How to Play Max Action Video Poker

Max Action video poker keeps its twist pretty simple. It doesn’t contain any special twists on gameplay as you bet above the normal five-coin maximum amount. Instead, any bet above five coins opens up a new pay table in which hands are generally paid out at a more lucrative level than they would be if you were playing one through five coins. It’s a case of getting more for betting more, and it opens up the possibilities for winnings that are hard to come by in other versions of video poker.

Video poker was created to mimic table poker, except that it allows the player to simply beat the machine instead of everyone else at the table. It did this by creating a series of winning hands in a basic game known as Jacks or Better, which is named because a pair of jacks was the easiest winning hand to achieve. Players who are familiar with Jacks or Better know that it can be a lot of fun, but it doesn’t contain a lot of opportunities for huge payouts like Max Action video poker does.

That is why video game manufacturers created bonus pay tables. Bonus pay tables increase the payback for certain rare hands like four of a kind, while decreasing them for common hands like two pair. The idea behind bonus pay tables in video poker is getting a heightened chance of a big payout quickly.

Video poker games also started to pop with twists on basic gameplay. These games usually require players to make an extra bet above the usual maximum number of five coins. This extra bet unlocks a special feature that somehow alters the basic structure of the deal or draw.

In the case of Max Action video poker, there is an extra bet available, but it isn’t one that opens up some kind of odd spin on the basic game. Instead, you play it as you would any other machine featuring multiple-play video poker, which means that you play (and bet) several hands based on a single deal. You don’t have to learn anything new to master gameplay if you already have basic video poker under control.

What Max Action video poker does when you bet from six through 10 coins is activate a different pay table. This pay table looks like the same as one for one through five coins, but it contains amounts for six through 10 coins played. These amounts rise at an elevated level.

In other words, payouts from one through five coins played on the game rise in proportion; for example, a payout for four of a kind on a Jacks or Better pay table within the game will be 125 to 1 no matter if its one or five coins played. But once you get up to six coins, the proportion of the payout jumps, and often continues to do so all the way through the 10-coin level.

That means that you can expect massive payouts for those higher bets. In fact, the higher that you go with your basic wagers, the higher your expected payback percentage will be. This makes Max Action video poker perhaps the ultimate game for the high rollers out there.

Of course, the catch is that Max Action video poker is an extremely expensive game to play if you want to play it at the maximum payback level. That means that it might be too expensive for the casual player who wants to play for a long time on a small bankroll. But if you really want the chance for exaggerated winnings playing video poker, this game is hard to top.

In the following article, we’ll tell you how to play Max Action video poker; first, by examining a hand of basic real money video poker, then by explaining how to play multiple hands at a time. We’ll also go through all the different pay table variations available in the game, both the basic ones and the ones elevated by extra bets. Finally, we’ll talk about how you can learn strategies that help max out your winnings when playing Max Action video poker.

Playing a Hand of Video Poker

Learning how to play video poker at its most basic level isn’t that hard, especially if you have a little bit of a background on the card game known as poker. Even if you don’t, you won’t have too difficult a time figuring it out after a few minutes of play. As we said above, Max Action video poker doesn’t deviate from basic gameplay in any real way other than allowing you to play multiple hands at a time, which we’ll talk about in a bit.

For now, we’re just going to give you an overview of why video poker is such a great game to play. If you’re used to slot machines or table games, you might be surprised to learn that video poker takes the best elements of those games and blends them together.

Max Action video poker, like any video poker variation, holds an edge over slot machines in that it is based on probabilities. When you settle in at a slot machine, you have no idea how often a winning spin is bound to occur. Nor will you know what kind of payback you can expect from that machine.

In addition, slot machines give you no way to impact gameplay. You just have to spin the wheel and hope. But video poker, including Max Action video poker, allows you to make decisions in terms of which cards to hold and which to discard. If made correctly, these decisions will actually give you a better chance of winning than someone who made the wrong selections.

How do table games compare to video poker? Table games also are based on probabilities and allow you to make an impact in gameplay with your decisions. But table games also take place in a pressurized environment, as you have to know the protocol of how to play and deal with other gamblers who might not take kindly to any confusion or hesitation on your part.

Yet, when you’re playing video poker, it’s just you and the machine. You can play as quickly or as slowly as you want without anyone trying to interfere. It’s a much more comfortable environment for the gambler in practically every way.

That’s just a little taste of why video poker is such a player-friendly, simple game to play. Let’s not waste any more time before learning how to play a hand. Here is a step-by-step look at how it all works.

Step 1: Building the Bankroll

Your bankroll is what allows you to bet on hands and win money. The way to start it up is to put some money in the machine. If you’re playing video poker on a gambling website, you can start up play by creating an account and designating some of your funds to a game like Max Action video poker.

The bankroll will show up on your screen not as dollars or cents, but as credits or coins. Each credit is equal to a unit of whatever the denomination is at the machine you’re playing. Denominations can run from small amounts like a penny or nickel to more substantial amounts like a dollar.

You should think about putting together a bankroll that will be able to sustain for as long as you wish to play. That factor will really come into play when you’re dealing with games like Max Action video poker, where bets can be much more substantial. If you want to play the game for a long time, you’ll need to establish a bankroll which can hold up even if you are betting multiple hands in every single round.

Step 2: Deciding Your Bet

When you are playing a normal video poker game, you are usually restricted to between one and five coins per hand. In games like this, it is always recommended that you play five coins. When betting five coins, you get the highest-proportioned payoff for the royal flush, which is the most lucrative hand in all of video poker.

But Max Action video poker creates more decision-making among players in terms of the bet. That’s because it opens the door to you betting six through 10 coins per hand. As the bet rises, so does the proportion of payout for just about every winning hand on the pay table.

When it comes to Max Action video poker, the best way to play the game in terms of your bet is to go for the adjusted maximum wager of 10 coins per hand. Considering that you will be playing either three or more hands at a time and have to bet on all of them, it is not a cheap way to play. For that reason, you should find a machine with a denomination that allows you to make these kinds of huge bets.

Step 3: Playing Your Hand

Video poker works in the same way as the poker card game five card draw. In five card draw, you get a deal of five cards and one chance to improve your hand. With video poker, the process is the same, but you only have to come up with a winning hand that’s determined by the pay table, instead of beating a number of different players at the table.

What are the winning hands that pay back your bet and more? Well, there are many different pay tables that you can play on a Max Action video poker machine, and some of those pay tables include winning hands that are bit different from the norm. But, for the most part, these are the base winning hands in 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)

When you receive your five cards on the deal, you will assess them to decide if you can make one or more of those winning hands. Then, you will be tasked with making a decision about how to pursue the hand. That will come when you pick which cards you want to discard and which you would like to keep.

These decisions will be made based on how much of a possibility it is to make one of the winning hands in Max Action video poker and how much payout you will get if you do. It is a classic risk-reward scenario, and it will come into play in every single hand of video poker. For example, look at this deal:

This deal is especially beneficial because it is already a winner. A pair of jacks will return even money even if you can’t improve them on the draw. But you also have four cards to a straight should you keep everything but one of the jacks. Meanwhile, the jack, king, and ace of hearts constitute three-fifths of both a straight flush and a royal flush, which are the two highest-paying hands in the game on many pay tables.

When we get to talking about a Max Action video poker strategy, we’ll talk about how only one play brings out the best possible return on this hand when it is played hundreds of times. But whatever you decide, you’ll get to drop cards from the hand and have them replaced by others in the deck from which you were dealt. Once you complete this process and the draw takes place, your hand will be over, and any winnings will be added to your credits.

At that point, you can play again by repeating steps two and three. If you run out of credits at any time, you will have to insert more money to continue. Or you can cash out and collect your winnings.

That is how you play one hand at a time. Max Action video poker, however, requires you to play multiple hands at once. Let’s learn how that works.

Multiple Play Video Poker

When you play Max Action video poker, you have to play between three and five hands at a time. And you must make a bet for every hand. Don’t forget we’ve stated that the way to get the most out of this game is to play 10 hands at a time.

That can add up to a lot of money for each round of video poker that you play. For example, a five-hand round of video poker at 10 credits per hand on a dollar machine means that you’ll be betting $50 in one round. Examples like that are why Max Action video poker probably isn’t the best game for the casual player.

When you play multiple hands at once, you will only be receiving one deal. The decisions that you make about what to hold and discard will then be repeated for every hand. Let’s go back to our sample deal to see how this works:

Let’s say that you want to go for the gusto and the possible royal flush, keeping the jack, king, and ace of hearts. Now, let’s take a look at how this might play out at three hands at a time:

Hand 1:

Hand 2:

Hand 3:

On the first hand, you managed two pair. Hand 2 ended up with a flush. Only Hand 3 came up empty.

You would then add up the winnings of the first two hands. Depending on what pay table you chose and how much you bet, you most likely would come away with a nice profit. That’s why multiple play video poker can really pay off when you get a good deal.

Of course, the flip side is that a bad deal could mean you losing three or even five hands all at once. Considering the amount that you might be betting in Max Action video poker, that can really be devastating to your bankroll. You have to weigh the pros and cons of it all when deciding whether this is the video poker game for you.

Max Action Video Poker Pay Tables

Pay tables show you how much you can expect to make for each winning hand. When you talk about Max Action video poker, you are dealing with many different styles of pay tables. On top of that, you have pay tables that are based on both one through five coins played and six through 10 coins played.

Here are the kinds of pay tables that are available in Max Action video poker:

• Jacks or Better
• Bonus Poker
• Bonus Poker Deluxe
• Double Bonus
• Double Double Bonus
• Triple Double Bonus
• Deuces Wild
• Deuces Wild Bonus

Now, let’s start by taking a look at the highest-paying pay tables for some of these variations when betting one through five coins:

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	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 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	200	400	600	800	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)	20	40	60	80	100
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 pairs	2	4	6	8	10
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	50	100	150	200	250
Four aces without any 2,3,4	400	800	1,200	1,600	2,000
Four 2s, 3s, or 4s without any A,2,3,4	160	320	460	640	800
Four aces	160	320	460	640	800
Four 2s, 3s, or 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	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pairs	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Triple Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4,000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, 4 kicker	800	1,600	2,400	3,200	4,000
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s – A, 2, 3, or 4 kicker	400	800	1,200	1,600	2,000
Four of a kind – aces 5s – Ks kicker	160	320	460	640	800
Four of 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	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
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	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	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Tree of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Now, let’s move on to look at Max Action video poker pay tables when you bet between six and 10 coins per hand.

Jacks or Better Pay Table

Coins/Hand	6 Coins	7 Coins	8 Coins	9 Coins	10 Coins
Royal flush	4,000	4,000	4,000	4,000	8,000
Straight flush	500	500	500	750	1,000
Four of a kind	190	250	315	375	500
Full house	55	70	75	80	95
Flush	40	50	55	70	70
Straight	30	40	45	55	60
Three of a kind	20	25	25	30	35
Two pairs	10	10	15	15	15
Jacks or better	5	5	5	5	5

Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hand	6 Coins	7 Coins	8 Coins	9 Coins	10 Coins
Royal flush	4,000	4,000	4,000	4,000	8,000
Straight flush	250	400	500	700	900
Four of a kind (aces)	600	800	1,000	1,200	1,500
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	300	400	500	600	800
Four of a kind (any other)	190	250	315	380	500
Full house	50	60	60	75	100
Flush	35	35	50	60	70
Straight	30	40	45	50	55
Three of a kind	20	25	25	30	30
Two pairs	10	10	15	15	15
Jacks or better	5	5	5	5	5

Double Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hand	6 Coins	7 Coins	8 Coins	9 Coins	10 Coins
Royal flush	4,000	4,000	4,000	4,000	8,000
Straight flush	400	600	700	800	800
Four aces without any 2,3,4	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	8,000
Four 2s, 3s, or 4s without any A,2,3,4	1,200	1,600	2,000	2,400	3,000
Four aces	1,200	1,600	2,000	2,400	3,000
Four 2s, 3s, or 4s	600	800	1,000	1,200	1,500
Four 5s through Ks	375	500	625	750	1,000
Full house	60	65	75	90	100
Flush	40	45	60	60	60
Straight	30	30	40	40	40
Three of a kind	15	20	20	25	25
Two pairs	5	5	5	5	5
Pair of jacks +	5	5	5	5	5

Triple Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hand	6 Coins	7 Coins	8 Coins	9 Coins	10 Coins
Royal flush	4,000	4,000	4,000	4,000	8,000
Straight flush	550	600	600	600	700
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, 4 kicker	6,000	8,000	10,000	12,000	14,000
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s – A, 2, 3, 4 kicker	3,000	4,000	5,000	6,000	8,000
Four of a kind – aces 5s – Ks kicker	1,200	1,600	2,000	2,400	2,800
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 5s – Ks kicker	600	800	1,000	1,200	1,400
Four of a kind – any other	375	500	625	750	875
Full house	55	65	75	75	90
Flush	35	45	50	50	50
Straight	25	30	40	40	40
Three of a kind	10	10	10	15	15
Two pairs	5	5	5	5	5
Pair of jacks +	5	5	5	5	5

Deuces Wild Pay Table

Coins/Hand	6 Coins	7 Coins	8 Coins	9 Coins	10 Coins
Royal flush	4,000	8,000	1,200	1,600	2,000
Four deuces	1,500	2,000	2,500	3,000	4,000
Wild royal flush	160	210	260	310	350
Five of a kind	90	120	150	180	210
Straight flush	75	100	125	150	175
Four of a kind	25	30	35	40	45
Full house	25	30	30	40	45
Flush	20	25	25	25	25
Straight	10	10	15	15	15
Three of a kind	5	5	5	5	5

What you’ll notice when you do a side-by-side comparison of the games is how the proportion of the payout rises as you keep upping your bet. Look at, for one example, the full house payoff on the Jacks or Better pay table. At one through five coins, the pay stays constant at 8 to 1.

But then, look at how it rises when you are betting six through 10 coins. It is no less than 9 to 1. That effect is amplified when you get to some of the even rarer, higher-paying hands like four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush.

These pay tables give you an example of both the strengths and weaknesses of Max Action video poker. On the one hand, you can reach paybacks that just aren’t achievable in many games. But the downside is that you have to bet a lot to get to that point.

Max Action Video Poker Strategy

When playing video poker casually, you don’t need to worry about playing with perfect strategy. But if you want to play often and maximize your winnings, the best way to do that is to learn how to make the right decision for every hold and discard. This might seem like a tricky thing to do, especially considering all the possible hands and all of the possible pay tables in a Max Action video poker machine.

The first thing you should do is to stick with just one pay table that you like and are considering playing. That means that you don’t have to worry about all of other permutations of the other pay tables. And it will make your work much easier.

Once you have that squared away, we suggest one of the following two methods to devise a perfect Max Action video poker winning strategy:

• Strategy Charts: These charts can be found online for every major pay table. They list many different combinations of cards that you can receive on the deal and rank them according to how beneficial they are in terms of the expected value of the hand. By comparing what you have to this list, you’ll know what’s essential in every hand.
• Video Poker Software: By purchasing training software, you’ll be able to play sample hands that are based on any pay table. You will be alerted every time you make a mistake in terms of what you should be holding and what you should be discarding. By playing with this software regularly, all of the right moves will become second nature.

Conclusion on Max Action Video Poker

Max Action video poker, whether you’re playing at a casino or enjoying it at a top gambling site, makes up for what it lacks in complexity with potential winnings. If you bet big, you will be richly rewarded in terms of the payoff. But it can be daunting to play 30 or 50 coins every round of multiple play if you don’t have the budget to handle it.