How to Play Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker

Double Jackpot Poker video poker gives players many more opportunities for a big payoff on a single hand. It does this by emphasizing four of a kind hands, particularly those with face cards or aces involved. If you can get those cards in quads and/or as fifth-card kickers, you can really win big in a short amount of time.

Video poker became one of the most popular casino games in part because of it how it branched out from its origins. In the beginning, video poker was pretty much all based off the Jacks or Better format.

Jacks or Better was a simulation of Five-Card Draw, and it paid out strictly on the probabilities of making winning hands. In other words, the less likely you are to achieve a certain combination of cards, the more that combination pays out on the Jacks or Better pay table. The game is named Jacks or Better because a pair of jacks or higher (queens, kings, or aces) is the minimum required hand for payback.

What video poker manufacturers found over the years was that players were more than willing to accept changes to this format. In particular, they enjoyed when the pay tables were adjusted. Doing this allowed players better chances at jackpot-style big wins more commonly associated with slot machines.

Double Jackpot Poker video poker builds on this concept. It’s similar to Bonus Poker pay tables which add a little juice to four of a kind hands. But it focuses this boost in payback on any four of a kinds made with jacks, queens, kings, or aces.

In many ways, this helps novice players, since you’re already used to emphasizing aces and face cards as the highest cards in the deck. If you can make a quad (four of a kind) with one of these ranks, your payback is often higher than what you can expect with a straight flush. What makes this interesting is that four of a kind is an easier hand to achieve, based on probabilities, than a straight flush.

In addition, you should be looking for “kickers” that come from these four ranks. Having these will boost your payback even more. The ideal hand in Double Jackpot Poker video poker is four aces with a jack, queen, or king kicker, which pays off at 160 to 1, second only to the royal flush on the pay table.

If there’s one drawback to Double Jackpot Poker video poker, it’s that some of the common winning hands on the pay table are depressed to compensate for the boost in the four of a kinds with aces and face cards. That makes the game a bit more volatile than, for example, a simple Jacks or Better format.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Double Jackpot Poker video poker. We’ll explain the way that you play the game and go into what makes the pay tables so special. And we’ll also look into the strategy you need to play the game well, while also talking about what you can expect from it in terms of payback percentage.

The Advantages of Video Poker

If you’ve never played video poker before, it’s a good idea to follow along with the following few sections to get a feel for the advantages of the game and the basics of how to play. On the other hand, if you know all that, you can move on to where we talk about the Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay tables.

Video poker, as we said above, basically acts as a simulate version of Five-Card Draw. But in doing this, it actually creates an ideal hybrid between slot machine play and what you would expect from table games. You’re getting the best of both types of games.

Like slot machines, it’s a one-person, self-contained experience. But it mimic table games too with its emphasis on strategy. Take a look at all the benefits you get from video poker:

• You get complete privacy when you play. There are no other players who need to be involved, so there will be nobody there to scrutinize your play. That means you can move at your own pace and play however you want.
• You can learn to play in no time at all. As long as you have a basic understanding of how poker hands are made, you should be able to pick it up on the fly. Even if not, video poker is a pretty easy game to understand.
• You can have some aspect of control over video poker. This is not the case when you’re playing slot machines, where everything is down to luck. If you like the idea of being able to impact winning or losing, you’ll like video poker.
• You won’t need to guess at anything when playing video poker. Probability math will tell you how often winning hands are likely to appear, which isn’t the case with the slots. The pay tables will tell you how much each winning combination pays.
• You can get very good payback from video poker. With the most competitive pay tables for games like Double Jackpot Poker video poker, you can minimize or even eliminate the house edge. That doesn’t happen often in the world of casino games.
• You can find the video poker game that’s just right for you. Many casino games are limited in terms of the ways that you can play. But there are dozens of different video poker varieties that you can try until you find the one that’s just right for you.
• You can play video poker online. More than that, you can get an experience from playing video poker at top gambling websites that is very much like what you can get from playing it in the casino. The sights, sounds, and payback are extremely similar.

Hopefully, you now have an idea of why people love video poker so much. Now, it’s time to learn how to play. Then, we’ll take a look at how to differentiate Double Jackpot Poker video poker from other video poker games.

Playing Video Poker Step by Step

Step 1: Create a Bankroll

The bankroll is a necessary element of video poker play if you are going to play for real money. It’s where you collect your winnings and it will also be the source of your bets. Simply insert money or, if playing online, create a gambling account to start up your bankroll.

Most video poker games change the cash you enter into units known as credits or coins. These units will be tied into the denomination you’ve chosen to play. For example, if you’re playing a 25-cent video poker game and make a bet of five coins, you’ve essentially wagered $1.25 (5 times .25).

Step 2: Make a Bet

You have the choice of betting anywhere between one and five credits when playing Double Jackpot Poker video poker. These bets can come in increments of one; in other words, no 1½ credit wagers allowed. It’s up to you whether you want to make the same wager every time or change it up from hand to hand.

Strategy for video poker begins with the bet. If you bet less than the maximum amount (max bet) of five coins on any hand, you are actually hurting your overall payback percentage. The reason for that has to do with the royal flush, which is the highest-paying hand on just about every video poker pay table (including the one for Double Jackpot Poker video poker).

If you bet between one and four coins and achieve a royal flush, you will be paid at 250 to 1 odds. While that is lucrative, it is nothing compared to the 800 to 1 payback that you’ll get if you bet five coins and hit the royal flush. That’s more than three times the other amount.

Some players might think that they should adjust their bet based on whether they think a video poker machine is due to hit or not. But this view misunderstands how video poker. Your chances of winning or losing a hand never change no matter what has happened in previous hands, which is why your bet should never change from the max bet.

Step 3: Play a Hand

Video poker, as we mentioned above, essentially mimics the rhythm of play of the card game known as Five-Card Draw. Both Five-Card Draw and video poker feature two stages to a hand, a deal and a draw.

The draw comes after the player has chosen which cards they want to hold and discard from the deal. New cards are drawn to replace any that have been discarded. Your object in both cases is to make the best possible five-card poker hand.

In Five-Card Draw, you have to try and beat everybody at the table. But video poker only requires you to form one of the winning combinations on the pay table to receive money back on your original wager. Here are the winning combinations in play in Double Jackpot Poker video poker:

• 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)

If you read this table top to bottom, you’ll be going from the combinations that are easiest to achieve to the ones that are the hardest. You’ll also be moving from the lowest-paying hands to the highest-paying ones. The harder it is to achieve a hand, the more it pays.

This contrast is common in gambling, where the bigger risk earns the higher reward. You’ll have to decide when it’s smart to go for easier, modest paybacks and when you should go for broke and a big payback. We’ll explain more on how that works as we get into decision-making.

The Deal

When you’ve decided on your bet, you’ll hit the “deal” button to start the hand. At the moment that you do this, the amount that you’ve bet will be deducted from your bankroll.

At that point, five cards will appear on your screen. These cards will come from a simulated 52-card deck hidden inside the game’s software. The software shuffles this deck constantly via the use of a random number generator.

After the deal appears, the software then shuffles the 47 cards remaining in the deck. Whenever you hit the buttons for the deal or the draw, the top cards in the deck will be the ones that show up on the screen. This process ensures that you have random results every time.

The Decision

Once you see the cards on the screen, you’ll begin the assessment of your hand. It might take you a while to go through this process when you first start playing Double Jackpot Poker video poker. But after you play for a while, you’ll be able to make your decision in a matter of seconds for each hand that you play.

This decision boils down to which cards you want to hold or discard out of the five that you were dealt. Any that you hold become part of your final hand. And the ones that you discard will be replaced by fresh ones from the deck.

What goes into making this decision? The following two factors:

• Your chances of creating a winning combination out of the cards that you might hold and the cards that remain in the deck that you might possibly draw.
• The payback that could be won with winning combinations that you might be to achieve.

There will be times when you get a deal that isn’t very helpful, which might mean drawing four or even five cards. Other times the deal could put you on the precipice of a winning hand. You might even have a winning combination on the deal that you don’t think you can improve, in which case you would hold all five cards.

Sample Video Poker Hand

Let’s take a look at how this process works. Imagine that you received the following deal while playing Double Jackpot Poker video poker:

There are no winning combinations in this deal. But you have several interesting possibilities that you might pursue based on these cards and what’s remaining in the deck. Here are a few of the ways that you might go forward with this hand.

• Hold the pair of eights. It’s not enough for a win as is, but drawing more eights or other pairs could lead to two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind. In this scenario, you’d be drawing three new cards.
• Hold the eight, nine, 10, and ace of hearts. The reason you would go this route is try to get a flush by drawing another heart to replace the eight of diamonds. It’s a combination that pays pretty well (5 to 1 on Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay tables), but you’d be limiting your possibilities of getting other winning combinations.
• Hold the eight, nine, and 10 of hearts. These three cards are what are known as suited connectors, which is a good path to making a straight flush. And even if you don’t get the straight flush, there are other possibilities still in play if you decide on this strategy, including a straight, a flush, two pair, or three of a kind.
• Hold the 10 and ace of hearts. The reason that you would do this is to take a shot at the royal flush, the highest-paying of all video poker hands. While you would need to be extremely lucky to draw exactly the jack, queen and king of hearts with the three cards coming to you to make the royal flush, the chance at the high payback might tempt you to do it.

As you can see, all of these possibilities have upsides and downsides. The key is finding the one combination of holds and discards which maximizes the potential of the hand. We’ll explain what that means when we get to the strategy section.

The Draw

The hand is completed once you make your decision, indicate which cards you want to hold (if any) and press the “draw” button (or click on the icon, if playing online). When you do this, any discarded cards will be replaced. Any winnings that your final five-card hand have earned will be added to your bankroll.

This process of bet, deal and draw can be continued as long as you have credits in your bankroll. If you wish, you can also cash out after any hand to finish your play. When you run out of credits, you’ll have to replenish your bankroll to continue.

Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker Pay Tables

The gamplay for Double Jackpot Poker video poker adheres strictly to the format we just described. What differentiates it from other video poker games is its pay table. Video poker pay tables show you how much you will win for any winning combination you make on a given hand, based on the size of your wager.

It’s always important for a player to check out the pay table before starting a round of video poker. That will allow you to strategize, putting an emphasis on certain combinations that pay well while de-stressing those hands that pay less than normal.

Let’s take a look at the full-pay version of the Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay table. (By full-pay, we mean it’s the highest-paying version of the game you can play.)

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 aces w / J to K	160	320	480	640	800
Four aces w / 2 s to 10s	80	160	240	320	400
Four Js to Ks w / J to A	80	160	240	320	400
Four Js to Ks w / 2 to 10	40	80	120	160	200
Four 2s to10s	20	40	60	80	100
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

First of all, you have to know how to read the pay table. Simply connect the rows of winning combinations to the columns for various bet sizes.

As an example, imagine that you bet five coins on a hand and hit a full house. To see what you’ve won, follow the “full house” row over to the “5 coins” column.

You see the number 40, which means you’ve won 40 coins. That amount includes your original 5-coin wager. Thus, your profit is 35 coins (40 minus 5).

If you’re new to video poker, you might have a hard time telling what makes the Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay table unique. Let’s give you some context then. Below is the pay table for Jacks or Better, the most popular of all video poker games.

Jacks or Better Pay Table

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, we can compare the two. The first thing you might notice is that the Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay table has many more winning combinations listed. Where the Jacks or Better table features a single payback for all four of a kind hands, the Double Jackpot Poker pay table differentiates based on the ranks of the cards involved.

Four of a kind hands with aces pay best of all in Double Jackpot Poker video poker. And quads consisting of four kings, queens and aces also stand out. Payback for all those hands ranks higher than four of a kinds on the Jacks or Better.

The concept of kickers comes into play on the Double Jackpot Poker video poker. A kicker is the odd card out in a five-card hand with four of a kind. For example:

In this hand, you have four fours. The nine of spades is the kicker.
Many of the four of a kind combinations with aces and face cards (kings, queens and jacks) even pay more than a straight flush on a Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay table. You’ve basically got more chances for significant, single-hand payouts with this game than you would have playing Jacks or Better.

But Jacks or Better does have an edge. Take a look at the following table:

Hand	Jacks or Better Payback	Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker Payback
Full house	9 to 1	8 to 1
Flush	6 to 1	5 to 1

The Jacks or Better table does better with full houses and flushes than Double Jackpot Poker video poker. These are hands that will occur much more often than four of a kind.

Double Jackpot Poker video poker is much more volatile. The big payouts from four of a kind will send your bankroll skyward in a hurry. But since those won’t come around often, your bankroll might droop a bit lower in those spans of time.

The big takeaway is that Double Jackpot Poker video poker requires you to start with a bigger bankroll if you want to play it for a long period of time. That will allow you enough leeway to stay afloat waiting for those four of a kinds to come around. Otherwise, you could run the risk of your bankroll depleting to nothing while you wait for the big score.

One other thing to note: you might find Double Jackpot Poker video poker that don’t pay quite as high for all hands as the one above. Below are two lesser tables that you might find, ones which will lower your expected payback percentage (which will cover in the below section) slightly.

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 aces w / J to K	120	240	360	480	600
Four aces w / 2 s to 10s	80	160	240	320	400
Four Js to Ks w / J to A	80	160	240	320	400
Four Js to Ks w / 2 to 10	40	80	120	160	200
Four 2s to 10s	20	40	60	80	100
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

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 aces w / J to K	140	280	420	560	700
Four aces w / 2 s to 10s	70	140	210	280	350
Four Js to Ks w / J to A	70	140	210	280	350
Four Js to Ks w / 2 to 10	35	70	105	140	175
Four 2s to 10s	20	40	60	80	100
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

Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker Payback Percentage

Payback percentage is calculated by combining the amounts on the pay table by the probabilities of making those hands. It can be an important estimate, especially if you plan on playing a game like Double Jackpot Poker video poker often.

For casual players, payback percentage doesn’t mean as much. If you only play casually, luck will have more of an impact on whether you win or lose than anything else.

But as you play more and more, the math will muscle out the luck. In terms of the full-pay version of Double Jackpot Poker video poker, you’ll be looking at a payback percentage of 99.6. What does that mean?

$1,000 wagered on a Double Jackpot Poker video poker: Average bankroll of $996 (a loss of $4)

That is an excellent result for video poker. It minimizes the house edge to the point that it is practically nonexistent. In fact, you can use casino rewards to possibly even hope to make a profit playing Double Jackpot Poker video poker.

Again, it’s important to note that your results might not exactly be the same when you play Double Jackpot Poker video poker, especially in the short term. You might have a great winning streak. Or you could hit a major slump.

In addition, to maximize your payback percentage, you have to play with perfect strategy. Anything below perfect play will harm your payback in the long run.

One other note: the lesser pay tables for Double Jackpot Poker video poker listed above will bring your payback percentage down. That’s why you should try to find the advantageous Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay table if at all possible, whether you’re online or in a casino.

Strategy for Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker

Strategy is a lot like payback percentage in that it is something that matters more the more that you play. Luck really reigns supreme in video poker in a short span. Even if you’re making the mathematically incorrect plays, you can get away with it if you get lucky on the draw.

But it’s important to note that luck will even out over time. For every five-card deal that you get, there is a certain sequence of holds and discards that, over a period of time, will bring the most value to that deal. Finding that out for every possible deal is the key to Double Jackpot Poker video poker strategy.

What do we mean? Take a look at the following deal:

In this deal, you have three of a kind, which is already a winning combination and could turn into something even better. You also have a king and ace in sequence, which isn’t a winning combination. At best, looking at the ace and king you might be able to squint and see a possible straight.

The obvious and correct choice in this particular Double Jackpot Poker video poker hand is to hold the three fours. But, for argument’s sake, let’s say that you decide to hold the king and ace. On the draw, you receive the following:

You made the wrong choice, but the draw came out lucky and you ended up with a straight. But if you believe that is the right play based on the one lucky result, you’ll end up regretting it.

As a result, you have to find a way to learn the right play in every situation. But you also have to take into account the intricacies of the Double Jackpot Poker video poker pay table.

Learning How to Play Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker

No two pay tables are the same in video poker. The strategy that works for one pay table might not be ideal for another.

In the case of Double Jackpot Poker video poker, you have to remember the effect of getting four of a kind with jacks, queens, kings and aces. By the same token, you should also keep in mind the fact that the full house and the flush pays off less than in other pay tables, which means you should put less emphasis on them.

This might seem a bit overwhelming in terms of trying to keep this all straight when you’re playing Double Jackpot Poker video poker. And, in truth, it is. You’d have to be a math genius to figure it all out on the fly, and, even then, you’d have to stop and think every time.

Getting Some Help

There are resources available to you that will provide you with the answers to Double Jackpot Poker video poker strategy. These video poker strategy methods essentially do all the math for you, using computer programs which go over every possible deal. It means that all you have to do is learn the information they provide.

First, make sure that whatever resource you use is meant for Double Jackpot Poker video poker. You should be able to find strategy support for this pay table, since it is a relatively popular one.

Here are the two methods of video poker instruction we suggest:

Video Poker Training Software

Training software is useful not only in learning strategy for a specific game, but also in learning video poker action in general. That’s because it allows you to play sample hands of the game. You can get the hang of betting, bankrolls and holding and discarding by using the software.

Along the way, you’ll learn all the right plays. Each time you make a mistake with a hold or a discard, the software will alert you and tell you what you should have done. After a while, you’ll know the right play in every possible situation.

Strategy Charts

We recommend strategy charts if you already know how to play video poker and you have good memorization skills. The latter is important, because there will be a lot of information that you’ll have to ingest. It might take some time before you have it all down pat.

A strategy chart shows the value of different combinations of cards you might receive on the deal. By ranking them in this manner, the charts will let you know how to play your hands of Double Jackpot Poker video poker. You just have to spot the cards that you have that are most valuable and hold on to them.

Pros and Cons of Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker

Double Jackpot Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Double Jackpot Poker video poker lets you focus on the aces and face cards that arrive in your five-card hands. You can make a lot in a hurry with a four of a kind involving those cards. But the ups and downs of play might not be for everybody.