How to Play Level Up Video Poker

Level Up video poker puts an emphasis on video poker players who can put together winning streaks. For each win that you get, the multiplier for the following hand rises. You can end up with multipliers up to eight times your win if you can make a winning streak of four hands in a row.

Video poker represents one of the most popular games in casinos. It’s easy to play, allows you to utilize strategy, and puts you in position for excellent payback.

If you’ve ever been to a casino, you’ve probably seen rows and rows of video poker machines. But you might not realize that video poker is also an ideal game to play online. Gambling websites everywhere are filled with some of the top varieties of video poker, with similar pay tables and gameplay as their casino counterparts.

Proprietors of gambling websites want to offer customers a unique experience. Level Up video poker is one of these games that can only be found online. And it’s a pretty clever twist because it can essentially be added to any basic pay table. Yet it includes a feature that makes it different in terms of gameplay.

When you play Level Up video poker, you go in knowing you have to bet a little bit more than usual. You’ll have to wager four times the real money what you normally would to play the game. But what you get in return helps to compensate for the extra bets.

During a Level Up video poker round, each winning hand opens up a multiplier for the following hand. If you can string multiple winning hands together, the multipliers start to rise exponentially. There are four different levels unlocked with winning hands, each one with a higher multiplier than the one before it.

Level Up video poker really puts an emphasis on winning streaks. Winning multiple hands in a row provides excellent profit but when you’re “leveling up,” you can really score significant winnings. Level Up video poker might not be for every video poker player. The financial commitment is pretty large. But thrill-seekers with a big bankroll should have a blast playing this game online.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Level Up video poker. We’ll explain the basics of playing video poker and show you how different levels of play work in Level Up. And we’ll talk about the different pay tables while also looking at how you can use strategy to win.

Playing Video Poker

Video poker ranks as one of the most beneficial games that can be played online. It’s a pretty great game in the casino as well. But, in the case of Level Up video poker, you’ll only be able to play that game on a top gambling website.

Speaking of online play, that represents one of the most advantageous aspects of video poker. When you play a game like Level Up video poker online, you won’t find any difference in the experience compared to those playing video poker in a casino. And you don’t have to worry about any hassles concerning casino etiquette.

But video poker holds many more positives for gamblers than just easy online play. First of all, you can learn to play video poker in no time at all.

You can also play video poker at your own pace, especially when you’re dealing with online play. When you’re playing at a website, you can take a break if you need to do so without ever having to worry about losing your place.

Many people compare video poker to slot machines for those reasons. But video poker separates itself from slot machine play in many ways.

Start with the fact that video poker incorporates strategy. On a slot machine, all you can do is mindlessly spin the reels and hope for a lucky result. Luck plays a part in video poker as well, but your choices about which cards to hold and discard also make an impact.

Your strategy will be based on probability math, specifically when you’re dealing with a deck of (usually) 52 cards. These probabilities allow you to know both how often you can reasonably expect winning hands and what the payback of a specific machine will be. You won’t know either of these things when you play a slot machine.

Knowing all of these good things are in store, you’re probably hoping to learn how to play Level Up video poker as soon as possible. But it’s a good idea to first learn how to play basic video poker first. Let’s do that then by taking you through the process step by step.

Step 1: Establish Your Bankroll

To establish a bankroll for an online game like Level Up video poker, you first have to create an account at the website of your choice. You’ll then have to fund this account. Credit cards are the most common way of doing this, although many sites allow you to use alternative methods such as cryptocurrency.

In any case, you will allot some of your bankroll for your session of Level Up video poker. This money will be rendered on the screen as credits or coins. Each credit or coin will be equal to the denomination you’ve chosen to play.

As an example, imagine that you choose to make a 5-credit wager with a denomination of $1. That would mean that you’ve wagered $5 (5 times 1).

Step 2: Make Your Wager

Level Up video poker separates from most video poker games in terms of the size of its wager. Most games allow you to bet between one and five credits per hand. And there’s still a choice between one and five credits for the player in this game as well.

But because of the four levels of play on Level Up video poker, you’ll be multiplying whatever your choice is by four. In other words, here are what the totals will look like:

• 1 coin (times 4) = 4 coins
• 2 coins (times 4) = 8 coins
• 3 coins (times 4) = 12 coins
• 4 coins (times 4) = 16 coins
• 5 coins (times 5) = 20 coins

Most of the payback amounts will rise in direct proportion to the bets made, which you’ll see when you look at the pay tables. For example, if a hand pays three coins for a one-coin bet, it will pay six coins for two-coin bet, nine coins for three-coin bet, and so on.

To make that maximum wager in Level Up video poker, you have to put up 20 coins every hand that you begin. That might seem like a large amount. But you can offset it with wins, especially if you can put together a winning streak.

Betting less than the maximum might seem like a way of keeping your bankroll afloat. But if you’re lucky enough to hit a royal flush, you’ll be sorry you didn’t go for the max bet. It’s better to lower your denomination instead of lowering your wager.

Step 3: Playing Your Hand

A hand of video poker will play out in pretty much the same fashion as a hand of the table game known as Five-Card Draw. In each game, you’re dealt five cards, get to discard any of those cards, then draw new cards to fill out your hand.

But betting is quite different. You don’t have to keep raising your bet in an effort to bluff opponents. After all, you won’t have any opponents.

Nor will you have to worry about beating multiple players when playing video poker. Your hand just has to contain a winning combination of cards. The winning combinations can be found within the game’s pay table.

What are those winning hands? Well, keep in mind the winning hands for games where wild cards are involved will feature a higher threshold for what constitutes a winning hand. But for the most part, you’ll be trying to achieve one of these combinations by the time the draw is done:

• 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 at the top of the list are the ones that pay the least. As you move down the list, the winning hands pay more and more all the way down to the royal flush at the bottom, which is the highest-paying hand in the game. In other words, the harder the hand is to achieve, the more it pays.

When you’ve made your bet and you press the button for the deal, five cards will appear on the screen. These cards will come from a simulated deck of 52 cards, which are the same cards that you would find in a standard deck.

You have to take a look at these cards and decide which of them will be useful to you and which can be discarded. If you have a winning five-card combination right off the bat that you don’t think can be improved, you can hold all five cards. In this case, you’d be skipping the draw completely.

But, most likely, you will need to draw. Even when you have a winning combination on the deal, you might be able to improve it even more. And if you don’t have a winning combination, you might have one or more cards that can be helpful if you can draw others.

On the draw, you will be getting random cards from the deck which gave you the deal. These cards will replace the ones you’ve decided to discard.

Keep in mind that the deck will only include 47 cards on the draw. That’s because the five from your deal will be in use already. Also, note that no cards you discard will come up in the draw.

Let’s take a look at a sample hand to illustrate how this all works. Imagine that you receive the following cards on the deal:

There aren’t any winning combinations in this hand, at least according to the pay tables you’re likely to find playing Level Up video poker. But there are several “seeds” of winning hands. These seeds will need the right cards on the draw to turn them into winners.

For example, you could hold on to only the pair of fours. You would then be drawing three cards to replace the others. With the right draw, you could possibly end up with two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind.

Keeping the fours would knock you out of the running for other possibilities. For example, with the four through seven, you have four of out of the five cards you need for a straight. If you go for this and get a three or an eight with your one card on the draw, you’ll make your hand.

There’s one other possibility—keep the five, six, and seven of clubs and hope for a straight flush. You would need to get really lucky on the draw for this to happen. But the rewards would be great.

Once you decide on which cards you want to hold and which to discard, press the buttons for the held cards. Watch as the software replaces your cards on the draw. At that point, your hand is complete.

As long as you have credits left in your bankroll, you can continue to play video poker. You can also cash out at any point. In terms of collecting your winnings from Level Up video poker, that will come down to the guidelines of the machine you’ve chosen.

Basic video poker really is as simple as that. Now that you have that down pat, we can start to talk about the interesting twists involved with Level Up video poker.

Leveling Up for Big Winnings

When you play Level Up video poker, you’ll see that your deal appears at the bottom of what looks like four hands. If you lose that hand, you won’t see the other cards just yet. Instead, you’ll get another deal at the bottom.

If you do win a hand, you’ll see the next deal appear on the level above the bottom. And that process will continue as long as you win, without losing, all the way to the top.
Along the way, multipliers will be attached to your winnings. Multipliers work just as you might imagine.

For example, imagine if you came up with a winning hand that would normally pay you 30 coins. If you had a multiplier of 3 times, or 3x, attached to that hand, your winnings would be 90 coins (3 times 30).

In Level Up video poker, the multipliers at each level are as such:

• Level 1: 1x
• Level 2: 2x
• Level 3: 4x
• Level 4: 8x

The first level really won’t do anything to your winnings, because any number multiplied by 1 will still be that number. But as you move up to the other levels, you can really benefit.

Let’s take a look at a hypothetical run of winning hands as an example. Imagine that you were able to get, in order, a full house, two pair, three of a kind, and a flush, on four consecutive hands. If you were betting the full amount and playing a common Jacks or Better pay table, your pay, on a normal video poker game, would look like this:

• Hand 1: Full House = 40 coins
• Hand 2: Two Pair = 10 coins
• Hand 3: Three of a Kind = 15 coins
• Hand 4: Flush = 30 coins

Your total winnings for that four-hand stretch would be 40 + 10 + 15 + 30, which comes to 95 coins. Minus your 20 coins bet for that four-hand stretch, you would be left with a 75-coin profit.

Not bad. But let’s compare it to those four hands appearing on the four levels of Level Up video poker:

• Level 1: Full House = 40 coins times 1 = 40 coins
• Level 2: Two Pair = 10 coins times 2 = 20 coins
• Level 3: Three of a Kind = 15 times 4 = 60 coins
• Level 4: Flush = 30 coins times 8 = 240 coins

Adding those up (40 + 20 + 60 + 240), you end up with 360 coins. Minus the 20 coins it would take for a single round of Level Up video poker, you end up with 340 coins of profit. That is nearly four times as much as if you were playing the game normally.

Once you reach the top level, you will head down to Level 1 for your next hand and a 1x multiplier. This is the case regardless of whether you win or lose on Level 4.

Above, we showed you what a winning streak can do. But the flipside of a game of Level Up video poker comes when you struggle through a losing streak.

Let’s take a look at how the math.

4 straight losing hands of regular video poker at max bet: 20 coins loss

4 straight losing hands of Level Up video poker at max bet: 80 coins

What does all this mean? Well, the payback percentage for a pay table with the Level Up video poker stamp on it is slightly higher than it would be without it. In other words, you’re getting a boost from having the chance to Level Up.

But getting to that boost can be a pretty bumpy ride. An early winning streak can give you a lot of breathing room in your payroll. On the other hand, a long losing streak or a stretch where you don’t cash in any of the multipliers will do significant damage.

You’ll need to make sure your bankroll can withstand the rigors of a game of Level Up video poker. If you start too low with your bankroll, you can lose it all in a hurry. Over the long term, the twist benefits players, but you’ll need to prepare for the ups and downs in the short terms.

Pay Tables for Level Up Video Poker

As we’ve said, Level Up video poker can be added to pretty much any pay table. You just have to check out the different websites that carry the game to determine which pay tables are available to you.

When you choose your pay table, try to do so with your style of play in mind. For example, if you like a more conservative game, Jacks or Better is probably the right call. On a Jacks or Better pay table, payouts for common hands are sturdy enough to sustain you until a big hand comes along.

If you want to be more aggressive, Bonus Poker pay tables could help. Bonus Poker pay tables yield more for four of a kind hands. As a result, you’ll get more opportunities for a big score on a single hand than you would playing Jacks or Better.

You might even consider a game like Deuces Wild, which allows for wild card play. When you play with wild cards, any card considered wild, like the twos in Deuces Wild, can be changed into whatever cards complete your hand the best. Wild cards make for exciting play and give you the chance at hands you couldn’t achieve so readily without them.

You have to decide which pay table suits you the best when playing Level Up video poker. And you should make sure to tailor your strategy to the pay table you choose, a concept we’ll talk about in a second. Here are some of the pay tables you might find included in a Level Up game.

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	8	16	24	32	40
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, 4s)	40	80	120	160	200
Four of a kind (any other)	20	40	60	80	100
Full house	7	14	21	28	35
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 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	8	16	24	32	40
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	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, 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	6	12	18	24	30
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 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 aces w/ any 2,3,4	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four 2s, 3s, 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	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

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, 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	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
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	20	40	60	80	100
Five of a kind	12	24	36	48	60
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
Four of a kind	5	10	15	20	25
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	10	20	30	40	50
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

Video Poker Strategy for Level Up Video Poker

To maximize your winnings when playing video poker, you have to play the game with ideal strategy. That means you need to make the right mathematical decision about what to hold and discard for every single deal. Any mistakes will cost you in the long haul.

Notice that we said “in the long haul.” When playing video poker, you can get away with making a decision that contradicts the proper probability math. Getting lucky on the draw is always a possibility.

But making the wrong decisions over and over will eventually start to hurt your bankroll. You’ll be hurting your winnings and increasing the house edge. And that’s something you never want to do.

When playing Level Up video poker, keep the multipliers in mind. You’ll be striving to make common winning hands with more determination. That might mean cutting down on going for huge hands.

After all, you’ll need the winning hands just to give yourself a chance at the higher levels. And once you get there, you’ll want the multipliers to be paired up with a winning hand. If you end up on a higher level and lose the hand, the multiplier goes for naught.

On top of that consideration, you have to think about which Level Up video poker pay table you’re playing. The decisions about which cards to hold and which to discard will be determined by the winning amounts listed on the pay table. A deal that is played one way in Jacks or Better might need to be played in another manner on a table like Triple Double Bonus.

Once you do this, take advantage of one of the resources that show you proper strategy. These resources will have already done the math of video poker for you. All you have to do is learn what the end results of that math might be.

Here are the two best ways to learn the strategy you need to win at Level Up video poker.

Video Poker Training Software

Training software simulates play as if you were playing video poker for real money. The best software also allows you to customize the game. You can put in the specific pay table and maybe even add a twist like the one included in Level Up video poker.

When you use video poker software, the right decisions will be drilled into your head through practice. If you make a wrong decision, the software will alert you of your mistake. Then, it will show you the right play so you won’t make that mistake again.

Strategy Charts

You won’t have a hard time finding strategy charts for any of the pay tables listed above. And since you’ll be playing Level Up video poker online, you could conceivably print out a chart and have it by your side while you play. It’s better to memorize the chart though, since consulting it on every hand will slow down your play to a crawl.

Strategy charts do their job by ranking all the possible card combinations that might come up on a deal. These rankings are based on the value of the cards, so you’ll want to find the combination in your own deal ranked the highest. Once you’ve done that, you’ll know that those are the cards you need to hold.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Level Up Video Poker

Advantages of Level Up Video Poker

• Multipliers of up to 8x can really boost your bankroll
• Winning streaks are extremely valuable
• You can play just about any pay table with the Level Up twist

Disadvantages of Level Up Video Poker

• Expensive to play the game at the max bet level
• Losing streaks will really hurt
• Wild swings between profit and loss are very possible

Conclusion on Level Up Video Poker

Level Up video poker provides a massive boost to video poker players on even a little bit of a winning streak. Multipliers will add up fast and furious even with just a couple of winning hands in a row. The sizable bet to play, however, could scare some people away.