How to Play Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker

Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker presents video poker players with a slightly different way to think about the game. From an eight-card deal, you’ll have the opportunity to make two winning hands, one five-card hand and one three-card hand. If you can manage winning combinations out of the two, you’ll get a multiplier that will magnify the winning amount from the five-card hand.

One of the joys of video poker is that there are many different ways to play the game. You can branch out from basic Jacks or Better, which is the standard format for the game, by playing different pay tables and games with special features. In that way, you never have to play the same way twice.

Still, most of those games feature the same regular rhythm of play. You get five cards on the deal, decide which cards to hold or discard, then draw new cards to replace the ones that have been discarded. But Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker provides you with a completely different style of play, even as it adheres to a Jacks or Better-type pay table.

Eight Cards Instead of Five

When you play Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker, you’ll receive eight cards on the deal instead of the standard five for most video poker games. These cards will come from a 52-card deck and these will be your cards throughout the entirety of the process. In other words, you won’t be able to discard and replace them on the draw.

Your first goal is to make a winning combination with the five-card hand, which will ensure you a win on that pay table. But if you can also form a winning combination with the other three cards, you’ll get a multiplier which is attached to the five-card winner. That can lead to amplified winnings that are larger than what you could expect from standard five-card poker.

The Luck Factor

You might find that you enjoy the style of play featured in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. In many ways, it’s more relaxing. There is no pressure on you to make the right choices about which cards to hold and discard.

Yet the other way to think of that is that you lack a bit of control when you play Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. You’ll still have to make the right choice when it comes to how to arrange your cards. But some hardcore players might prefer the challenge of making that decision to give them an edge instead of relying a bit more on the luck of the draw like you have to do with this game.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game known as Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. We’ll tell you how it differs from regular video poker games and we’ll also explain what the pay tables are like, both for the five-card hands and for the multipliers. Finally, we’ll explain how much you can expect in terms of payback from the game while also talking about the strategy involved.

Why People Love Video Poker

If you’re a newcomer to video poker and are interested in trying out Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker as your introduction to the game, you’ve actually stumbled on a somewhat drastic twist on the basic game. But what you will find is that the advantages that await the player are the same. There’s a reason why some people who play video poker refuse to play anything else.

In real money video poker, you are essentially getting a game that combines many of the key elements of table games and slot machines. What emerges from that combination is a game that includes only the best parts of those two families of games. And you end up with the best of both worlds.

Let’s take a look at a few of the advantages for players that apply to specifically Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker and to video poker as a whole:

• Video poker is a one-person experience. When you settle in at a video poker machine or get ready to play the game online, it is you and you alone who will be taking part. That means the ultimate in privacy and relaxation when you play, since you don’t have to worry about the actions or demands of anybody else.
• Video poker is a simple game to play. You can argue that Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker is actually easier than other video poker versions since you don’t have the step of holds and discards. All you really need to know is how to form winning poker combinations, and that’s something you can learn in a hurry.
• Video poker comes in many different formats. If you don’t like a certain pay table or style of game that you’re playing, you can easily change it up by seeking out a different machine in the casino or online game at a gambling website. By doing this, you can find the game that fits your desired level of risk and reward.
• Video poker gives you a little control over whether you win or lose. By incorporating strategy, video poker lends a little bit more impact into the player’s decisions. The end result is a much more active gambling experience, as opposed to slot machines, where you can do nothing but spin the reels and hope for the best.
• Video poker offers you chance for excellent payback. When you compare it to other one-person casino games, video poker offers payback that stands at the top of the list. And it even compares favorably with table games, which can be much more difficult to play.
• Video poker features transparent play. By that we mean, there is nothing hidden from you as a player. You can see how much you get paid for winning hands from the pay table, and you can also determine how often each winning hand will appear from the probabilities involved in a 52-card deck.
• Video poker is a great game for online play. Other casino games can be played online, but they often lose something in the translation. That’s not the case with video poker, where the sights, sounds, and gameplay are the same at a top casino gambling site as they would be in a casino.

These are just a few of the reasons you should consider video poker if you like to play for real money and are deciding between options. Video poker really ranks high in terms of player-friendliness.

Basic Video Poker Gameplay

As we said above, Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker deviates from the way most video poker games are played. But it’s important to understand the basic version so you can compare and decide if Big Split Poker Jacks or Better would be something you’d want to try. Take a look at a basic how-to guide for most versions of the game.

Step 1: The Bankroll

This is the one area of the game that is exactly the same for both common video poker and for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. In both cases, you need to have money to make wagers so that you can win real money in return. And that’s where the bankroll comes into play.

To create your bankroll, you have to insert money into a video poker machine. Many casinos will also allow you to enter a ticket which has credits already loaded onto it. If you’re playing online, you have to create a gambling account and fund it with a credit card, cryptocurrency, or some other method allowed by your gambling site of choice.

When your bankroll appears on screen, it will do so in the form of units known as credits or coins. These units will be tied into whatever the denomination of the game that you’re playing might be. For example, if you win 20 credits at a 10-cent machine, you’ll have won $2 (20 times .10).

Step 2: The Bet

This is the part of the game where basic video poker starts to deviate from Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. Most video poker games allow you to choose a bet of between one and five credits. You can choose a different amount for every hand you play, or you can bet the same amount every time.

When you play basic video poker, the way to maximize your winnings is to bet five coins, also known as the max bet, every single time. That will allow you to get the most out of a royal flush. As you’ll see, that is something that also comes into play when you play Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker.

Step 3: The Hand

Basic video poker follows the framework of the table game known as Five-Card Draw. In both cases, you get five cards, choose whether to hold or discard each of those five cards, and draw new cards to replace any discarded ones. Your goal is to make the best possible five-card poker combination.

In Five-Card Draw, you have to beat multiple people at the table to win a pot. But that isn’t the case with video poker, where you’re the only one in the hand. When playing video poker, your goal is to form one of the winning combinations on the pay table:

• Pair of jacks or 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)

These hands are listed in order of lowest-paying (on the bottom) to highest-paying (on the top). The reason the ones at the bottom pay more is that they are harder to accomplish. In other words, the tougher the hand is to achieve, the more it pays.

The Deal

A deal in basic video poker consists of five cards. These cards will come from a simulated deck of 52 within the game’s software. This software also uses a random number generator to ensure that each deal is random.

That software acts a kind of constant shuffling machine, so that you can’t ever judge what cards you might get on the deal based on what has happened on previous hands. Once the cards are dealt, the remaining 47 are also put into that simulated shuffling machine, so that the results of the draw are random as well. In other words, you won’t ever find trends or patterns in video poker, other than accidental ones.

The Decision

At this point in standard video poker, you have to decide which cards to hold and which to discard. Held cards will remain a part of your hand. Discarded cards will be replaced on the draw by others from the deck which, at that point, will have 47 cards still remaining (52 originally minus the five that were dealt).

How do you make this decision? Consider the following:

• What chance do you have of making a winning combination based on what you already have and what’s left in the deck?
• What kind of payback can you expect from the winning combinations you’re seeking?

The Draw

Once you have made your decision, you’ll indicate which cards you want to hold (if any) by pressing the buttons or clicking the icons corresponding to those cards. If you leave a card, it means that you want to discard it. After you’ve made your indications, you’ll activate the draw by hitting the proper button.

At that point, any cards you’ve discarded will be replaced by others from the deck of 47. If you end up with a winning combination, your bankroll will be credited. That completes the process, and you simply repeat the steps if you want to keep playing and if you have enough in your bankroll to keep betting.

Playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker

Not that you know how to play video poker, you can compare it to the process of playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. You might find that you like this different version and the challenges it presents. Or you might want to stick with the basic format.

As we said above, the process for establishing a bankroll in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker is the same as it is in regular video poker games. Let’s take a look now at where the games diverge.

The Bet

In Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker, you can still make the choice of betting between one and five coins per hand if you wish. If you stick with a bet of that size, the game will play out on a single five-coin pay table. But you will have no opportunity to get multipliers to amplify your winnings.

A 10-coin wager is the wisest bet if you’re trying to max out your payback percentage playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker over time. That would give you both access to the multiplier hand and the highest payout for the royal flush. If you feel like the game is getting a little expensive playing it in this way, you can always reduce the denomination to lessen the monetary amount of the wager while still getting the best rate of payback.

The Deal

This is where Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker really starts to stand out. Instead of receiving five cards, you’ll receive eight. These will come from a simulation of a standard deck of 52, just as if you were playing basic video poker and only receiving five cards.

The process of the random number generator shuffling the cards is still in place. You shouldn’t try to change up your bet size in order to “time” when you think you’re going to win. Instead, betting the max amount every time is the way to play.

The Decision (Five-Card Version)

Your decision-making process will depend on how much you’ve bet. If you’re only playing the five-card pay table, you’ll be concerned with simply making the best possible five-card poker hand out of the eight cards you’ve been dealt. The winning five-card poker hands are the same as what are listed above for basic video poker, with the exception that you won’t get paid for a pair of Jacks or Better in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker.

If, however, you bet on the two pay tables, you also have to be concerned with trying to make a three-card winning combination. But you should only do this after you first form the five-card winning grouping. That’s because that three-card combination will act as a multiplier, and it won’t have anything to multiply if you don’t first get the five-card hand down as winner.

Here are the three-card combinations you’ll be trying to achieve:

• Three of a kind
• Straight flush
• Flush
• Straight
• Pair

These hands will be included on a separate Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker pay table that will show you how you’ll earn in multipliers for them. Ideally, you’ll get a winning five-card combination to earn payback, then a winning three-card combination to multiply that. Remember that you don’t get a draw round as you would in basic video poker.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker deals to show how this works. First, let’s say that you’ve only made a bet on the five-card pay table. As a result, you don’t have to worry about the multiplier with the remaining three cards, and you can just concentrate on the best possible five-card hand.

Imagine you receive the following deal in that scenario:

In this hand, there are three winning combinations that you’ve made:

• Two pair (threes and kings)
• Straight (nine through king)
• Flush (clubs)

In this case, both the straight and flush pay 2 to 1 on the Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker pay table for a five-card hand. The two pair pays only even money.

On the Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker screen, you’ll see spots for a row of five cards and another row of three. In this case, you’ll put either the flush or the straight into the five-card spot and leave the other three for the bottom row. That maximizes the value of that hand.

Let’s take a look now at how the strategy changes when you play both pay tables. Assume that you made a max bet in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker and get the following cards:

Here is a case where you have to think a little bit about your decision. You might notice that you have a five-card full house with the fours and eights, which would pay back 25 coins for the five-coin bet. If you play the hand this way, the remaining three cards (nine of clubs, ten of clubs, king of diamonds) don’t offer you any multiplier.

But what about if you decided instead to take the eight of clubs out of the full house and put it with the nine and 10 of clubs to form a three-card straight flush? That returns a 15x multiplier on the full-pay Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker pay table. And that would still leave you with two pair for the five-card hand, which means a five-coin payoff on that end (even-money on a five-coin bet).

Compare the two potential paybacks:

• Option 1: Full house (25 coins), no multiplier = 25 coins
• Option 2: Two pair (10 coins) times 15 for three-card straight flush = 150 coins

As you can see, the second option is by far the preferable one. That’s why, when playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker, you have to be careful about arranging your cards for the maximum effect. We’ll explain the proper way to do that when we get to the strategy section below.

Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker Pay Tables

Pay tables are a crucial part of the equation for any video poker game, and that’s the case for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. You just have to realize that you’ll be dealing with two sets of pay tables here: one for the five-card hand and one for the three-card hand.

As the name suggests, the pay table for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker is based on the pay table for Jacks or Better in basic video poker. This is an important distinction to make, because there are Big Split variations that are based on Joker Poker and Deuces Wild games.

To make a comparison, here is what a Jacks or Better pay table looks like in terms of a normal, Five-Card Draw-based version of video poker.

Jacks or Better

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	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pairs	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Now, here is what the pay table looks like for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker.

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	50	100	150	200	1,000
Straight flush	20	40	60	80	100
Four of a kind	10	20	30	40	50
Full house	5	10	15	20	25
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair (jacks and twos or better)	1	2	3	4	5

You’ll see that the basic Jacks or Better game is much more giving, in terms of payback for individual hands, than is the case for the Big Split Poker version. That’s because Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker allows the chance to make a five-card out of eight cards instead of just five. In other words, it’s a lot easier to form winning hands in that way, so the payback has to be less to account for that.

You’ll also note the rise in payback for the royal flush in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker when you bet five coins.

Take a look:

• 1 through 4 coins bet: Royal flush pays 50 to 1
• 5 coins bet: Royal flush pays 200 to 1

That should give you incentive to play the max bet, especially since the royal flush is much more in play in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker than in the basic format. If you get a royal flush, and you don’t have the five coins bet on the five-card pay table, you’ll really hurt your potential payback.

What about the three-card pay table for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker? Take a look.

Hand	Multiplier
Three of a kind	16x
Straight flush	15x
Flush	4x
Straight	4x
Pair	2x
High card	1x

Where you see “high card” listed as “1x” payback, that’s the same as saying that there are no multipliers. After all, any number multiplied by one is just the number. In other words, you’ll get no multipliers on the three-card hand with anything less than a pair in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker.

You’ll use these pay tables to make your decisions when playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker. And we’ll show you a foolproof way to make the right decision every time playing this game when we get to the strategy section.

Alternate Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker Pay Tables

The pay tables we showed you above were based on the full-pay version of the game. This is the one that will return you the highest payback over a long period of time. But you might encounter some pay tables that are a little bit lesser.

Below are some other pay tables you’re likely to find when playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker either online or in casinos. Keep in mind that any area where the pay table offers less payback will have a negative effect on your overall return.

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	50	100	150	200	1,000
Straight flush	16	32	48	64	80
Four of a kind	8	16	24	32	40
Full house	5	10	15	20	25
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair (jacks and 2s or better)	1	2	3	4	5

Hand	Multiplier
Three of a kind	16x
Straight flush	15x
Flush	4x
Straight	4x
Pair	2x
High card	1x

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	50	100	150	200	1,000
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
Four of a kind	7	14	21	28	35
Full house	5	10	15	20	25
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair (jacks and 2s or better)	1	2	3	4	5

Hand	Multiplier
Three of a kind	16x
Straight flush	14x
Flush	4x
Straight	4x
Pair	2x
High card	1x

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	50	100	150	200	1,000
Straight flush	20	40	60	80	100
Four of a kind	16	32	48	64	80
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair (jacks and 2s or better)	1	2	3	4	5

Hand	Multiplier
Three of a kind	14x
Straight flush	12x
Flush	4x
Straight	4x
Pair	2x
High card	1x

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	50	100	150	200	1,000
Straight flush	18	36	54	72	90
Four of a kind	14	28	42	56	70
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair (jacks and 2s or better)	1	2	3	4	5

Hand	Multiplier
Three of a kind	14x
Straight flush	12x
Flush	4x
Straight	4x
Pair	2x
High card	1x

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	50	100	150	200	1,000
Straight flush	14	28	42	56	70
Four of a kind	9	18	27	36	45
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	2	4	6	8	10
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair (jacks and 2s or better)	1	2	3	4	5

Hand	Multiplier
Three of a kind	14x
Straight flush	12x
Flush	4x
Straight	4x
Pair	2x
High card	1x

Payback Percentage for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker

Payback percentage is an important measurement for anyone who wants to tackle video poker in serious fashion. It estimates how much you can expect to return from your initial bankroll after playing a certain pay table or style of game a large number of times.

Keep in mind that payback percentage won’t be as effective in predicting results when you only play a game for a short period of time. During that period, luck is likely to have more of an impact on your results than anything else. But after you’ve played for a long time, the payback percentage will start to hold sway.

In the case of Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker, the payback for the full-pay tables sits at 99.95%. What does that mean in terms of its effect on your actual bankroll? Take a look:

• $1,000 bet = $999.50 in bankroll (50-cent loss)
• $10,000 bet = $9,995 in bankroll ($5 loss)
• $100,000 bet = $99,950 in bankroll ($50 loss)

Even though you are technically expected to lose a little bit of your bankroll playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker over time, the 99.95% payback is actually quite beneficial. Most casino games present you with an expected loss. This is called the house edge, and it’s how casinos and gambling websites stay in business.

But the minimal expected loss in Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker can be balanced and even overcome by rewards earned from casinos and gambling websites for player loyalty. In that way, you can actually hope to make a profit over time playing at this particular pay table.

The alternate Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker pay tables listed above will bring that payback percentage down a bit. That’s why you should always be on the lookout for the full-pay table or at least the ones closest to it, especially if you’re planning on winning in the long run.

Strategy for Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker

The strategy for most video poker games requires players to memorize strategy charts or practice for a long time with video poker software. But the good news with Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker is that it requires nothing so drastic or time-consuming. All it takes is you having a little patience.

There are two possible outcomes for a Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker eight-card deal that will have an impact on your decision-making:

• The original eight cards don’t possess any winning possibilities for the five-card hand, in which case, the hand is immediately over.
• The original eight cards do possess at least one winning combination for the five-card hand, in which case, you get to move the cards into the two separate rows.

Obviously, with Option 1, you have no decisions to make and the game will handle this automatically. But with Option 2, the machine, or online game, will highlight how much your total payback will be as you move cards in and out of the two rows.

In other words, you can’t miss. If you’re torn between two possibilities on a particular deal, just go through them both and see what the potential payback will be. And simply choose the highest possible payback out of all your options.

After a while playing Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker, you’ll be able to tell quite quickly how you should divvy up the cards on winning hands. Just make sure not to rush through it and give up some potential payback. Strategy for this game is as easy as any video poker game you might play, but you have to take a little time just to make sure you don’t gloss over the right choices.

Big Split Poker Jacks or Better Video Poker Pros and Cons

Conclusion

Big Split Poker Jacks or Better video poker lets you enjoy a drastic twist on your typical video poker play so that you can enjoy a different way to think about the game. It’s just a matter of doing a little rearranging, and you’ll also be reassured that you have less chance of making a mistake that costs you some money while playing this game. When you see both the potential for big payback on a single hand and the expected payback over the long haul, you might put this game in your regular video poker rotation.