How to Play Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker
Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker provides several different twists all at once for players adventurous enough to double their bets. This popular, multi-play online game boosts certain payouts whenever the hands are comprised primarily of eights when the extra bet is made. In addition, you can win a bonus spin for extra coins if you’re dealt a minimum winning hand.
In the world of video poker, you can find many different types of games. Most of them spring from the basic format known as Jacks or Better. When you play Jacks or Better, you get a deal and a draw to make one of the winning hands.
In Jacks or Better, your payouts are based primarily on the likelihood of you attaining a hand. The rarer the hand, the more it pays out. Bonus Poker pay tables began to spring up that allowed players to get higher payback for four of a kind hands.
For Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, you have access to many of the most popular pay tables. You can choose just what kind of game you want to play. You’ll also have a chance at wheel spins if you double your normal bet and are dealt certain hands.
Anything higher than three of a kind (or a full house in games with wild cards) will entitle you to a bonus spin. The bonus wheel contains some pretty significant amounts and it even has a space which will lead to a different wheel with even higher coin totals.
Thrown in the fact that Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker also contains special payback for certain hands when you make the extra bet. In particular, the game lives up to its name by adding to the payback for certain hands like four of a kind, a full house, and three of a kind when eights are heavily involved. Thus, the game truly lives up to its name.
In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker. We’ll show you how to play basic video poker, how multiple play works, and how all the special features involved in this specific game affect play. Finally, we’ll show you what video poker pay tables you can play and we’ll talk about the most useful strategies for maximizing your winnings.
Learning to Play Video Poker
Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker adds a lot of twists and turns to common video poker action. You might want to jump right in and start playing. But it’s a good idea to have a background in basic video poker before you move on to something more complex.
No matter what kind of video poker game you’re planning to play, you’re likely to find that it’s extremely beneficial to gamblers. Video poker finds a way to incorporate many of the best elements of slot machines and table games. The combination produces something that’s simple, exciting, and lucrative.
Video poker resembles slot machine play mainly because of its solitary nature. It’s just you and the machine or, in the case of Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, you and the website. (Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker is an online-only game at the moment that can be played for real money.)
Because of this, you can choose your own pace of play. You don’t have to worry about what other players are doing or if your particular strategy will bother them, nor do you have to worry about casino employees.
As for table games, video poker also resembles them because you have the chance to apply strategy as you play. Playing card probability is also involved in video poker.
As a result, you don’t have to guess about how often winning hands might show up. You can use the probabilities and values on the pay table to estimate how much a particular game pays out to gamblers.
On top of all that, video poker provides great variety. You can play a simple game like Jacks or Better or get more involved with something like Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker. And it’s an easy game to lean, with payback that’s just as strong as the more complex table games.
We also mentioned that Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker is played exclusively online. As far as online casino games, video poker might just be the smoothest in terms of how it translates from actually playing a machine to playing on one of the top gambling websites. You won’t find much difference.
In short, there’s a lot to like about video poker from the gambler’s perspective. Let’s learn how to play the basic format of the game so you can then understand Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker.
Step 1: The Bankroll
When playing online, you’ll start your bankroll by funding an account at a gambling website. You can use traditional methods like credit cards or alternative funding methods such as cryptocurrency.
In any case, you’ll see the money you have allotted to play Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker show up on your screen as credits or coins. These units will equal whatever denomination you’ve chosen to play. Online video poker games have an edge on casino versions in this respect because you’ll have much more freedom to choose your denomination.
As an example of how all this works, imagine that you make a five-credit wager on a game with a denomination of 25 cents. Your wager would be $1.25, since 5 times .25 equals 1.25.
Step 2: The Bet
Normal video poker games allow you to bet between one and five coins per hand. In the case of Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, betting gets a little bit more involved. But one thing that doesn’t change is that making the maximum wager possible increases your expected return.
Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker requires that you play between three and five hands at a time. You must make a wager on all of these hands to play.
On top of that, you can double your maximum wager per hand to 10 credits. That would mean betting the following:
Three Hands = 30 coins
Five Hands = 50 coins
Playing in this manner might seem expensive. But if you want to maximize your payback playing Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, this is the way to do it. The boosted payback and potential of bonus spins will help to compensate for the fact that you’re betting 10 coins instead of five per hand.
Step 3: The Hand
Think of video poker as a computer simulation of the table game known as Five-Card Draw. In both cases, you have a deal, a discard, and a draw. And you’re striving to make the best possible poker hand for both.
But video poker is a little bit easier to win from hand to hand. In Five-Card Draw, you have to worry about beating multiple players at the table. But video poker only requires you to make one of the winning hands on the pay table.
What are those winning hands? Well, they’re not exactly the same for every single pay table. In particular, wild card games require you to have a higher-ranked hand to get paid than games without a wild card.
But, for the most part, you’ll be trying for one of the following combinations of cards when playing Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker:
- Pair of jacks or better
- Two pair
- Three of a kind
- Straight (five cards of consecutive rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
- Flush (five cards of same suit)
- Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
- Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)
The hands at the top of this list are relatively easy to make and pay the least. As you move to the bottom, you’ll see some hands that rarely come up during gameplay. These hands will pay the most.
You’ll receive a deal of five cards once you’ve made your wager. This deal will come from a regulation deck of 52 that is simulated within the game’s software. The software also keeps the deck shuffling at all times, ensuring that every deal and draw you receive is completely random.
When you get your cards, you’ll look them over to see if you have any winning combinations. Even if not, you should be checking to see if you have some cards that might turn into a winning combination with cards you can receive on the draw.
You get to discard any cards that you don’t want to keep from your deal. Those cards will be replaced on the draw by others from the same deck which provided your deal. In other words, it will be a deck consisting at the point of 47 cards, since 5 will have been removed from the original deck of 52.
You’ll base your decisions on how likely it is for you to draw the cards you need to make one of the winning hands. But you should also keep in mind what the payouts are for the hands you’re trying to make.
There will be times when it’s wise to take a chance on hitting a rare, high-paying hand. This might be the case even if you need to get a really lucky draw to do it. You’ll notice a give and take between risk and reward on every single hand you play.
Once you make up your mind, press the buttons for the cards you want to hold. If you don’t want to hold any, press the draw button. You also have the choice of holding all five cards if you want.
When you press the draw button, the cards you’ve discarded will be replaced and the hand will be complete. You’ll see any winnings that you’ve managed with the hand added to your bankroll. From there, you can keep playing by simply repeating the steps.
That’s how standard video poker works. Now, let’s talk about playing multiple hands at once, which is a necessity in Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker.
Multiple Hand Play
When you play Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, you choose between playing three and five hands at a time. As we explained in the betting section above, make a wager on all of the hands you play.
You will receive just one deal, no matter if you’re playing three or five hands at a time. The decisions that you make about what to hold and discard, based on this deal, will then be played out over the multiple hands.
Let’s take a look at how this works. Imagine you were playing three hands of Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker at a time and received the following deal:
There is a tough choice here concerning what to hold. You can keep the pair of jacks, already a winning hand, and hope to improve it something even bigger on the draw. Or you can keep the four, five, and six of clubs, which would open you up on the draw to a straight, a flush, or even the straight flush.
In this case, let’s say that you hold onto the pair of jacks. That means you’ll be holding on to them for all three hands. Let’s take a look at how that might play out on the draw:
Hand 2
Hand 3
In Hand 1, you ended up with two pair. Hand 2 provided three of a kind. You didn’t improve in Hand 3, but you still have a winning combination with the pair of jacks.
You would then add up all the payback amounts for these three winning hands to see what’s going into your bankroll. This example shows how multiple hands can really reward a great deal. Get a bad deal, however, and it will hurt you a little bit more as well.
Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker Extra Features
When you play Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, you can play the game without the extra features by betting only one through five coins per hand. If you go this route, you would simply be playing multiple hand video poker based on the pay table you’ve chosen to play.
But if you make the 10-coin financial commitment to each hand, you’ll be able to take advantage of not one, but two special features.
Boosted “8’” Payback
In case you’re wondering why the name of the game is Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker, it comes down to certain special payback amounts that are available to you when you make the extra wager. These payouts are based on which pay table you’ve chosen.
For the pay tables where wild cards are not involved, the special hands with their payouts are:
- Four Eights: 2,888 coins
- Full House with Three Eights: 88 coins
- Three Eights: 18 coins
For the pay tables with wild cards in play, the special hands with their payouts are:
- Five Eights: 88 coins
- Four Eights: 28 coins
- Full House: 28 coins (some lesser pay tables pay only 18 coins in this instance)
- Three Eights: 8 coins
Each of these payouts are significantly higher that what you would expect playing the game normally. For instance, if you were to make four eights on a Jacks or Better pay table without the special twist, you’d return 125 coins for a five-coin wager. Compare that to the 2,888 coins you get with the Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker with the extra feature in play.
When you play Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker with the special twist, you have to pay attention when you end up with Eights in your hand. Normally, these cards wouldn’t do much for you in a hand of video poker. As a result, you have to retrain yourself to make sure you don’t discard valuable eights.
Bonus Wheel
To get a spin on the Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker wheel, you first have to make the 10-coin wager per hand. You then have to be a dealt a minimum hand.
In games without a wild card, you’ll need to be dealt one of the following:
- Three of a kind
- Straight
- Flush
- Full House
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush
- Royal flush
In games with a wild card, you’ll need to be dealt one of the following:
- Full house
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush
- Five of a kind
- Wild royal flush
- Four wild cards
- Royal flush
Keep in mind that you need to be dealt one of these hands to qualify for a spin of the Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker wheel. If you don’t have one on the deal but draw to them, you’ll get your normal winnings. But you don’t get to spin the wheel.
Also, keep in mind that this bonus feature is separate from the boosted payouts for the “8” hands. As a result, you will qualify if you are dealt the hands above no matter what rank is involved.
If you are dealt one of those hands playing Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker, a bonus wheel will show up after the draw for your multiple hands. There are eight spaces on the wheel with different amounts of bonus coins on them. They are:
- 188 coins
- 288 coins
- 388 coins
- 688 coins
- 888 coins
- 1,888 coins
- 8,888 coins
- Dragon
If you get the “dragon” space on the wheel when you spin, a second wheel will appear. This second wheel ups the bonuses all the way around, with a low of 388 coins and a high of 18,888 coins.
This part of the bonus on Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker is really valuable because it comes on top of a great deal.
Remember that all of the qualifying hands are winning hands. If you can improve your deal on your multiple draws, you’ll be adding big winnings from the main round to big winnings from the bonus.
These two bonuses will indeed improve your payback percentage for Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker. Of course, they also make the game more volatile. If you don’t get the “8” hands or earn a spin of the wheel, you’ll be wagering 10 coins for basic five-coin payouts.
Your bankroll could sink pretty quickly because of that. But the flipside is that you can score a massive payout in a hurry when the extra features go your way. Imagine the ways you’ll clean up if you’re dealt three eights with the extra features engaged.
The bottom line is that serious, long-term players should make sure to start with a hefty bankroll to prevent a quick flameout. But short-term, casual players will likely enjoy Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker regardless because of how they can win a lot in a small amount of time.
Pay Tables for Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker
Choosing from one of the many pay tables available in Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker will help you to control your style of play. You’ll have the choice from among the following pay tables:
- Jacks or Better
- Bonus Poker
- Bonus Deluxe
- Double Bonus
- Double Double Bonus
- Triple Double Bonus
- Deuces Wild
- Bonus Deuces Wild
Each of these games contain different characteristics. For example, Jacks or Better is known for having a conservative pay table. You can hang around on a small bankroll better in this game than others, but you won’t have too many chances at jackpots.
Meanwhile, Bonus pay tables pump up the payouts for four of a kind hands. You’ll get more jackpot-style payments within reach. But you’ll also have to deal with volatility as well.
You might also enjoy wild card pay tables on a Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker game. When you play Deuces Wild or Bonus Deuces Wild, the four twos in the deck can be turned into any other card that improves your hand the most. As a result, your ability to achieve high-ranking hands is greatly improved.
Below are listed the full-pay versions of pay tables that can be found within Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker. Try to find the full-pay versions (meaning the ones that average the highest payback) at the website you’ve chosen. This will ensure that you’ll have the highest payback percentage for each table.
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, or 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 | 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 | 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, or 4s) | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
Four of a kind (any other) | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
Full house | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
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 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, 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 |
Pair of jacks + | 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 | 15 | 30 | 45 | 60 | 75 |
Straight flush | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
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 | 13 | 26 | 39 | 52 | 65 |
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 Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker
To truly get the most out of a Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker game, you have to know how to play with proper strategy. Many people think they can figure this out on their own.
In actuality, it’s a good idea to get some help. To maximize your payback percentage playing Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker, you need to make the correct choice about what to hold and what to discard on every single hand.
You can easily be fooled into thinking you’re making the right choices playing Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker if you have some early success. But this early success just might be the product of getting lucky.
The more you play, the more your luck will even out. If you’ve been making the incorrect decisions all along, based on what the probabilities are and what the payback for each hand is, your results suffer.
Learning Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker is a bit trickier than it might be to do the same for other video poker games. On the one hand, it’s largely a positive that you have many different pay tables at your disposal. But that can complicate the learning process.
The other concern is learning to play the game while putting an emphasis on the eights in the deck. The premium placed on hands with eights is so large that you have to base your strategy in part on this unique quirk.
Luckily, there are a number of ways you can learn the right strategy and achieve perfect play. First of all, we suggest you choose just a single play table. In that way, you can focus on it and ignore all the rest.
The other thing you have to do is find a resource that can provide you with reliable help. Ideally, you’ll have somebody else to do the probability math for you. Trying to do it on your own in the spur of the moment will slow you down and eventually lead to mistakes.
Both strategy charts and video poker training software can certainly do the trick for you in terms of learning the right strategy for Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker.
Strategy Charts
When you see a strategy chart, you’ll see a bunch of different combinations of cards in a long list. The list is ranked based on the expected value of the cards included. You can use that information by comparing what you have in your hand, finding the highest-ranked combination from your deal, and discarding the rest of the cards.
You should try to memorize a strategy chart if at all possible. It might be tempting to play Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker with one by your side to ensure you don’t make any mistakes. But that will slow you down, and you should really know all the right moves in case you end up playing a game in a casino where the chart can’t be utilized.
Video Poker Training Software
When you use video poker training software, you’ll get access to instruction for any video poker pay table you can imagine. And it’s really just a matter of practicing as often as you can. After a while, the correct plays for each deal become second nature to you.
You can use the software by inputting the specific pay table you plan to use on the Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker video poker game. Then, play sample hands. When faced with a decision about what to hold and what to discard, the software will send you in the right direction.
Pros and Cons of Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker
Pros of Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker
- Two bonuses for the price of doubling your bet
- Bonus spins can really push your bankroll skyward
- Flexibility in terms of which pay table to choose
Cons of Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker
- Very expensive game to play
- Multiple play and doubled bets make the game very volatile when the special feature is involved
- Might be confusing for beginning players
Conclusion on Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker Video Poker
Lucky 8’s Wheel Poker puts you on the lookout for eights on the deal and the draw. It can also have you spinning to win if you get the right deal. Just be prepared to make sizable wagers to play the game with these extra twists added to the mix.