Guide to Playing Max Out Poker Video Poker
Max Out Poker video poker creates excitement for players who like to bet a little more aggressively. These extra bets open up brand new pay tables for familiar variations of video poker. And these pay tables give you a much better chance of jackpot-style payments than basic versions of the game.
Video poker stands as one of the most beneficial games for gamblers, whether they’re at a casino or using a top gambling website. It combines ease of play with potentially lucrative payouts. And because there are so many different versions of the game, play never has to get stale.
If you’ve played video poker casually before, you might be familiar with Jacks or Better, which is the most basic format of the game. Jacks or Better awards hands based on the frequency they show up during gameplay. The rarer the hand, the more it pays out.
Other Bonus-style video poker games followed in an effort to boost payouts on hands like four of a kind. Players can also choose Deuces Wild video poker games, where twos in the deck are treated as wild cards. There are many different ways to play.
Most of these pay tables give you the opportunity to wager between one and five coins per hand. Pay for each hand tends to go up in proportion to the size of the bet. The only exception is the royal flush hand, which pays a higher ratio for five coins wagered than it does for one through four coins.
Max Out Poker video poker allows you to unlock special pay tables that only come into play when you bet more than five coins. This game gives you the chance to bet six, seven, or eight coins per hand. With the extra bets, you’ll see a drastic difference in some of the payback amounts for top hands.
When you make the extra wager, you open up the possibility for much bigger payouts. Even medium hands pay more with these special pay tables in Max Out Poker video poker. And you can win several times over with a good deal.
That’s because you get an extra hand to play for each extra coin that you bet. You’ll play one hand with the standard pay tables, and up to three more for each extra coin. When you play these hands, you’ll be building off a single deal, as is the case in most multi-hand video poker variations.
That means a great deal can help you win big many times over. On the other hand, a bad deal can cause you a big loss in a hurry.
On top of that, the pay tables for the extra hands do not pay off for the most common winning hands. That also can negatively affect your payback. In short, you’re risking a lot when playing Max Out Poker video poker for the chance to win a lot.
In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Max Out Poker video poker. We’ll explain basic video poker and discuss how the game works with special pay tables. We’ll also explore how you can play this game with expert strategy so you can maximize your possible winnings.
Why People Love Video Poker
It’s always a good idea to start any discussion about a specific video poker game with an explanation of why the game is so popular in the first place. After all, if you’ve never played, you might wonder what all the fuss is about.
First of all, video poker represents one of the easiest games to play in a casino or on a gambling website. One can learn how to play poker within a few minutes. If you’ve played some poker before, you’ll be up and running and with video poker in no time.
On top of that, video poker requires no assistance to play. You don’t need casino employees watching your every move, and you don’t have to deal with loud or nosy customers while playing Max Out Poker video poker. All you need is a machine and some money and you’re good to go!
In that way, video poker resembles slot machines. You’ll see video poker in the same section of the casino as slots. But the similarities end there; most of the differences come out in favor of video poker.
First of all, slot machines don’t require strategy. If you’re looking for a brainless exercise, it might appeal to you. But remember you’ll be entirely at the mercy of luck when you play the slots.
Video poker lets you make an impact on the game with your decisions. Each hand will present you with the choice of which cards to hold and which to discard. Make the right choices and you’ll have a better chance of winning over the long haul.
Video poker, including Max Out Poker video poker also offers probabilities to estimate how often you can achieve winning hands. Slot machines offer none. You won’t know how often winning spins might show up on the screen.
You can also take those probabilities for video poker, combine them with the payouts, and come out with a number known as the payback percentage. Payback percentage tells you the average return that you’ll receive from a specific game and pay table. With slot machines, you have no way of knowing your payback percentage.
On top of all that, the average video poker game offers a solid payback. Compared to the payback of slot machines, video poker easily holds sway. And the most competitive video poker games can also match some of the table games where strategy comes into play as well.
One other big positive for video poker: It stands as the casino game that translates best to online play. Look at the screen of a video poker machine, then look at the screen of a tablet, computer, or phone with a video poker game on it. You’ll see no difference, and the mechanics of play are exactly the same.
Since video poker holds all these benefits, you should learn to play instead of missing out. In the case of Max Out Poker video poker, we’ll get to the more complex aspects of the game with the extra bets.
For now, let’s walk you through a sample hand of basic video poker step-by-step.
Step 1: Create a Bankroll
This step actually precedes the playing of a hand, but you’ll need to do it in order to play video poker for money. The bankroll, which is what you’ll be using to bet, comes from the amount of money you insert into the machine. If you’re playing video poker online, you can create your bankroll by funding your gambling account at a casino website.
When you build your bankroll, it will come out on the screen as credits or coins. You won’t see dollars or cents. Instead, you will get one credit for every unit of the game’s denomination that you’ve covered with your money.
For example, imagine that the video poker machine you’ve found has a denomination of 25 cents. You have $10 to put into the machine. That means you’ll get 40 credits (10 divided by .25) to play.
You should try to create a bankroll that lets you play for as long as you want at your normal pace. Understand that certain games, like Max Out Poker video poker, are high in volatility. You might need to boost your bankroll a bit from its normal amount to prevent from losing it all quickly.
Step 2: Make Your Bet
As we mentioned above, Max Out Poker video poker gives you the chance to bet a little more than the normal video poker amount of one to five coins. We’ll get to that in a moment.
But rest assured, you can play Max Out Poker without the extra bets. If you choose that route, you will simply proceed with the game one hand at a time with the main pay table dictating play.
If you do choose to stick with gameplay in this manner, you should at least try to wager five coins per hand. The payback for the royal flush, the hardest hand to achieve and pays the most, changes drastically in the player’s favor with a five-coin bet.
Ultimately, you will make the choices about how much to bet based on your budget and personal preferences. Keep in mind that you can bet a different amount for each hand that you play.
Step 3: Play Your Hand
If you bet between one and five coins in Max Out Poker video poker, you will be playing a single hand at a time. We’ll get into multiple-play when we talk about making those extra wagers.
We mentioned above that people with a familiarity with Five-Card Draw Poker will able to learn video poker in a hurry. That’s because video poker borrows its basic format. You will be receiving five cards on a deal, then discarding ones you don’t want in favor of drawing fresh cards from the deck.
There are differences though. For one, Five-Card Draw Poker requires you to beat every other player at the table by either having the best hand or betting in such a way that all other players give up.
Video poker only includes one player at a time. If you’re that player, your goal is to make a hand which is considered a winner by the pay table. You will follow the same deal and draw format, but you don’t have to worry about bluffing or beating out other hands.
What are the winning hands that you have to make in Max Out Poker video poker? Well, some pay tables (specifically, wild-card games) have a higher standard for what constitutes a winning hand. But, for the most part, here are the hands that you’ll be hoping to make:
- 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)
Looking at this list, you should take note that hands at the top of the list come up most during gameplay. You’ll have a decent probability of making hands like a pair of jacks or better or two pair.
By contrast, you won’t often have the chance to make hands like the royal flush, the straight flush, or four of a kind. As you move down the list, you’ll notice that the hands at the bottom pay the most.
You will be receiving a five-card deal from the simulation of a standard deck of 52 cards. Each deal is completely random and is independent of every deal that came before it. Don’t make the mistake of looking for patterns as you try to make your decisions.
When you get these five cards, you will assess it to see if there are any combinations similar to the winning combinations listed above. You might be lucky and have a winning combination right off the bat in Max Out Poker video poker. Most likely, though, you will need to improve the hand on the draw.
In their place, new cards will be drawn from the deck which gave you your original deal. That deck will thus have 47 card possibilities for the draw, since you already received five on your deal (52 minus 5 equals 47).
When you make your decision about what to hold and what to discard in Max Out Poker video poker, you have to decide which hands you have a legitimate chance of attaining. You’ll have to weigh that against the potential payouts those hands offer.
You might try to play it safe and attain a hand that’s easy to achieve, even though it might not pay that much. By contrast, there might be deals where it makes sense for you to take a chance on a high-paying hand, even if it might be hard to achieve on the draw.
Some decisions will be obvious. But you might run into certain deals where there are many different possibilities. That’s why it’s important to learn proper strategy, because making the wrong choices cost you.
Once you’ve made your choice, you will push the buttons underneath the cards you want to hold. You might want to hold all of your cards if you are dealt a winning hand right off the bat. Or you might want to discard one through five cards to try to do better on the draw.
After you press the draw button, the machine will complete your hand. It will assess whether you’ve made a winning hand then pay you accordingly. If you want to play more, simply repeat the steps as long as you have credits remaining. You can also cash out your credits at any time.
Let’s move on to the multiple-play, extra-bet feature of Max Out Poker video poker.
Playing Multiple Hands With Special Pay Tables
If you choose to bet either six, seven, or eight coins, you will get to play extra hands. Here is how that would work:
- 5 coins: 1 hand
- 6 coins: 2 hands
- 7 coins: 3 hands
- 8 coins: 4 hands
When you bet at least six coins, you will receive a main hand, which will appear bigger than the rest. However, other hands you have paid for will appear on the Max Out Poker video poker screen in a smaller size.
The key part of this that you have to understand is that you will only receive one deal no matter how many hands you play. You will make the decisions for that deal in terms of what to hold and discard. Those decisions will then carry over to all of the hands you play.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine that you’ve chosen a Jacks or Better pay table from the Max Out Poker video poker machine and you want to bet eight coins. That means you’ll be getting four hands, the main one, and the three extras.
Remember, you’ll still only be getting one deal. Take a look at this example:
The decision here is pretty easy. You have a pair of queens, which gives you a winning hand on the base hand Jacks or Better pay table. The other cards don’t really provide any other possibilities, so you choose to discard them.
As a result, the pair of queens will then show up in all four hands. The remaining three cards for each draw will come from separate decks containing the 47 cards which you didn’t receive on your deal. That means you could conceivably get the same card in two different draws.
Here is how it might play out:
- Base Hand: Three of Clubs, Three of Hearts, Five of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts
- Extra Hand 1: Four of Clubs, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts
- Extra Hand 2: Seven of Spades, Eight of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts
- Extra Hand 3: Two of Hearts, Three of Clubs, Six of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, Queen of Hearts
You can see that the base hand ended up with two pair. Since you bet at least five coins, you would consult the pay table for that hand at that wager and you’ll see that the payback is 10 coins.
In Extra Hand 1, you really hit the jackpot with four of a kind. Normally, four of a kind on a Jacks or Better pay table pays back 125 coins for the max bet. But the extra coins unlock the special pay table, which means that an eight-coin wager brings in 400 coins.
In Extra Hand 2, you managed three of a kind. On the special pay table, that gets you a payout of 24 coins.
Finally, Extra Hand 3 did not improve. On the base pay table, you would get back even money for your wager. But alas, on the special pay table for Max Out Poker video poker, you don’t get any payback for a pair of jacks or better.
Still, when you add up all that you’ve won, you’ll see that you have come up with 434 coins (10 plus 400 plus 24). Even when you subtract the eight coins that you wagered, you still ended up with a 426-coin profit. Not bad at all for a single round of video poker.
Obviously, a good deal in Max Out Poker video poker will really benefit you if you’re playing extra hands. It provides a kind of double-whammy when it leads you into one of the winning combinations where the payoff comes at better odds than at the base pay table.
Betting six, seven or eight hands per round of video poker isn’t cheap. But considering what it opens up for you, you really have to consider it when you play Max Out Poker video poker.
Max Out Poker Video Poker Pay Tables
When playing Max Out Poker video poker, you’ll have the choice of starting play with one of the following pay table variations:
- Jacks or Better
- Bonus Poker
- Bonus Deluxe
- Double Bonus
- Deuces Wild
Each of the top four pay tables on that list differ slightly in what they pay back for given video poker hands. The bonus games tend to pay more for four of a kind hands and less for common hands at the bottom of the pay table. As for the Deuces Wild game, the wild card element puts rare winning hands into play and the pay table is drastically altered from the other four.
You should always notice the pay table first and foremost, no matter the brand of video poker you’re playing. After all, the way the hands pay out will help you choose your strategy. And it will also show what you can expect in terms of payback percentage.
Payback percentage won’t mean too much to you if you are only playing video poker casually. It will also mean less to those who are more interested in big payouts in a hurry than they are in grinding out profit over time. Max Out Poker video poker does indeed give the shot at those high, quick payouts.
But if you’re interested in playing video poker over a long stretch of time with the idea of making a profit, you should know what the payback percentage is for each game. If you play the game for a long time, the luck (or lack of it) that you receive will even out. And the payback percentage will be the best gauge of your return.
A good payback percentage stands at 99% or above. If you make 99% back of your original bankroll, you will have lost only one percent. You can make up for this small amount through loyalty rewards handed out at casinos or top online gambling sites.
Once you fall below that line, it becomes harder and harder for you to make a profit over time. Even betting the maximum eight coins, the best that any of the below pay tables return is 97.1% (for Bonus Poker). That means that Max Out Poker video poker falls short of our threshold.
Again, that might not matter too much to you. But it is something you must consider. Here are the pay tables you will receive if you’re playing one through five coins, or for the base hand if you are paying six through eight coins.
Base Hand Pay Tables
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 | 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 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) | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full house | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| 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 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| 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 |
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 | 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 |
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 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| Full house | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Flush | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Straight | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Three of a kind | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Now, here are the pay tables that you will receive in Max Out Poker video poker if you bet six, seven, or eight coins.
Extra Hand Pay Tables
Jacks or Better Pay Table
| Coins/Hands | 6 coins | 7 coins | 8 coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 12000 | 14000 | 16000 |
| Straight flush | 750 | 875 | 1000 |
| Four of a kind | 300 | 350 | 400 |
| Full house | 102 | 119 | 136 |
| Flush | 30 | 35 | 40 |
| Straight | 24 | 28 | 32 |
| Three of a kind | 18 | 21 | 24 |
| Two pair | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Jacks or better | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bonus Poker Pay Table
| Coins/Hands | 6 coins | 7 coins | 8 coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 12000 | 14000 | 16000 |
| Straight flush | 480 | 560 | 640 |
| Four of a kind (aces) | 1200 | 1400 | 1600 |
| Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) | 480 | 560 | 640 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 300 | 350 | 400 |
| Full house | 84 | 98 | 112 |
| Flush | 30 | 35 | 40 |
| Straight | 24 | 28 | 32 |
| Three of a kind | 18 | 21 | 24/td> |
| Two pair | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Jacks or better | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bonus Poker Deluxe Pay Table
| Coins/Hands | 6 coins | 7 coins | 8 coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 12000 | 14000 | 16000 |
| Straight flush | 750 | 975 | 1000 |
| Four of a kind | 1200 | 1400 | 1600 |
| Full house | 36 | 42 | 48 |
| Flush | 30 | 35 | 40 |
| Straight | 24 | 28 | 32 |
| Three of a kind | 18 | 21 | 24 |
| Two pair | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jacks or better | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Double Bonus Poker Pay Table
| Coins/Hands | 6 coins | 7 coins | 8 coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 12000 | 14000 | 16000 |
| Straight flush | 600 | 700 | 800 |
| Four of a kind (aces) | 2400 | 2800 | 3200 |
| Four of a kind (2s, 3s, 4s) | 960 | 1120 | 1280 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 600 | 700 | 800 |
| Full house | 108 | 126 | 144 |
| Flush | 42 | 49 | 56 |
| Straight | 24 | 28 | 32 |
| Three of a kind | 18 | 21 | 24 |
| Two pair | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jacks or better | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Deuces Wild Pay Table
| Coins/Hands | 6 coins | 7 coins | 8 coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 12000 | 14000 | 16000 |
| Four deuces | 6000 | 7000 | 8000 |
| Wild royal flush | 240 | 280 | 320 |
| Five of a kind | 150 | 175 | 200 |
| Straight flush | 90 | 105 | 120 |
| Four of a kind | 30 | 35 | 40 |
| Full house | 18 | 21 | 24 |
| Flush | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Straight | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Three of a kind | 0 | 0 | 0 |
As you make the comparisons, you can see how the extra-hand pay tables pay off at higher odds for the rarer hands. You can also see the lack of payout for a pair of jacks or better (or three of a kind in Deuces Wild), the most common winning hand in the game.
Those facts really add to the volatility level of Max Out Poker video poker. Be prepared to stake yourself to a big bankroll if you want to stay afloat. The tradeoff is the potential for huge payouts when you get a great deal and are playing the extra hands.
Video Poker Strategy for Max Out Poker
Strategy for Max Out Poker video poker is a little bit trickier than it is for the average game. While you should make the maximum eight-coin bet to keep your payback percentage at its highest level, that also brings the skewed pay tables into play.
Most video poker pay tables stay well within a certain range. You might see a little difference here and there between two Jacks or Better machines. One might pay to 9 to 1 on a full house, for instance, while another might pay 8 to 1.
Yet when you play Max Out Poker video poker and bet those eight coins, you are contending with two sets of pay tables. You have to consider the pay table for your base hand. But you also have to be aware of the one for the extra hands.
And you have to do all this knowing the decision that you make for what cards to hold and discard will be included in all the hands you play. That means you might have to hold certain cards playing for the extra hands knowing the same play might not be ideal for the base hand.
As a result, Max Out Poker video poker doesn’t make it easy for those trying to figure out the math to decide which cards they should be holding and which cards they should be discarding for every single deal. Yet that’s the only way to make sure you attain the maximum payback percentage.
What we suggest is to see if you can find either video poker training software or strategy charts that have been tailor-made for Max Out Poker video poker. In the case of the software, you might be able to buy some that lets you customize play. If that’s the case, you should be able to simulate the differing pay tables and learn all the right moves.
Conclusion on Max Out Poker Video Poker
Max Out Poker video poker lets you choose how you want to play the game. You can keep the bets low and play it safe. You can also raise the bets. And with each coin you raise, you bring your jackpot dreams closer to reality.
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