Regal Poker Video Poker

Regal Poker video poker changes up the pay table just a little bit from what you might expect from normal video poker games. The change isn’t so drastic that it confuses casual players. But it adds some spice by putting a few extra higher-paying hands into the mix, meaning that, with a little bit of luck, you can win a lot of money in a short amount of time.

The world of video poker is growing all the time. What began as the simplest form of the game, known as Jacks or Better, now encompasses hundreds of different versions of the action. You’ll be able to find games with wild cards, special features, multiple hands at a time, and many other variations.

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Video poker has also branched out to form a strong presence in the online gambling world. You can now find most of the popular casino games at top gambling websites. And you can also find versions of the game that are online-only, meaning they don’t really exist in physical form in casinos.

Regal Poker video poker stands as one of the most interesting of these online games. You can find it at top gambling websites with a little internet searching.

What makes Regal Poker video poker beneficial to players is how it’s a safe game to play while also offering potentially big payback. In terms of safety, you can usually play the game for a long time, even with a small bankroll.

On the other hand, the Regal Poker video poker pay table features payback for four of a kind hands that are raised higher than what you would normally expect in standard Jacks or Better play. Four of a kind hands, while still rare, aren’t as rare as other high-paying hands as the straight flush or the royal flush. As a result, you’ll have more chances for hands where you can win a lot of money in one fell swoop.

On top of everything else, the payback for this game is advantageous. If you play Regal Poker video poker with expert strategy in terms of making the right decisions about which cards to hold and discard, you can expect a very small house edge. By using rewards offered by online casinos, you might even be able to make a long-term profit playing this game, which also makes it a good choice for expert players.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Regal Poker video poker. We’ll explain how to play the game and what the slightly different pay table will do to strategy. And we’ll also look at how much you can expect in terms of payback when playing this game in both the short and long term.

Why People Love Video Poker

Before jumping into any game like Regal Poker video poker, you should have a good understanding of what makes video poker tick. Once you understand the basic format of how to play, you could move on to slightly different versions of the game. And, if you’re feeling confident, you might even want to stray into other areas even more complex than Regal Poker.

What you’ll find as you start to look into real money video poker is that it’s constantly mentioned as one of the most beneficial of all casino games, in terms of what it offers to players. Most casino games are stacked against you in a lot of ways. But video poker starts to tip that balance in the other direction a bit, giving you the feeling that you aren’t working at a huge disadvantage.

Many people look at video poker as a combination of table games and slot machines, and there is a lot that’s correct about that assessment. But when you look at it more closely, you’ll see that video poker offers a lot of the benefits of those games while steering clear of many of the disadvantages. It turns out to be an extremely gambler-friendly concoction.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what you can expect from video poker in terms of the benefits awaiting you.

  • You can play video poker with no interruptions from anybody else. This is obviously true online, where it’s just you and the website you’re dealing with to play the game. It’s even true in casinos, where you don’t have to concern yourself with the hassles brought about by other players or employees.
  • You can learn video poker relatively quickly. That’s the case even if you’ve never played any other kind of poker in your life. As long as you have a rudimentary understanding of a standard deck of 52 cards, you should be up and playing the game in no time at all.
  • You can find just the right kind of video poker game for you. Whether you’re a beginner or an expert, someone who is a bit conservative with their gambling or wants aggressive payback, you’re likely to find a game that suits you best. As we said above, variety is a hallmark of the video poker experience.
  • You will actually be able to make an impact on gameplay. When you’re playing slot machines, you have little ability to do anything except spin the reels and hope that things turn out for the best. But in video poker, you do have some control over the outcome, even if luck is still a big part of the equation.
  • You can find out everything you need to know about a video poker game before you start to play. Probability math will let you know how often you can expect to make winning hands. And the pay table shows you how much you will get paid for those hands, making video poker as transparent as any casino game.
  • You can expect to do well in the payback department playing video poker. Video poker stands near the top of the list in terms of payback percentage. In fact, games like Regal Poker video poker pay back so well that it’s not out of the question that you can eliminate the house edge to some extent.
  • You can play video poker online without losing any part of the experience. When you play video poker at a top gambling website, the sights, sounds and gameplay will be very similar to what you can expect from a casino. On top of that, you can find the same kind of video poker variety at these sites as you could at a casino.

As you can see from this list, there is a lot to love about video poker. Now that you know all that, it’s time to learn how to play Regal Poker video poker.

Playing Regal Poker Video Poker

Step 1: Your Bankroll

You can’t play Regal Poker video poker for real money without a bankroll in place. This bankroll will be the place where you collect your winnings. And it will also be the way that you can make wagers so that you can win money in return.

When you’re playing an online game like Regal Poker video poker, you’ll need to sign up with a website that offers the game. You’ll then have to fund your account with a credit card or other alternative methods. If you’re playing video poker in a casino, a bankroll is created by simply putting money into a machine.

Your bankroll will be rendered on screen in units, sometimes known as credits or coins. These units will have a direct relation to whatever denomination you’ve chosen to play. You might be able to play with small denominations like a penny or nickel, or it could go much higher than that to games where the denomination is a dollar or more.

As an example of how this works, imagine you’re playing a Regal Poker video poker game where the denomination is a quarter. You make a bet of five coins. That means you’ll be betting $1.25 (which is 5 times .25).

Step 2: Your Bet

Regal Poker video poker is standard in the betting department in that it gives you the option of betting between one and five credits per hand, in one-coin increments (in other words, you couldn’t be 1 ½ credits). You can change this up every single hand if you choose. Another way to play is to constantly hit the max bet button, which will put down a five-con wager and activate the deal all at once.

There is actually an advantage in betting the full five coins (the max bet) per hand. And that’s because of the payback for the royal flush. As you’ll see, the royal flush is the rarest winning hand in the game, but it is also the highest-paying hand.

When you bet one through four coins and hit the royal flush, your payback will be 250 coins for every one that you bet. For example, if you bet four coins, you would get 1,000 coins in return.

But if you were to bet five coins and hit the royal flush, that payback would jump to 800 to 1. For a five-coin wager, that means that you’d be getting 4,000 coins in return. That is the biggest possible jackpot you could earn playing Regal Poker video poker.

Many players will avoid the max bet because they’re trying to save their budget. But in truth, you are hurting your potential payback if you don’t bet the max. You might not think a royal flush is possible, but if you play video poker long enough, odds are you’ll hit one, maybe more, somewhere during your game play.

If you really feel like betting five credits per hand is too hard on your budget, you should switch to a game with a lower denomination. This would keep the best possible payback for the royal flush in play while dropping the size of your bets.

One other note on betting, once you decide on your wager and signal the deal to start, the amount that you bet will be immediately deducted from your bankroll. If you lose the hand, the bankroll won’t change since you already have had the amount deducted.

Step 3: Your Hand

A hand of video poker plays out similar to a hand of the card game known as Five-Card Draw Poker. In both games, you’re trying to make the best possible five-card poker hand. To do that, you’ll get five cards on the deal, hold certain cards and discard others, and draw new cards to replace the ones that have been discarded.

But those who play Five-Card Draw know that winning a hand means beating everyone at the table. To do that, you either have to have the best hand, or you have to stay in the hand until everyone else drops out. The latter method might require you to bluff the other players into thinking that you have a better hand than you do.

But in Regal Poker video poker, you’re the only person at the table. All you have to do is make one of the winning combinations listed on the pay table and you’ll win some money in return. When you’re playing Regal Poker, these are the winning combinations you’ll be trying to achieve:

  • Pair of jacks or better
  • Two pair
  • Three of a kind
  • 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)

These hands are listed from the easiest to achieve, on top, to the most difficult to achieve, on the bottom. As you move down the list, these winning combinations pay more and more. In other words, the more unlikely it is that you’ll form a specific winning hand, the less it will pay.

This contrast is at the heart of all decisions you have to make when playing video poker. There will be times when it’s more advantageous to go for a sure-thing winning combination, even though it might not pay that much. And there will be other times when you should try for a rare, high-paying hand, even when your chances of it aren’t great, because of the potential reward.

Getting the Deal

Once you have all of the preliminaries of bankroll and betting out of the way, five cards will appear on your screen. These cards will come from a digital deck of 52 that includes the same cards you would find in a standard deck.

It’s important to know how that process works. There’s a random number generator within the software of Regal Poker video poker that ensures each deal is completely independent of all that came before it.

In other words, you won’t be able to spot any patterns or trends in these deals. If you think you did, it will have been merely coincidental.

Understanding that will keep you from making decisions about which cards to hold and discard based on anything other than probability. You’ll look at the five cards that you receive and see if there are any winning combinations either fully or partially formed. Even if you don’t have a winning combination on the deal, the draw is still coming and can provide you with that you need.

But first you have to decide which cards to hold and discard. Let’s take a look at an example hand to see how that process works.

Sample Regal Poker Hand

Imagine that you receive the following five cards on the deal:

Four of Diamonds, Four of Clubs, Five of Clubs, Six of Clubs, Seven of Spades

There are no winning combinations in this deal. But there are numerous “seeds” for winning hands within these particular five cards. You have to decide which ones are worth pursuing, which will decide which cards you’ll hold and discard.

For example, you have a pair of fours. That’s short of the jacks or better you need for a pair to be a winner. But it can be turned into two pair, three of a kind, a full house or even four of a kind with the three cards you’d be getting on the draw.

You might notice that you have four cards in consecutive rank with the four through seven. These four cards leave you just one shy of a straight. If you were to discard one of the fours and drew a three or eight, you’d end up with a straight.

Finally, you have the four, five, and six of clubs. If you were to hold just those cards, you’d be open to many possible winning combinations, including the high-paying straight flush. The drawback to this would be that you would need two cards to go your way on the draw to form a winner, instead of just one as in the other two possibilities.

You have to decide which of the potential winning hands will be easy to make on the draw. But you also have to keep in mind the potential payback. It’s a matter of risk vs. reward in every decision you make playing Regal Poker video poker.

Getting the Draw

Once you’ve made your decision about what to hold and discard, you’ll touch the screen or click the icons corresponding to the cards you want to hold, if any. You’ll then activate the icon for the draw.

The draw will take place with the 47 cards remaining in the deck after the five cards you received on the deal have been removed. These 47 cards will also be subject to the “shuffling” of the random number generator, meaning that your results will once again be completely random.

When you activate the draw, the cards you’ve discarded will be replaced and the hand will be complete. If you have a winning combination, coins will be added to your bankroll according to the pay table. As we said above, your bet will already have been deducted from your bankroll at the start of the hand.

That’s how video poker works. And you can continue playing hands in this fashion as long as you have money in your bankroll to make your bets. Repeat the necessary steps for as long as you wish to continue.

You can also cash out at any time. This is an easier process in a casino, where you simply hit a button and receive a redemption ticket. To do the same on an online gambling site, you need to find out the withdrawal procedures to see how to collect your winnings.

Now that you know how to play Regal Poker video poker, it’s time to look at what makes the game unique. And that starts with the game’s pay table.

Regal Poker Video Poker Pay Table

We mentioned above that one of the chief benefits of video poker is how transparent it is. And a big reason for that transparency is the pay table.

On the surface level, the pay table shows you what you can expect to earn from each winning hand. But it should also point the way to proper strategy. And, as you’ll see, the pay table indirectly reveals other important aspects of video poker games, such as volatility and payback percentage.

Let’s start by taking a look at the pay table for Regal Poker video poker.

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 (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 8 16 24 32 40
Flush 5 10 15 20 25
Straight 4 8 12 16 20
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 2 4 6 8 10
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5

How do you read a Regal Poker video poker pay table? Follow the rows for the winning hands over to the columns for the amount of coins bet. The number where they intersect is the payback for each.

For example, imagine that you bet five coins on Regal Poker video poker and managed two pair. Follow the “2 pairs” row over to the “5 coins” bet and you’ll see that the number 10 is there. That means you’ve won 10 coins.

Keep in mind that the size of the bet is included in that payback amount listed. In that case, then, your profit is five coins, since you would deduct the five coins that you bet.

From the Regal Poker video poker pay table, you can see the importance of wagering five coins in terms of the royal flush. You’ll also notice that all other payback amounts rise in direct proportion to the size of the wager made.

Without any context, the Regal Poker video poker might not mean that much to you, especially if you’re somewhat of a newcomer to video poker in general. For that reason, let’s take a look at the pay table for Jacks or Better, which is the most common of all video poker games:

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 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 pairs 2 4 6 8 10
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5

When you compare this to the Regal Poker video poker pay table, you’ll immediately notice the difference in four of a kind hands. On the Jacks or Better pay table, there is no distinction in the payback for four of a kind in terms of the rank of the hand involved.

But you’ll see that the Regal Poker video poker pay table offers a little bit more for four of a kind with twos, threes, and fours involved. And it pays back even more for four aces. Four fives through kings pays back the same as all four of a kind hands on the Jacks or Better pay table.

As a result, you’ll get a few more opportunities for high-paying hands in Regal Poker video poker than you do in Jacks or Better. For those who like the idea of making a lot of money in a small amount of time, this is a real positive.

Obviously, the Jacks or Better game pays back for the full house and the flush. But keep in mind that the pay table listed above for Jacks or Better is the highest-paying one for any of the machines that might host the game. Many other Jacks or Better drop the payback for the full house and flush down to the 8/5 level.

Let’s take a look at another pay table that’s relevant. This is for a game called Double Double Regal Poker video poker.

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, 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 pairs 2 4 6 8 10
Pair of jacks + 1 2 3 4 5

Here is a game that goes much further than Regal Poker video poker in terms of payback for four of a kind. But take a look at the bottom of the pay table and you’ll see that two pair pays off just even money. On the Regal Poker pay table, two pair earns you 2 to 1.

This is a huge factor in terms of keeping the game’s volatility low. In other words, getting that payback for two pair will help keep your bankroll sustained while you wait for the high-paying hands. As a result, you can play Regal Poker video poker for a long time on a relatively low bankroll.

Most other games that raise the payback for four of a kind do as Double Double Regal poker does and drops the payback for common hands. That raises the volatility quickly. It’s a big trade-off for the chance at high-payout hands.

With Regal Poker video poker, you don’t have to make that kind of tradeoff. You can get away with playing for a long time on a short bankroll. But you still have access to the kind of high-payback hands that are ideal for those looking for jackpots.

Regal Poker Video Poker Payback Percentage

While volatility is a short-term concern, payback percentage is what decides how you perform in the long-term on a specific video poker game. It’s calculated by taking the probability of making winning hands on the pay table and combining it with the payback for those winning hands. The resulting figure gives an estimate of what you can expect to return from your bankroll at the end of an average session.

The break-even mark for payback percentage is 100%. In other words, you would be returning 100% of your bankroll after all of the money that you have in it has been bet. Anything above 100% means you’d be making a profit.

Most games have a payback percentage under 100%. Subtracting the payback percentage from 100% is how you calculate the house edge. Ideally, you can find games that minimize the house edge.

The good news is that Regal Poker video poker is just such a game. It comes in at an average payback of around 99.2%. This is above the 99% level we recommend that you seek from video poker games, especially if you’re hoping to make a profit.

Anytime you come in with a payback percentage of over 99%, it means the house edge is under 1%. The losses are minimal in that scenario. And with the rewards you can earn for signing up for gambling websites or betting a lot, you could conceivably overcome those losses.

Regal Poker video poker fits that requirement. When you consider it does so while also offering relatively low volatility and increased four of a kind payback, you can see how it all adds up to an above-average video poker game.

Keep in mind that the payback percentage does not necessarily predict what your results will be. This is especially the case if you’ve only played a game like Regal Poker video poker for a short time. In that case, luck will be the ultimate decider.

For example, you might play 20 hands of Regal Poker video poker and not win one of them, which would put your payback. Or you might hit a royal flush in your first hand, which will send your payback percentage skyrocketing into the thousands.

Yet as you play the game more and more, the luck of small samples will begin to even out. The more you play, the closer your results will look to the payback percentage. That’s why games like Regal Poker video poker, with high payback percentages, are so valuable to serious video poker players who want to try and grind out profits over the long haul playing the game.

Strategy for Regal Poker Video Poker

We just mentioned that Regal Poker video poker features a very advantageous expected payback percentage. But you have to realize that only expert players will achieve those results in the long haul. To match that 99.2% payback percentage, you’ll need to make the correct choices every time that you play a hand of Regal Poker video poker.

Every time that you receive a deal, you’ll be able to create 32 different combinations of holds and discards. Only one of those combinations unlocks the hand’s highest earning potential. That is the play that you should be making every time you get that deal in Regal Poker video poker.

It’s important to understand that strategy, much like payback percentage, should be thought of in the long term. In the short term, luck will play havoc with the results.

What do we mean? Let’s go back to our sample deal from above.

Four of Diamonds, Four of Clubs, Five of Clubs, Six of Clubs, Seven of Spades

We mentioned above that there were three different possibilities that jump out at you when looking at this hand in terms of possible ways to play it.

  • Hold the pair of fours
  • Hold the four through seven (discarding one of the fours)
  • Hold the four through six of clubs

Let’s say that you get this deal in a round of Regal Poker video poker and that you decide to hold onto the four through six of clubs. The draw comes and you receive the following:

Three of Clubs, Four of Clubs, Five of Clubs, Six of Clubs, Seven of Clubs

You drew a straight flush, one of the highest-paying hands. That might make you think that you made the correct choice. But, in actuality, the correct mathematical play would be to hold the pair of fours.

If you received this deal hundreds of times and constantly held onto the four through six of clubs, your results in terms of payback would be worse than if you held the fours. Again, the luck would even out. Probabilities and payback would win out.

Getting Help With Strategy

How could you possibly know the math for all of the deals you might receive while playing Regal Poker video poker? Unless you were some kind of genius, you couldn’t. And it would certainly slow game play to a crawl if you tried to figure the math out for every deal that you get.

That’s why it’s a good idea to get some assistance when playing Regal Poker video poker to learn the right strategy. Others have done all the math by using computer algorithms to run the results of all the different deals and potential holds and discards. They’ve condensed those results so that you can get the benefit of their work.

For that reason, we suggest that you use one of the two recommended methods below for learning proper video poker strategy for Regal Poker video poker.

Strategy Charts

Strategy charts provide the quickest fix for learning video poker strategy. You just have to memorize the contents of a list to get all the information you need. That might take some time, but the effort will be worth it in the long run.

These charts rank all of the possible combinations of cards that can come to you on the deal. By breaking them up in this way, you’ll be able to spot the most valuable combination you have in every deal that you receive. As a result, you’ll know what to hold and discard.

Video Poker Training Software

Training software is an excellent method of instruction for those have the time to do a lot of practice. It is also the preferred method of training if you’re new to video poker in general. It will help you get used to the rhythm of play.

With training software, you’ll play out sample hands based on the particular pay table that you have input. When you make choices about what to hold and what to discard, the software will let you know if you’re right or wrong. After a while, you should be able to tell the right plays from all the instruction you’ve received.

Pros and Cons of Regal Poker Video Poker

Pros

  • Excellent overall payback percentage
  • Nice payback for four of a kind hands
  • Volatility is still kept on the low side
Cons

  • Lesser payback for full house and flush hands
  • Straightforward play might bore some adventurous types
  • Strategy has to be adjusted from basic Jacks or Better

Regal Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Regal Poker video poker combines high-payback potential with steady play to create a solid combination. There aren’t a lot of fancy bells and whistles attached to the game. But in terms of the bottom-line results, it’s one of the best online video poker games you can choose.