Jacks or Better Super Triple Play Video Poker Guide

Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker allows you the opportunity to take the most common of all pay tables and spice it up a bit. You can do this by wagering an extra amount on each hand of multiple play. By doing that, you’ll unlock a separate pay table with many more high-paying opportunities.

Jacks or Better

In the world of video poker, the most popular pay table is Jacks or Better. It’s understandable that it’s the most easily-found pay table in casinos and gambling websites, since it was the first of its kind in a way. When video poker was first created, Jacks or Better was the pay table used.

What people love about Jacks or Better is the simplicity. You will receive payback based on the likelihood of you making one of the winning combinations on the pay table. In short, the more difficult it is to make a hand, the more money you’ll get in return.

That makes Jacks or Better an easy game to understand. But it also makes it a bit stingy in terms of what you can get back in a single hand. And the pace of play of playing a single hand of Jacks or Better can be a bit slow for some adventure-seeking types.

Jacks or Better Super Triple Play Specifics

With Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker, you can get the Jacks or Better branding while also solving some of the problems listed above. First of all, you’ll be playing more than hand at once. While the name suggests triple play, you actually get the choice between three, five, or 10 hands at once.

On top of that, you’ll have the chance to wager a little bit more than the normal max bet of five coins when per hand when playing Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker. With a six-coin wager, you get access to a different pay table that wouldn’t be available on a common Jacks or Better online game or video poker machine.

This pay table lets you get four times as much as you normally would for four of a kind. That means four of a kind is actually a higher-paying hand in this version of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker than a straight flush. Yet four of a kind is actually an easier hand to achieve.

What this means is that Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker gives you a better chance of scoring big wins in a shorter period of time than other Jacks or Better versions. First of all, playing up to 10 hands at once means you can win a lot of hands in a hurry. Then, when you add in the beefed-up pay table for the six coin wager, things get even more exciting.

Of course, looking at it that way is only focusing on the positives of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker. But in truth, it might not be the game for every type of video poker player. The size of the max bet needed to play the game to its highest payback level, coupled with the multiple-hand style of play, means that it is an extremely volatile style of video poker.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game known as Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker. We’ll dive into the importance of understanding how to play a single hand of Jacks or Better before explaining how playing multiple hands at once works. In addition, we’ll talk about learning strategy while also examining how the pay tables affect that strategy.

The Advantages of Video Poker

Video poker gives its players benefits that just don’t exist in other casino games. For that reason, you’ll find many gamblers who feel no need to play anything other than video poker in casinos or on gambling websites. Why would they when they get what they get from video poker?

In essence, video poker takes elements from the two main types of casino games: slot machines and table games. Yet instead of being an odd mash-up of the two, it keeps the best and leaves out the rest. You end up with a unique creation that stands apart from the other games found around it.

Don’t believe us yet? Take a look at some of the benefits awaiting you if you play a video poker game such as Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker.

  • You can play video poker all by yourself. That might not seem like a big deal, until you’ve played a table game in a casino and known the pressure of having to follow the correct protocol and etiquette. With video poker, you play at your own pace in complete privacy.
  • You can learn video poker in a jiffy. In terms of casino games, it’s one of the easiest of all to grasp. Most beginners can learn the game pretty well even after just a few minutes and have the chance of playing the game in a solid fashion.
  • You can pick and choose between many different styles of video poker. Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker is just one of the many twists on the game you’ll be able to find. As a result, you should have no problem finding the one type of video poker that is ideal for you.
  • You get to play video poker with some strategy. Luck is involved, but your choices on which cards to hold and which to discard will have an impact on winning and losing. Compare that to slot machines, where you really have no control over your play.
  • You can learn everything you need to know about a video poker game from the pay table. It will show you how much each winning combination pays. From there, it’s just a matter of using some probability math to know how often you might hope to achieve those winning hands.
  • You can expect solid payback from video poker. In most cases, the payback for video poker dwarfs that of other single-player casino games. With certain games, you can actually hope for a long-term profit if you play well.
  • You can find many different versions of video poker online. In many cases, you may even find a different variation than what is in the casino. And the good news is that video poker at top gambling websites looks and plays just like video poker machines in casinos.

That should give you just a taste of what awaits when playing video poker. And that goes for the unique version known as Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker as well.

How to Play Video Poker

Before you get into multiple play action and special pay tables of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker, you should learn the process of a single hand of video poker. That will be the basis for everything you do in most variations of the game. Take a look at how to do it step by step.

Step 1: Create a Bankroll

You can’t win real money playing video poker without first putting real money at stake. And that’s where your bankroll comes into play. Creating a bankroll is as easy as putting money into a machine or, if you’re playing online, signing up for a gambling account.

Once you’ve done either of those things, you’ll see that your money is broken down into units known as credits or coins when you look at the screen. These credits or coins are tied into the denomination of the game you’re playing. For instance, at a 25-cent machine, a five-credit wager will cost you $1.25 (5 times .25) of your bankroll.

Step 2: Make a Bet

In the case of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker, the twists on the game will actually change the betting process a bit. Most video poker games have you playing one hand at a time with an unchanging pay table. For these games, you’ll be betting between one and five coins at once.

But remember that Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker is a multiple-play game. If you’re going to play multiple hands, you have to bet on multiple hands. That will boost amount the money you’re putting at stake in one round on the screen.

On top of that, Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker gives you the option to bet a little bit more than the usual max of five coins. You can choose to make a six-coin bet for however many hands you’re playing at once. Doing that will give you the chance to open up the special, more lucrative pay table.

As a result, here is what the max bet will look like in Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker:

  • 3 hands = 18 coins
  • 5 hands = 30 coins
  • 10 hands = 60 coins

Keep in mind that you don’t have to make the max bet if you don’t want. You could keep it at one to five coins per hand. But that would also reduce the potential payback you might receive.

To play Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker with the special pay table but with a lesser betting amount (in terms of money, not credits), look to lower your denomination if you can. That will keep the price down for each bet but still allow you to maximize your payback percentage.

Step 3: Play a Hand

At this point, we’re just going to concentrate on a single hand of video poker and the process for completing that. Once you’ve learned that, the multiple-hand format within Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker won’t cause you too much trouble.

The basic rhythm of play for video poker mirrors what would take place in the card game known as Five-Card Draw. In both cases, you’ll receive five cards on the deal and will be trying to make the best possible poker combination. To do this, you choose which cards to hold and discard, with the discarded cards replaced by others from the deck.

In Five-Card Draw, you can increase your chances of winning with clever betting to perhaps bluff your competitors. You might also have to form a very strong hand to beat everyone else. But video poker only requires that you have one of the winning combinations on the pay table to get paid.

Here are the winning combinations you’ll be trying to make when playing Jacks or Better Super Triple Play 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)

For the most part, the winning combinations above are listed in order of lowest-paying (on top) to highest-paying (on bottom). The reason that the hands on the bottom pay more is that they are harder to achieve.

That means you have to decide when playing video poker whether to go for the rare high-paying hand and the common low-paying hand. It’s a matter of judging risk and reward.

The Deal

On the deal, five cards will appear on your screen. This will also be the moment that the bet you made will be deducted from your bankroll. The five cards will come from a simulated deck of 52 cards that are shuffled by a random number generator to ensure a random result.

At the time you get the deal, the remaining 47 cards are shuffled until you activate the draw. There will never be a point where you can anticipate cards showing up on screen just because of what’s happened in previous hands. Don’t get caught up with that false thinking, or you could end up making unnecessary mistakes.

The Decision

You have to decide which of the cards in your five-card deal you’ll be holding. These cards will be a part of your final five-card hand, which will be the determining factor for whether you win or lose. As such, you should make sure the cards you hold will help you towards some kind of winning combination on the pay table.

You always have the opportunity to discard cards from your deal. Any discarded cards will be replaced by cards from the 47 cards remaining in the deck. There is no way that you can receive one of your discarded cards on the draw.

What should go into this decision? Here are the two factors you should always consider:

  • What are the mathematical probabilities of constructing a winning combination based on what you can hold and what you might be able to draw?
  • What are the payback amounts for the winning combinations within your reach?

What you might not realize is that there is one choice you can make which will maximize the value of the five-card deal. The key is determining what this is for every deal. We’ll talk about how you can do that when we get to strategy.

The Draw

It’s important to remember that, no matter if you’re playing video poker on a machine or as part of a gambling site, you’ll only be indicating the cards you want to hold (if any). You’ll leave alone the cards you want to discard (if any.) Once you have all that worked out, you can click on or press the draw button or icon.

At that point, any discarded cards will be replaced by others from the 47 remaining in the deck. This completes the hand. Any winnings that you’ve managed will then be added to your bankroll. If at any point, you don’t have enough in your bankroll to make a wager, you’ll have to add more to continue playing.

You can continue to play video poker following those steps as long as you can make a wager based on what’s left in your bankroll. And at any point you can cash out.

Playing Multiple Hands on One Screen

You now know how to play a single hand of video poker. When you settle in to play Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker, you’ll choose between three, five, and 10 hands at once. Remember that you have to wager on however many hands you eventually choose to play.

The process for playing multiple hands is essentially the same as playing one hand. You’ll still be making just one set of decisions on just one deal. Those decisions will then be played out over multiple hands.

Each draw will come from a separate deck that contains the same 47 cards left in the draw deck after the deal. These decks will be shuffled separately so that the results are independent from each other. That process plays out regardless of how many hands you’re playing.

Example of Multiple Hand Play

Imagine that you’re playing Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker and have decided on three hands at once. The following deal shows up on the screen:

Six of Hearts, Six of Diamonds, Seven of Diamonds, Eight of Diamonds, Nine of Clubs

There are no winning combinations to be found in the deal. But you do have the draw to improve matters. And there are several different possibilities within these five cards that can be turned into winning combinations.

You might choose one of the following options:

  • Hold the pair of sixes. You’d be drawing three new cards if you choose this option, and you’d open yourself up to many different winning possibilities. For example, you could end up with two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind.
  • Hold the six through nine. If you did this, you’d be discarding one of the sixes (it wouldn’t matter which). You’d be drawing a single card, and if that card turned out to be a five or a 10, you’d have a straight.
  • Hold the six through eight of diamonds. This choice gives you the widest range of possible winning hands you might make with the two cards you’d be drawing. The highest-paying possibility would be a straight flush.

There are pros and cons to all of these approaches. As we said earlier, there is one correct choice, according to the math. We’ll talk about how to learn that correct choice when we get to strategy.

When you make your decisions, any cards that you hold will show up on your screen in the same position for all three hands. That indicates that your decisions will stick with all three hands. The draw will fill out the gaps in those spaces once your choices are final.

Let’s say that you decide on the third option above, holding the six, seven, and eight of diamonds. The draws could take place something like this in this Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker example:

Hand 1:

Four of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, Seven of Diamonds, Eight of Diamonds, Five of Hearts

Hand 2:

Seven of Spades, Six of Diamonds, Seven of Diamonds, Eight of Diamonds, Eight of Clubs

Hand 3:

Ace of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, Seven of Diamonds, Eight of Diamonds, Three of Hearts

As you can see, you made two winning combinations out of three hands. Hand 1 produced a straight, while Hand 2 gave you two pair. You came up empty on Hand 3.

Your winnings would be the combination of what the pay table offers for two pair and what it offers for a straight. That’s one of the reasons that people love the multiple play option offered by Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker.

It’s a way to win money a lot faster than if you’re playing just one hand. That factor gets exponentially boosted when you’re playing five or ten hands of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker.

But the drawback is that you can also lose money from your bankroll a lot faster. Multiple play always raises the volatility of video poker. You have to decide how if that makes it a game you’d like to play on a regular basis, especially since it requires a much more substantial bankroll than single-hand play.

The Pay Tables of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play Video Poker

There are two ways in which Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker differs from basic Jacks or Better or other simple video poker games. We just told you about the ability to play multiple hands on one screen. The other key difference is the chance to unlock a special pay table.

This ability comes into play when you bet six coins per hand. You don’t have to do this. If you choose to do so, you can bet one through five coins per hand while playing Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker.

If you do this, you will use a pay table that is pretty much like what you see in standard Jacks or Better games. It might look something like this.

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

This is a relatively standard Jacks or Better pay table. You can see that the payback rises pretty steadily before taking a big jump to four of a kind and the straight flush. It takes an even bigger jump when it gets to a royal flush.

You’ll notice that the royal flush is the one hand where the payback doesn’t rise in direct relation to the size of the bet. A five-coin bet gives you a much higher proportion of payback on a straight flush compared to a bet of one through four coins. This means that, if you’re not going to wager the six coins, you should at least try for a five-coin bet.

Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker gives you the option to up your bet and change up the pay table considerably. In particular, you’ll see a vastly improved payback for four of a kind. Take a look at the pay table for a six-coin bet.

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 100 200 300 400 500
Full house 11 22 33 44 55
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

Even though this pay table lists one through five coins wagered, the only column you have to worry about is the five-coin bet. This shows you what you will receive for your six-coin bet. But displaying the pay table in this fashion will make it clear how the ratio of payback rises.

Take a look at the difference in payback from five to six coins with key hands:

Hand 5-Coin Bet 6-Coin Bet
Straight flush 250 300
Four of a kind 125 500
Full house 45 55

The big difference comes with the four of a kind. It can change your entire way of thinking about strategy. When you bet six coins in Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker, you are getting more on the four of a kind payback than for a straight flush, even though the straight flush is a harder hand to achieve.

The six-coin wager may raise overall payback, which we’ll talk about when we get to payback percentage in the next section. But it also raises the volatility level. You’ll be making a higher bet every hand that you play, which means more risk with losing hands.

Still, it’s important to realize that Jacks or Better, on its own, is one of the lowest-volatility games in the world of video poker. By adding these twists, Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker takes this common, sedate pay table and gives it a real boost. That can make it a more attractive game for those who like the idea of earning big money in a short period of time.

Alternate Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker Pay Table
You might find that the six-coin pay table listed above for Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker might not be in play at every version of the game you find, whether in a casino or online. The full-pay version above might not be available to you, which means you might have to settle for a slightly different one.

In the pay table below, the ley change comes with the flush, which pays off at only 5 to 1 (instead of 6 to 1 like above). Keep in mind that your potential payback will drop if you play this 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 60 120 180 240 320
Four of a kind 100 200 300 400 500
Full house 11 22 33 44 55
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

Payback for Jacks or Better Super Triple Play Video Poker

We talked a bit above about the idea of volatility when playing Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker. This means that you might see relatively significant swings in your bankroll from high to low and back again.

If you’re a casual player, volatility will probably mean a lot to you. You might want a high-volatility game if you want the chance of winning a lot in a short period of time. Or you might prefer a lower-volatility game where you can play for a longer time with a smaller bankroll.

But those who plan on making Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker should think about payback percentage as the determining factor on whether or not they want to play the game. Payback percentage will tell you how valuable the game is after all the volatility plays itself out and the percentages take over.

What Is Payback Percentage?

Payback percentage is a measure of how much you’ll have in your bankroll after playing a certain game. It is an estimation based on the math of the likelihood of achieving the different hands and the payback for those hands. You can figure out the payback percentage for any video poker table using that math.

It’s important to realize that payback percentage is just an estimation. Your own results may vary, based on luck, especially in a small sample size. Only when you have played thousands of hands will payback percentage be assured of being accurate.

Take a look at the payback percentage for Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker:

  • 5 coins wagered = 99.54%
  • 6 coins wagered = 99.75%

The difference there might not seem like a lot. But if you’re the type who is going to play Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker with regularity, that disparity could start to make a difference. Take a look:

  • $1,000 bankroll = $997.50 vs $995.40
  • $10,000 bankroll = $9,975 vs $9,954
  • $100,000 bankroll = $99,750 vs $99,540

The more you play Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker, the more the difference in payback percentage will come into play. That’s why serious players should commit to betting six coins per hand. In the long run, that will give you the best chance of making the most money playing the game.

Strategy for Jacks or Better Super Triple Play Video Poker

The only way that you can meet the payback percentages listed above when playing Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker is to play the game with perfect strategy. That requires making the mathematically correct decision on every single deal. In other words, you must find the right sequence of holds and discards to unlock the highest earning potential for the deal.

In some cases, you might make this decision but still lose the hand. By contrast, you could make the wrong decision and end up getting lucky on the draw and winning begin. But when you play thousands of hands, the right decisions will end up making you more money because the probabilities will win out.

How do you make those correct decisions?

Well, it’s very hard to do on your own. And the structure of Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker makes it a little more difficult.

Special Pay Tables Strategy

As we said above, you can essentially play one of two sets of pay tables within Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker. If you bet one through five coins per hand, you’ll have a basic Jacks or Better table. And if you bet six coins, you get the enhanced table.

Because of the different payback amounts for the pay tables (especially with respect to four of a kind), your strategy will depend on which pay table you’re playing. You’ll have to switch your emphasis in some deals based on how many coins you’ve bet.

All of this can make learning the right plays for Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker seem daunting. Luckily, you can take advantage of help that is readily available to you in the form of video poker strategy resources.

Getting Some Help

Figuring all this out on your own is next to impossible, especially as you’re playing. You’re bound to make mistakes. But you can let others do the math for you and reap the benefits.

The first thing you have to do is to make sure that any help you get is based on the specific pay table you’re playing. Get that wrong and you’re likely to get some false information, which will lead to mistakes and lesser payback.

Once you make sure that information is correct, we suggest you try one of the following two methods of learning Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker strategy:

  • Video Poker Training Software: You can upload the pertinent pay table information into the software to customize your instruction. Then, you can play sample hands and be alerted to the right plays. After playing in this practice mode for a while, you’ll be ready to play for real money with all the right moves.
  • Strategy Charts: First of all, make the sure the chart is based on the pay table you’re playing. These charts, which can be found online, will rank all the possible card combinations you might receive on the deal based on their potential value. Once you memorize that information, it will tell you what cards you should be holding and discarding on every occasion.

Jacks or Better Super Triple Play Video Poker Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Playing multiple hands speeds up the pace of play
  • Enhanced pay table raises payback
  • Jacks or better strategy is relatively easy to learn
Cons

  • You might not have the bankroll to bet that much
  • Volatility level is high with the higher wager
  • The Jacks or Better pay table is the only one at your disposal

Conclusion

Jacks or Better Super Triple Play video poker can make you rethink common old Jacks or Better action. With multiple play, you can win more in a shorter period of time. And the chance to bet more and spice up the pay table can also be very lucrative in the long run.