Five Play Poker Video Poker Guide

Five Play Poker video poker revs up the pace of video poker play for those who really like their action to come at them quickly. You’ll be playing five hands of video poker in the same amount of time that it would normally take to play one. To play, you have to make bets on every hand, but you’ll have the chance of winning much more in a single round as well.

After all, there’s enough variety built into video poker that you can enjoy it in this manner without it getting stale. Since the first video poker game, Jacks or Better, was created, the variations have grown exponentially.

You can keep it simple and play Jacks or Better or try a pay table that spices things up. If that’s the case, there are plenty of Bonus Poker pay tables that pump up the payback for four of a kind hands.

But these variations don’t really address the pace of play. Most games require you to make your decisions about a single hand then receive payback based on that hand. If you’re the kind of person who wants to see things take place in a quicker manner, this is where multiple play machines come into the mix. With multiple play, you can play more than one hand at a time.

For the most part, however, multiple play is broken down into three, five, or 10 hands at once. Three hands might not be enough. And 10 hands at once might be a little too much, especially considering the size of the wager.

But Five Play Poker video poker isn’t too much, and it’s not too little. You can usually choose from among a wide variety of pay tables and incorporate wild card play on such machines. And you might even find special features that include a Five Play Poker twist.

If you can handle it, you’re likely to find Five Play Poker video poker extremely exciting. You won’t have to know any new strategy and the payback for each pay table isn’t affected. But you can guarantee you’ll be invigorated by the pace of play without having to deal with the burden of multiple play games that include more hands.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Five Play Poker video poker. We’ll show you how to play a single hand at a time and explain how that translates into playing five hands at once. Finally, we’ll go into the strategy and show some pay tables for Five Play Poker machines.

Why You Should Try Video Poker

Five Play Poker video poker takes basic video poker play and gives it a shot of adrenaline. If you’re new to video poker as a whole, you should understand the basic game before playing five hands at a time. You’re about to discover a game that is ideal in terms of benefits to gamblers.

Most casino games are set up to take more money from you over time. But video poker is as friendly as it gets in terms of what it gives to those who play the game. In many ways, video poker takes many of the best facets of slot machines and table games and combines them. It also leaves out some of the less beneficial parts and is the best of both worlds.

Don’t believe us? Take a look at this list of video poker’s benefits to players.

• Video poker comes in many different formats. Developers come up with new takes on the old format to keep things fresh.
• It’s really easy to play. You’re basically talking about a few hands or so of practice before you can be up and running. And this is the case even if you’ve never played any kind of poker before.
• Video poker requires no one else to play. You’ll never have to deal with the hassles of a table game crowded with unruly players.
• You have an impact on your chances of winning. There’s no strategy for slots, but video poker allows some control based on your decisions on each hand.
• Just by looking at a pay table, you can determine the chances of getting winning hands, the payback percentage, and how much volatility is involved. Playing card probability and pay table amounts lay everything before you.
• Video poker pays back very competitively. There really isn’t much comparison between video poker and slot machines in this department; video poker easily comes out on top. And many video poker machines often challenge table games, which are a lot more complex to play.
• It’s easy to play online. Many table games don’t quite translate well to online play. But playing video poker at a top gambling website is basically the same experience as playing it at a casino.

How to Play a Hand of Video Poker

Step 1: Your Bankroll

The starting point for any video poker game is when you establish your bankroll. You can do this by simply inserting money into a video poker machine.

For those playing real money video poker online, you can create a bankroll by funding a gambling account at the site of your choice.

The bankroll will go up and down as you win and lose and will be rendered as units known as credits or coins. These will equal the units of the denomination you’ve chosen to play. For example, one coin at a 25-cent machine equals 25 cents, two coins equals 50 cents, etc.

Step 2: Your Bet

Most video poker machines will give you the option of betting between one and five coins, with a five-coin wager being known as the “Max Bet.” There are some games which extend the max bet to a higher amount. These games usually include some extra feature that is unlocked with the extra wager.

For games with one through five coins available as wager amounts, this is because of the payback for the royal flush. While other winning video poker hands pay back in proportion to the size of the bet, the royal flush features a higher payback for five coins wagered than it does for one through four.

As for games with extra features and higher bet amounts, the idea that the max bet brings the highest payback is still in place. Most jurisdictions don’t allow video poker manufacturers to jack up the size of the wager without increasing payback.

If you can’t afford to make the maximum wager, it’s a good idea to switch to a game with a lower denomination. That will keep your payback percentage intact. Lowering the size of your wager will not.

Step 3: Your Hand

Video poker acts as a computerized version of Five-Card Draw. Although you won’t have actual physical cards to hold, the action on the screen will play out in the same manner. You get five cards, choose which ones to discard, then draw new ones to complete the hand.

But Five-Card Draw includes multiple players, which means you have to beat everyone to win the pot. With video poker, you’re the only one involved. As a result, you just have to make one of the winning hands listed on the pay table you’ve chosen to play.

Each pay table will include its own specific winning hands with different amounts attached to them. In particular, the pay tables for wild card games feature a much different look for their pay tables than what you would see on normal games. For the most part, however, you’ll be trying to make the following winning hands when playing 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)

The hands above are listed from easiest to achieve to most difficult from top to bottom. As you move down the list, payback increases. The rarer the hand, the higher the payback.

Your hand will begin once you’ve made your bet and hit the “deal” button. Five cards will appear on your screen. When you see these cards, you should immediately begin assessing them for similarities to the winning combinations on the pay table.

You can improve your deal by utilizing the draw. First you have to decide which cards you want to hold and which you want to discard from your deal. This is where video poker strategy comes into play.

The cards that you hold will be a part of your final five-card hand. And the cards you discard will be replaced by others from the deck that was used for your deal. This deck will have 47 cards left for the draw, since the five you were dealt can’t be drawn again.

Once you make your decision, press the buttons on the machine corresponding to the cards you want to hold. Press the “draw” button to signal the machine to replaces the discards. This completes the hand.

Any winnings will be added to your bankroll. Each time you hit the “deal” button, the size of the bet will be automatically deducted from your bankroll. As a result, all winning amounts on the pay table also include the original bet.

As long as you have coins left in your bankroll, you can continue to play video poker in this manner. Repeat the steps to continue playing or cash out.

Single-hand video poker is a pretty simple process that you’ll figure out in no time. Once you do, you’ll be ready to take on five hands at a time by playing Five Play Poker video poker.

Playing Five Hands at Once

There are two key elements to understand when it comes to Five Play Poker video poker. First, you have to wager on all five hands. And second, you’ll be receiving just a single deal.

What would be the point of Five Play Poker video poker if you received five separate deals on the screen? You’d have to make decisions on all five, which would basically take up the same amount of time as if you were playing five hands in a row. That would defeat the whole purpose.

As far as the bet is concerned, you have to bet the same amount per hand. That would mean the following on a game where bets are between one and five coins:

• 1 coin per hand = 5 coins
• 2 coins per hand = 10 coins
• 3 coins per hand = 15 coins
• 4 coins per hand = 20 coins
• 5 coins per hand = 25 coins

As you can see, the burden of those wagers can be a bit large, especially if you’re the type who likes to keep your wagering budget down. But, as you’re about to see from the example we provide, Five Play Poker video poker compensates by giving you the chance to win a lot at once as well. Certainly, you can win at a faster rate than if you were playing a single hand at a time.

Let’s see how the process of Five Play Poker video poker works. Imagine receiving the following deal.

You can play this deal a number of different ways. One way would be to hold on to the pair of eights. That would let you draw three cards with the hopes of improving to two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind, all winning combinations.

You might also notice that you have four of the five cards required for a straight. All you would need on the draw would be a five or 10 to complete it if you dropped one of the eights. With eight “outs” in the deck of 47, your chances of drawing the straight are slightly better than one in six.

One other enticing option is to hold on to the six, seven, and eight of Spades. This would leave open the possibility of a straight or flush. But the really big score would be if you ended up with a straight flush by drawing two more spades that formed a consecutive run of ranks with the six, seven, and eight.

For the sake of this example, let’s imagine that you held onto the six, seven, and eight of spades. As you hit the “hold” button for these three cards, you’ll see that they appear in the same spot for all five lines. That’s because they will appear in all five of your final hands in this round of Five Play Poker video poker.

The draws will take place from five separate decks with the exact same 47 cards in them. But the decks will be shuffled differently so as to produce totally random results for each of the five draws. Let’s take a look at how this could possibly play out:

1. Six of Spades, Seven of Spades, Eight of Spades, Four of Clubs, Five of Hearts
2. Six of Spades, Seven of Spades, Eight of Spades, Six of Diamonds, Seven of Clubs
3. Six of Spades, Seven of Spades, Eight of Spades, Ace of Spades, King of Spades
4. Six of Spades, Seven of Spades, Eight of Spades, Three of Diamonds, Three of Clubs
5. Six of Spades, Seven of Spades, Eight of Spades, Six of Hearts, Six of Diamonds

These draws went extremely well for you. Take a look at the results and the winning totals, based on a five-coin bet and a Jacks or Better pay table.

1. Straight – 20 coins
2. Two Pair – 10 coins
3. Flush – 30 coins
4. No winning hand – 0 coins
5. Three of a Kind – 15 coins

By winning four of the five hands in this round of Five Play Poker video poker, you pocketed 75 coins in one fell swoop. You bet 25 coins to start, meaning you ended up with 50 coins of profit.

This example illustrates just how lucrative Five Play Poker video poker can be. But there’s a downside. Think of what would happen if you had a round where you lost all five hands.

This can happen easily in Five Play Poker video poker, especially if you’re saddled with a poor deal. When playing a single hand at a time, a bad deal and subsequent losing hand would only cost five coins. Playing five coins at once, it could cost you 25 coins.

All of that adds up to the fact that Five Play Poker video poker is an extremely volatile way to play video poker. By volatile, we mean that your bankroll will swing drastically between winning streaks and slumps. In other words, it will be a bumpy ride. We told you earlier that Five Play Poker video poker wouldn’t affect your payback percentage.

If you’re playing Five Play Poker video poker and suffer a rough patch, you bankroll will drop much faster than if you were playing one hand at a time. That could be a problem if your bankroll wasn’t high enough to start. You would run the risk of losing your entire bankroll before a winning streak kicks in to balance out your slump.

For that reason, you should consider Five Play Poker video poker only if you fall into one of two categories. If you’re the type who wants a chance at a quick, significant payoff and doesn’t care about the chance of losing it all, this game is ideal. You’re severely raising your chances of such a payoff by playing the game in this manner.

The other people who should consider Five Play Poker video poker are those who have significant bankrolls in place. If you do, you should be able to withstand the rough patches and reap the benefits.

Who shouldn’t consider Five Play Poker video poker? Those who want to play a long session of video poker on a relatively small bankroll. If you fall into that category, you should play one hand at a time.

Pay Tables for Five Play Poker Video Poker

Consider Five Play Poker video poker to be a kind of umbrella. Underneath it, you can find various pay tables and video poker variations that can be played. Just add the five-play aspect to it.

As a result, you should be able to find exactly the style of pay table and video poker game that suits you best. You can keep it simple with Jacks or Better to hedge against the volatility. Or you can lean into the volatility by playing Bonus Poker pay tables, wild card games, or other games with special features.

You should always try to locate the best possible pay table for each game. The “full-pay” table for each variation of video poker is one that pays the highest payback percentage. By finding these pay tables, you can often limit or even sometimes eliminate the house edge.

Here are some of the pay tables you might encounter while playing a Five Play Poker video poker machine:

Jacks or Better Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
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 a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
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)	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 pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus Poker Deluxe Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	80	160	240	320	400
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	7	14	21	28	35
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Double Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind aces w/ any 2,3,4	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind 2s, 3s, or 4s w/ any A,2,3,4	160	320	480	640	800
Four aces	160	320	480	640	800
Four 2s, 3s, 4s	80	160	240	320	400
Four 5s through Ks	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Triple Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, or 4 kicker	800	1600	2400	3200	4000
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s A, 2, 3, or 4 kicker	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind – aces 5s – Ks kicker	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 5s – Ks kicker	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind – any other	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	7	14	21	28	35
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Super Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (Jack through Kings)	120	240	360	480	600
Four of a kind (Two through Four)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (Five through Ten)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Super Double Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four aces w/ any 2,3,4	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four aces w/ any J, Q, K	320	640	960	1280	1600
Four 2s, 3s, 4s w/ any A,2,3,4	160	320	480	640	800
Four Jacks through Kings w/ any J,Q,K, A	160	320	480	640	800
Four aces	160	320	480	640	800
Four 2s, 3s, 4s	80	160	240	320	400
Four 5s through Ks	50	100	150	200	250
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 pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

White Hot Aces Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (aces)	240	480	720	960	1200
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	120	240	360	480	600
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Super Aces Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	60	120	180	240	300
Four of a kind (aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	80	160	240	320	400
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 pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Deuces Wild Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five of a kind	16	32	48	64	80
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Deuces Wild Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces with an Ace	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five aces	80	160	240	320	400
Five 3s, 4s or 5s	40	80	120	160	200
Five 6s through Ks	20	40	60	80	100
Straight flush	15	30	45	60	75
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	3	6	9	12	15
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	1	2	3	4	5
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Double Bonus Deuces Wild Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces with an Ace	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five aces	160	320	480	640	800
Five 3s, 4s or 5s	50	100	150	200	250
Five 6s through Ks	20	40	60	80	100
Straight flush	12	24	36	48	60
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	1	2	3	4	5
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Joker Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Five of a kind	100	200	300	400	500
Wild Royal Flush	50	100	150	200	250
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	20	40	60	80	100
Full house	10	20	30	40	50
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pairs	1	2	3	4	5

Strategy for Five Play Poker Video Poker

To maximize your video poker winnings, you should always try to learn the best possible strategy for the pay table you’re playing. In the case of Five Play Poker video poker, you don’t have to make any adjustments to your strategy. Just play as you would as if you were playing one hand at a time.

How do you learn ideal strategy for particular pay tables? Well, you shouldn’t try to take it on yourself. The probability math that you’d have to do is quite involved. Trying to figure it out while you’re playing will slow down your play and lead to mistakes.

Instead, you should utilize a resource that does the math for you and comes up with optimal strategy. All you have to do is learn the proper plays through memorization or practice. Try the methods below.

Video Poker Training Software

Using training software can be really helpful for beginning players. It will help you get down the mechanics of gameplay, since you’ll be playing sample hands. You can also tailor your instruction to the type of pay table you’re planning to play.

Strategy Charts

If you’re good at memorization, a strategy chart could be an excellent way for you to learn perfect strategy on any of the games associated with Five Play Poker video poker. You can find strategy charts online for popular pay tables. Once you’ve memorized one, you’ll have all the information you need.

A strategy chart ranks all possible combinations of cards you can receive on the deal in terms of potential value. You’ll compare the combinations that you have from each deal to this ranked list. That will let you know which cards are most essential and should be held.

Five Play Poker Video Poker Pros and Cons

Five Play Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Five Play Poker video poker pushes the intensity and excitement level of basic video poker through the roof. Winning and losing streaks will be much more exaggerated, which might not be for everyone. If you like things moving along at a rapid pace, however, this game is ideal.