royal flush, and how it rises so much from four coins to five coins wagered. That should show you why you need to bet five coins every hand. But the rest of it might not mean that much to you without being able to compare it to another video poker pay table that is similar to it.
In the world of online video poker, Bonus Poker pay tables probably come the closest to All Aces video poker in terms of how the pay table is structured. Let’s take a look at one to see how they compare:
| Coins/Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four of a kind (aces) | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
| Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) | 40 | 80 | 120 | 160 | 200 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | 40 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Two pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
You can see how each one places a premium on four of a kind, separating payouts by which rank is included in the quad. And you’ll also notice that both have four aces ranked above all other four of a kind hands in terms of payout.
But you’ll probably also notice some differences. The All Aces video poker pay table pays at a much higher rate for every one of the four of a kind hands. It also adds a little heftier payout for the straight flush.
Where the Bonus Poker pay table makes up for it are in the full house and two pair hands. The full house pays 8 to 1 compared to the All Aces video poker table paying 7 to 1. For the two pair hands, you can get 2 to 1 on the Bonus table compared to even money for All Aces video poker.
That last one really makes a big difference. When you play video poker, you will likely come up with a two pair hand around once every 10 hands. As a result, you will be taking a hit on the All Aces video poker often when that hand arrives, at least compared to the Bonus Poker pay table.
That also makes All Aces video poker a game that is more volatile than Bonus Poker. By volatile, we mean that there will be more swings of highs and lows. You will also find it harder to keep your bankroll afloat without some of the high-paying hands coming your way.
Whether that is a positive or a negative for you depends on your preferences. If you like to go for the big score and come out with a potentially big payoff, even if it means you might lose your bankroll quicker, All Aces video poker should serve its purpose.
On the other hand, if your goal is to try to keep your winnings afloat longer, you might want to think about finding a game where the pay table is more balanced. The choice is up to you.
Payback Percentage
People play video poker with different kinds of agendas in mind. For some, the game represents a fun diversion and a way to pass the time. If you fit into that category, you probably don’t need to concern yourself too much with payback percentage.
But if you’re a person who really wants to play the game for a long period of time and maybe earn some consistent money doing so, you always have to keep the payback percentage on your radar. The payback percentage estimates how you can expect to return from the game on an average session.
“Average” is the key word in that sentence. If you play online video poker for only a little while, the luck of the cards you receive will make much more of an impact on your wins and losses than the type of pay table you are using.
But the more you play a specific video poker game, the more your actual performance will start to resemble the game’s payback percentage. Over time, luck will even out and the probabilities will dictate your outcome.
All Aces video poker offers a payback of 99.92%. Theoretically, after putting $10,000 through the game via your bets, you will walk away with $9,992 in your bankroll. You will have loss of $8.
Does this mean it will always happen this way? Not at all.
You might have one session where you hit a royal flush right off the bat, sending your bankroll skyrocketing. You might have another session where you can’t catch a break and you lose hundreds of dollars from the original $10,000. On average, that 99.92% number will hold true.
The good news is that 99.92% is an excellent payback percentage. We generally recommend playing video poker games where the percentage is above 99% if you are planning on making a long-term investment in them. If you play games with percentages below 99%, you will likely lose money over time.
If, however, you keep it at a level above 99%, you can hope to make up the difference through online gambling loyalty programs. With these programs, the website pays you some sort of dividend in free wagers for all your play.
Using this could conceivably put you over 100%. You’d be winning money instead of losing it. And, because All Aces video poker sits at a level so near 100%, it wouldn’t take much in the way of those rewards to tilt the balance in your favor.
Learning Strategy for All Aces Video Poker
All the talk about payback percentages surrounding All Aces video poker won’t matter much if you don’t play the game with the proper strategy. Strategy comes into play every time you make a bet.
It also comes into play whenever you make a decision about what to hold and what to discard. We already told you what your strategy should be. It’s time to look at how you should be playing your hands.
Obviously, there are thousands of card combinations you can receive on any given deal. It’s not enough to know what you should do in terms of holding and discarding cards. To play All Aces video poker online with perfect strategy, you need to know what to do on every single deal.
Strategy might not matter too much if you are only playing the game casually. But if you plan on being a hardcore player who tries to make a profit, you have to strive for perfect play.
Every time you make a decision on that hand, it has to be mathematically correct. It should bring back the highest possible value to that hand if it were played an infinite number of times.
That might sound like an impossible task. But there are ways you can do it, especially if you take advantage of one of the two resources available to you. They are:
Video Poker Software Trainers
You can program the pay table from All Aces video poker and simulate play on this software. It allows you to play as if you were playing for real money in your online casino of choice.
Whenever you make a decision that is incorrect about what to hold, the trainer will let you know. It will also tell you the right move.
By practicing with this software over a long period of time, you will eventually get to the point where you’ll have seen just about every type of deal. And you’ll know the right play that goes along with every one of them.
Strategy Charts
Strategy charts exist for just about all of the major pay tables. And they can be found online with a little searching.
They work by ranking all of the possible combinations of cards that you might receive on the deal from most valuable to least valuable. This lets you know which cards in your hand are important and which can be discarded.
To use a strategy chart with All Aces video poker properly, you’ll have to memorize it. If you don’t, you’ll waste too much time consulting it every time you play a hand.
All Aces Video Poker Conclusion
All Aces video poker stands as one of the most popular versions of the game that can be found only on top gambling websites, and it does so for good reason. You can expect to receive a payback percentage that ranks among the best that online video poker has to offer. And you can earn some huge payouts in a hurry if the four of a kind, especially the aces, come your way.
Recognize Us? We've been found on:
