Good Times Pay Video Poker
Good Times Pay video poker lets you go for as many multipliers as you want by making extra wagers. It basically breaks down to the more you wager, the more multipliers will be included. In this way, the game lets you choose the amount of risk and reward you’ll potentially receive in return.
Video poker has become a favorite of millions of players in casinos and at online gambling sites. The game allows you to exert strategy to improve your chances of winning. But it does this in a pressure-free environment where it’s just you and the machine without any unnecessary interruptions.
But video poker encompasses more than just the basic, Jacks or Better-style of game that many beginners know how to play. As a matter of fact, one of the best things about the game is how there are so many different variations of it available.
Good Times Pay video poker brings a little bit of all that onto your plate. In essence, it is an add-on element to basic video poker. That means you can choose the style of play you like when you select your favorite pay table format.
But the game also includes the opportunity for you to up the ante by making extra bets on top of the normal maximum amount of five coins per hand. When you do this, you open up the chance for multipliers that will boost your winning hands. And you raise your chances for multipliers by simply increasing the bet, anywhere from six to 10 coins total.
If you bet six coins, for instance, you will put multipliers in play, although your chances for getting them will be relatively slim. But betting 10 coins per hand gives you many more opportunities for multipliers to pop up. Pair those multipliers with a winning hand, and you’ve got the potential for huge winnings in a hurry.
Good Times Pay video poker separates itself from other multiplier-based games due to its simplicity. Gameplay remains the same no matter how much you wager on a hand. And the multipliers simply show up at random, meaning that you don’t have to know any extra strategy to make them arrive.
On top of that, Good Times Pay video poker stands as one of the rare video poker games with an extra feature that returns to you exactly what you put into it. You know that for each coin that you raise the bet, you are giving yourself a 20% higher chance of getting multipliers on a given hand. But as a way to balance it out, you are lowering your average payout on hands without the multipliers by 20% as well.
It is that kind of action that makes Good Times Pay video poker a favorite of people who want a little bit more juice in their video poker action without the complexity. No matter what you decide to do in terms of your bet, it won’t alter the payback percentage from where it normally stands at the pay table you’re playing. The only things you’ll be changing are your risk levels and the possibility of multiplying your winnings.
In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game known as Good Times Pay video poker. We’ll explain how to play video poker at its most basic level, how pay tables work, and what you can expect in terms of multipliers as you make extra bets. On top of that, we’ll explain how you can learn perfect strategy for making the most profit when playing this game.
Video Poker Gameplay
Good Times Pay video poker stands as one of the many variations of video poker you will find in casinos and online gambling sites. All of these variations spring from the basic version of video poker, sometimes known as Jacks or Better. Once you learn this game, it won’t be hard to learn any of the other versions.
Once you do learn how to play, if you haven’t already, you will probably start to understand why video poker is such a popular game. In many ways, it takes the best elements of table games, combines them with the most beneficial parts of slot machines, and becomes something better than both. There’s a reason why many gamblers never go back to anything else once they play video poker.
Video poker borrows from slot machines in its simplicity and comfort level. Because it is a one-person activity like slot machines, video poker allows you to play without any hassles from anybody else.
If you’ve ever played table games, you know that other patrons can hound you about your decisions and casino employees can bother you about not knowing the protocol and etiquette. You’ll be appreciative that Good Times Pay video poker has none of that nonsense.
But don’t go thinking that video poker is the same kind of mindless exercise as slot machines. On the contrary, real money video poker allows you the chance to apply strategy. The better your strategy, the more you’ll win in the long haul.
The reason that strategy exists is that video poker is played with a simulated deck of cards. Your probability of making winning hands is the same as if you were playing at home. With slot machines, there are no probabilities, and therefore you’ll never know your chances of winning.
Slot machines also give you no way of figuring out your payback percentage. And that means you have no way of knowing how much the machine your playing pays out compared to any of the other ones in the casino. You could be playing at an inferior machine and never know it.
Video poker payback percentages are transparent and can be easily learned by doing some online searching of the pay table you’re using. The good news is that payback for video poker generally is much higher than that of slot machines. And the most lucrative machines pay back as well as beloved table games like blackjack.
On top of that, there is no casino game that works as well in the online environment as video poker. When you’re playing video poker on a phone, tablet, or computer screen, there is absolutely no difference in the experience from what you could expect if you were playing on a machine in a casino. And you can win money online with Good Times Pay video poker just as easily.
All of those positive qualities should give you an idea about the benefits of video poker. But if you haven’t tried it for yourself, now is as good a time as any.
Let’s start by taking you through the process of playing video poker in step-by-step fashion. Once we have that all taken care of, we can then go on to discuss the extra features available with Good Times Pay video poker.
Step 1: Build a Bankroll
When you’re playing video poker at a machine in a casino, insert money to create your bankroll. Online players will have to fund an account at their gambling website of choice then allot some of those funds for video poker. In both cases, you will see your funds rendered on screen as either coins or credits.
These units are related to the denomination you’ve chosen to play. One coin or credit will be equal to one unit of that denomination. Your denomination can be a small amount like a nickel or can range up to higher amounts like a dollar.
To know how many credits you’ll have for gameplay, divide the amount of money you’ve entered by the denomination. For example, $10 in a 25-cent machine will give you 40 credits (10 divided by .25).
Step 2: Choose Your Bet
Many video poker games only allow you to wager between one and five credits. But Good Times Pay video poker gives you more choices, since you can also up your bet for a total of anywhere from six to 10 credits. Any bet above five credits gives you the chance at multipliers, which we’ll explain in a bit.
You don’t necessarily have to bet more than five credits. As we’ll explain, that will largely be up to your own preference for risk and reward. But you should definitely bet at least five credits, which is the maximum bet at the game’s base level.
Why is that the case? Well, it comes down to the payout for the game’s rarest and highest-paying hand, the royal flush. Most winning hands feature payouts that go up in direct proportion with how much you bet. This is also the case in Good Times Pay video poker.
The payout for royal flush payout also goes up in proportion if you bet anywhere from one to four credits. At those levels, it pays off at 250 coins for every one that you bet.
But when you bet five coins, a royal flush pays off at 800 to 1, for total winnings of 4,000 coins. If you bet less than that, your payout will suffer if you happen to hit that hand. And if you’re going to be a regular video poker player, chances are, you will eventually run across a royal flush or two during gameplay.
Step 3: Play Your Hand
Video poker requires you to make the best possible hand out of a five-card deal and a draw round where you to get to discard cards and have them replaced by others from the deck. In this way, it resembles the table game known as Five-Card Draw Poker.
While the game has the same deal-draw structure, it’s usually played by multiple people at once. That means you have to come up with a hand that’s better than everyone else’s at the table to win. Or you have to make everyone believe you have the best hand so they give up, a process known as bluffing.
In video poker, including Good Times Pay video poker, there’s just one person playing, so you’ll never have to bluff. You’ll just be trying to make one of the combinations of cards that the pay table lists as a winning hand. Get one of these hands and you’ll win the credits specified by the pay table.
Some games differ in terms of what constitutes a winning hand. But for the most part, you’ll be looking to make one of these 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)
What you might be able to figure out from this list is that the hands on top aren’t all that hard to attain. For example, you can expect to make two pair roughly one out of every 10 hands.
As you move down the list, the hands occur rarer and rarer during gameplay. For the most part, the rarer the hand, the more that it pays when you achieve it in video poker.
Once you make your bet, you will see five cards appear face up on your screen. This is your deal. You will assess the deal to see how close you’ve come to making a winning combination right off the bat.
You might be fortunate enough to have a winning hand on the deal. If that’s the case, and you don’t think it can be improved (or you don’t want to run the risk of breaking the hand up then not improving it), you can simply hold all five cards.
But you will most likely need to improve the hand with what’s known as the draw. The draw allows you to get rid of cards you don’t think are helping and have them replaced with others from the 47 cards remaining in the deck of 52 cards that provided your deal.
Why only 47 cards? Because you can’t receive any of the five cards that you received on the deal in the draw. And you also won’t get any of the cards that you discard back on the draw.
Looking at what you have, and knowing what’s still left in the deck, you will make your decision about what to hold and discard. It’ll be the same in Good Times Pay video poker. Take a look at an example.
It’s pretty obvious here that the four of clubs is the only thing standing in the way of a flush, a straight flush, or even a royal flush. The right play is to discard the four of clubs in hopes that things get better on the draw.
But many other deals might be a bit more complex in terms of your decision-making. Take a look at this deal.
In this deal, you have a pair of fives. You have four cards to a straight (the five through the eight). And with the five, six, and seven of hearts, you have three cards to both a flush and a royal flush.
You don’t know what you’ll get on the draw, which is why the choice is hard. None of those combinations are winning ones, but all are close to being winning ones. You have to make your decision based on how likely it is that you make a winning hand and the potential payout for those winning hands.
Once you’ve made your decision, you will press the buttons corresponding to the cards that you want to hold (if any). When you hit the draw button, the discarded cards will be replaced with others from the deck. Your hand is complete at this point and any winnings will be added to your credits.
That is the gist of playing a single hand of video poker. Want to play more? Simply repeat the steps for as long as you still have the credits to play.
With basic gameplay now under control, we can move on to Good Times Pay video poker. Specifically, let’s see how multipliers affect gameplay.
Playing With Multipliers
A multiplier lives up to its name by multiplying the predetermined amount by the amount that your winning hand pays off. For example, let’s say the multiplier that shows up on your screen says “4x.” That means you’ll be getting four times whatever you win on that hand.
Imagine that you achieve a hand that would normally pay you 30 coins. With a 4x multiplier, that gives you 120 coins, or 4 times 30.
In Good Times Pay video poker, your chances of getting multipliers will increase with every coin that you bet above five coins. On top of that, the amounts of the multipliers that you can get also rises.
Here are the amounts of the multipliers in play for each amount bet:
- 6 coins: 2x, 3x
- 7 coins: 2x, 3x, 4x
- 8 coins: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x
- 9 coins: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x
- 10 coins: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x
As for the frequency with which you get those multipliers, again it all depends on the amount you bet. When you bet six coins, for example, your probability of receiving a multiplier stands at one in six.
Those chances increase by 20% with each coin you go up the ladder. If you bet 10 coins, you will be receiving multipliers on half of your hands on average.
It might seem from that information that it is a no-brainer to bet the maximum 10-coin amount for each hand you play. But Good Times Pay video poker is set up in a way that you will assume more risk as you bet more. That’s because you’ll only be getting paid at a five-coin level no matter how much you bet.
In other words, imagine you are playing a Jacks or Better pay table and decide to play without the extra feature. You bet five coins on a hand and manage two pair.
The payout for two pair on a five-coin bet is 10 coins. Since you bet five coins, your profit is five coins (10 minus 5).
Now, let’s say you make the same hand on the same pay table, only this time, it came after a six-coin wager. Even though the multipliers are in play, remember you only have a one in six chance of getting one with a six-coin bet. For the sake of this example, let’s say you don’t get one for this hand.
The payout is the same (10 coins). But because you bet one more coin, your profit is now down to four coins (10 minus 6).
Let’s take it to the extreme now. Imagine that everything that happened in the example above occurred, but you had bet 10 coins. Again, getting a multiplier is no guarantee, so let’s assume that you miss out on one.
Your payout is 10 coins, but your bet was 10 coins. As a result, your profit is zero.
And there, you see the interesting way that Good Times Pay video poker balances out its risks and rewards. On the one hand, the higher bets bring much higher payouts into the picture. If you can get a nice winning hand on a multiplier, you are in for a huge boost to your payroll.
But you are also exposing yourself to more risk as you bet higher amounts. Whether you’re okay with that comes down to your tolerance for volatility while playing Good Times Pay video poker.
Volatility basically refers to the flow of gameplay. Low-volatility video poker generally means you can play for a long time on a small bankroll. That’s because there isn’t much variance in terms of winning and losing throughout gameplay.
High-volatility video poker gives you more of a chance for huge, instant payouts. But it also increases your chances of losing your bankroll in a hurry.
As you bet more in Good Times Pay video poker, you increase the volatility. Bet less, and you lower it. How you choose to play will depend on what you’re trying to get out of your game.
Good Times Pay Video Poker Pay Tables
Another way you can adjust the volatility level is by selecting the pay table you want to play. Good Times Pay video poker, as we said earlier, essentially places its special feature on top of popular pay tables. You get to select from among them.
If you choose something like Jacks or Better, you are looking at low-volatility action. But if you decide on some of the more aggressive Bonus pay tables, you are pushing the volatility level upwards.
You can also choose pay tables that let you play with wild cards. Wild cards are cards designated beforehand and can be changed into whatever card in the deck improves your hand the most.
When you play with wild cards, the threshold for winning hands gets higher. But you’ll also have a much better chance at making rarer hands when playing in this manner.
Here are the pay tables you can play on a Good Times Pay video poker machine:
- Jacks or Better
- Bonus Poker
- Bonus Poker Deluxe
- Double Bonus
- Double Double Bonus
- Triple Double Bonus
- Deuces Wild
- Bonus Deuces
- Jokers Wild
All of these games come with their own unique pay table. Take a look at this sampling of the pay tables you might be able to find on Good Times Pay video poker machines or in online versions of the game.
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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 285 |
| 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 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Bonus Poker 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 (aces) | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
| Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) | 45 | 90 | 135 | 180 | 225 |
| 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 |
Double Bonus Poker 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 | 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 |
Double Double Bonus Poker 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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 285 |
| Four aces without any 2,3,4 | 400 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,600 | 2,000 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s without any A,2,3,4 | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
| Four aces | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
| Four 5s through Ks | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Full house | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| Flush | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Two pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Pair of jacks + | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Deuces Wild Pay Table
| Coins/Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Four deuces | 200 | 400 | 600 | 800 | 1,000 |
| Wild royal flush | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Five of a kind | 15 | 30 | 45 | 60 | 75 |
| Straight flush | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Four of a kind | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Full house | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Flush | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Straight | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Three of a kind | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Joker’s Wild Pay Table
| Coins/Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Five of a kind | 200 | 400 | 600 | 800 | 1,000 |
| Wild royal flush | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four of a kind | 20 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 120 |
| Full house | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 35 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Three of a kind | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Two pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Kings or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
From each of these pay tables, a payback percentage can be deduced. Or you can simply enter the figures in a video poker calculator to figure it out on your own. Payback percentages are important figures for those who want to play video poker on a regular basis.
Casual players shouldn’t worry too much about payback percentage. The amount they win or lose from Good Times Pay and whatever video poker pay table they choose on the game will be based on luck more than anything else.
But when you play a certain pay table for a long period of time, the payback percentage will start to resemble what the probabilities and payouts for each hand says that it should be. You should always be looking for video poker variations with high payback percentages, especially if you have the choice between several.
What is a high payback percentage? We generally recommend anything at 99% or above. That means that your expected loss will be 1% or below.
When you play games like this, you can make up for the loss by earning rewards from casinos or top gambling websites. If you can find a pay table that pays over 100%, it means you won’t even need those rewards to make a profit playing the game.
Just keep in mind that payback percentage is a figure that relates to the average experience. In a short sample size, you might win or lose significantly more than what the payback percentage might suggest.
Learning Strategy
Another factor that affects payback percentage is strategy. The video poker players who play the game with perfect strategy will match the payback percentage over time. Those who play at a lower level will see their winnings suffer as a result.
You might get lucky when playing the game for a short time with the decisions you make about what to hold and discard, even if they’re the wrong ones. After a while, however, not making the decisions that unlock each deal’s highest expected value will hurt you.
It might seem like an impossibility to learn the right play for every possible combination of cards that you could receive on the deal in Good Times Pay video poker. But it can be done.
First of all, decide on the pay table you want to play with regularity. That will keep you from having to learn the right moves for every possible pay table. Remember that the right play on a deal in Jacks or Better might be the wrong play in, for example, Triple Double Bonus.
Once you’ve made that decision, you can tailor your instruction to that pay table. And that instruction should come from one of these two sources:
- Video Poker Training Software: This is a great way to learn all the right moves in video poker if you have the patience to play the software over a long period of time. As you play, the software will alert you whenever you make a wrong decision on a deal. Over time, you’ll learn all the right decisions and be able to take all of that information with you into the casino.
- Strategy Charts: You need to find the chart for the pay table you want to play, which you can usually do with an online search. When you do, you’ll be able to compare any deal that you might receive with the chart, which ranks the possibilities you might receive on the deal. To best use a strategy chart, you’ll need to memorize it.
Conclusion on Good Times Pay Video Poker
Good Times Pay video poker, whether you play in casinos or at top gambling websites, manages to bring the excitement of multiplier action without making it needlessly complex. All you have to know is that the more you raise your bet, the more you raise your possibilities for lucrative multipliers. And you’ll also need to understand that those higher bets will also boost your volatility as well.
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