How to Play Split Way Royal Video Poker

Split Way Royal video poker creates a second opportunity for players hoping to reap the biggest payback on the entire pay table. When you play this game, you can earn royafl flush payback in two different ways. You can do it in the normal fashion, but you can also get it done with a two through six of the same suit.

Video poker is known for the outstanding variety it offers to players. You can play the game in Jacks or Better fashion, or you can branch out a little bit and try one of the variations on that basic format.

What variation you choose will depend on the gambling preferences that you have. There are special features, wild card-play and unique pay tables. You can also find video poker games that allow more than one hand at once.

With Split Way Royal video poker, the difference that is possesses is subtle. But it still has a major effect on game play and how you’ll get paid back. It all has to do with the royal flush, which is the highest-paying hand in most video poker games. It’s the most difficult winning hand to achieve in the game.

In the vast majority of video poker variations, a royal flush is achieved when you end up with a 10, jack, queen, king and ace of the same suit. But, as the name implies, Split Way Royal video poker gives you a different way of achieving this hand. You can get it with a two, three, four, five, and six of the same suit.

We can call the royal flush with two through six the “low royal flush” and the one with 10 through ace the “high royal flush” to differentiate. And when you achieve either one of these hands in Split Way Royal video poker, you get the same enormous payback.

For those who play video poker with the intent of striking with a big, quick payoff, Split Way Royal video poker should be right up your alley. Royal flushes in basic video poker are exceedingly rare. They’re still pretty rare in Split Way Royal video poker, but at least you have a slightly better chance of them showing up with the low royal flush in your play.

Split Way Royal video poker also features a slightly boosted payback for four of a kind from what you can expect from Jacks or Better. The end result is a pay table that is a bit top-heavy. And you can expect play to be somewhat volatile as a result.

Yet the overall payback for Split Way Royal video poker is quite solid. If you can withstand the long droughts between high-paying hands, you can expect an extremely low house edge. For those seeking the best possible bottom line, that is very good news indeed.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Split Way Royal video poker. We’ll show you how to play the game and how the second royal flush will impact your bankroll in the short and long run. And we’ll also talk about how you can devise expert strategy to learn the play the game at an elite level.

Why Video Poker Is Beneficial to Gamblers

We said above that variety is one of the hallmarks of the world of video poker. Split Way Royal video poker proves in part how this is so. With just a slight change in the pay table, the game takes on a completely different outlook.

Regardless of what video poker game you happen to be playing though, you’re likely to find the game quite enjoyable. More than that, video poker is one of the rare casino games that gives some advantages to the player. Most of these games are stacked against you from the beginning, but video poker provides some hope for success in addition to the brisk, enjoyable game play.

Video poker combines many of the key facets of slot machines and table games. What emerges from that combination is a game that is extremely beneficial to gamblers in many ways. It filters out the negatives from those other games and only includes the positives.

Don’t believe us? Take a look at what you can expect from a session of video poker and decide for yourself.

• Video poker is a game played solo. For those who enjoy privacy and autonomy while gambling, this is idea. When you play video poker, you don’t have to worry about the actions of anybody else such as casino employees or other gamblers.
• Video poker comes in all shapes and sizes. We talked above about the video poker variety waiting for you in casinos and gambling websites. You should have no problem finding a game that is just right for what you want out of your gambling action.
• Video poker can be learned in a hurry. There is really only one decision that you have to make when playing a hand of video poker, making it much less involved than most other casino games. Even if you’re a complete newcomer, you should be able to learn it in a snap.
• Video poker lets you have some control over what happens. Too often, people think video poker is just an offshoot of slot machines, which are also one-person games. But slot machines have no strategic element involved, which can be frustrating for those who want to make an impact on whether they win or lose, something that video poker allows them to do.
• Video poker provides utter transparency. Winning hands are achieved based on unchanging probability and payback comes from the pay table. Knowing all this can provide you with all the statistical information to understand the kind of return you can expect.
• Video poker offers extremely competitive payback. Compared to slot machines, video poker games are much more lucrative for players in the long run. In fact, it ranks with the best table games in that department.
• Video poker is a game that translates well to online play. If you played a game like Split Way Royal video poker online, you’d notice very little difference from if you were playing it in a casino. The sights, sounds and gameplay would essentially be the same at top real money online casino.

This list should tell you all you need to know about the benefits of video poker in general. Now we can look at the specifics of Split Way Royal video poker game play, from how to actually play the game to the impact of its special pay table.

How to Play Split Way Royal Video Poker

Step 1: Establishing Your Bankroll

You’ll need to create a bankroll to make wagers and collect your winnings playing the game. If you’re playing Split Way Royal video poker in a casino, you’ll simply put money or a redemption ticket into the slot on the machine. Online players have to create an account at a gambling website, from which they can allot funding for a session of video poker.

Your bankroll will usually be rendered on the screen in units known as credits or coins. These units will be directly related to the denomination you’ve chosen to play. For example, five credits wagered on a 25-cent machine would mean a wager of $1.25 (5 times .25).

It’s important to realize that Split Way Royal video poker, as we’ll show you, is a high-volatility video poker option. We’ll explain what that means as we go on, but for now, just know that it means you might have to play with a robust bankroll in place. Otherwise, you run a big risk of losing it all in a hurry.

Step 2: Making Your Bet

You might not realize it if you’re a beginning player, but betting is actually a part of video poker strategy. Do it right, and you’ll be maximizing your potential winnings. But do it wrong and you’ll be costing yourself money.

In the case of Split Way Royal video poker, it is pretty standard in the betting department. You can bet between one and five credits per hand, in increments of one credit apiece, which is the setup for most video poker games. It’s up to you if you want to bet the same amount every hand or change it up each time.

If you make one of those two royal flush hands and bet only one through four coins, your payback will be 250 to 1. But if you get a royal flush, high or low, with five coins wagered, the payback jumps to 800 to 1. All other winning amounts on a Split Way Royal video poker move up directly in proportion to the amount wagered.

In most video poker games, it’s important to go with the max bet every hand. That importance is magnified in Split Way Royal video poker, because you’re going to have a better chance of that huge payoff. The impact of betting incorrectly will hurt your potential payback more than if you were playing other video poker games.

If you find that a five-coin wager per hand is too much when playing Split Way Royal video poker, you should think of lowering the denomination and then going with the max bet. Doing so will keep the ratios for payback in place while also lowering your financial burden each hand. That will allow you the opportunity to fully enjoy a royal flush when you get one.

Step 3: Playing a Hand of Split Way Royal Video Poker

Once you have the preliminaries of bankroll and betting out of the way, you’ll be ready to play a hand of Split Way Royal video poker. And what you’ll find is that the action is very similar to what you would expect if you were playing the card game known as Five-Card Draw. The actions that you take as a player are basically the same.

In both video poker and Five-Card Draw, you get five cards to start. You can keep cards from your deal for your final hand and discard the ones you don’t want. A draw will take place to replace your discarded cards and complete the hand.

But there are differences. Five-Card Draw often features several betting rounds which are part of the strategy. In addition, the only way you win payback is by beating everybody else at the table.

As we’ve said above, video poker is a one-person game. There’s no worry about beating anybody else, so you can concentrate solely on your hand. And the only bet you make is the one though five coins at the start of the hand.

How then do you win at video poker? You have to make one of the winning combinations on the pay table. Here is what you’ll be trying to achieve when playing Split Way Royal 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)
• Low royal flush (two, three, four, five and six of the same suit)
• High royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king and ace of the same suit)

As you can see, this listing of hands includes both the high and low royal flush. These are the two ultimate goals you’ll be trying to achieve on any hand of Split Way Royal video poker.

On that list above, the hands at the top of the list are the easiest to achieve. But they also pay the least. As you move down the list, you’ll see how the hands become harder and harder to achieve even as they pay a lot more.

And that’s the interesting contrast that comes into play when you’re playing Split Way Royal video poker and trying to come up with strategy. You have to decide when to go for a low-paying hand that might be easier to accomplish. And you’ll have to know when it’s smart to go for a high-paying hand, even if it means a higher risk of losing the hand.

The Deal

Five cards will appear on your screen at the start of a hand of Split Way Royal video poker. These cards will come from a simulated deck of 52.

That deck is always being shuffled behind the scenes by the game’s software, waiting for you to press the “deal” button to get the top five cards. This process ensures that each deal is random. It prevents any trends or patterns from emerging, so don’t go looking for them.

Once the deal is made, the remaining 47 cards once again are shuffled non-stop. This continues until the draw, when you’ll receive the top cards. How many will depend on how many cards you discard.

The Decision

When you see the five cards on your screen, you’ll start the process of deciding which (if any) you want to hold and which you want to discard. The cards you hold will be part of your finished hand. And the ones you discard will be replaced on the draw.

Your goal is to make one of the winning hands on the Split Way Royal video poker pay table. That means deciding which cards to keep to help you get one of those hands if you draw certain cards. And it also means taking into consideration the payback for the winning hands within your grasp.

Let’s take a look at a sample deal of Split Way Royal video poker to see how this process works. Imagine that you received the following five cards on the deal.

There are no winning combinations in this deal. But you’re not too far off from several winning combinations, depending on what you get on the draw. You just have to decide the direction you want to go.

On the one hand, you could hold onto the pair of fours. You’d be drawing three cards in that instance, giving you many possibilities to improve your hand. Potential winning combinations that could come out of holding the pair include two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind.

Another option would be to hold on to the four hearts. That leaves you just one more heart on the draw away from a flush, which is a solid, mid-priced payout. Of course, if you go in that direction, you’d be eliminating the chance at achieving anything on the pay table higher than a flush.

One more possibility is to hold just the two, three, and four of hearts. With these suited connecting cards, you’d be within reach of a wider variety of winning combinations. You’d even have a shot at the low royal flush, which is pretty much available only in Split Way Royal video poker.

As you can see, video poker often comes down to judging the risk versus the reward. Holding the pairs gives you the best chance at some return, but the return might not be that high. And you’re taking the biggest risk of losing the hand by playing the two, three, and four of hearts, but the possible payoff could be massive.

The Draw

Once you make your decision about what cards to hold (if any), you’ll press the buttons for those cards. You’ll then hit the draw button to finish off the hand. Discarded cards are replaced by others from the deck of 47.

If you’ve formed a winning combination, you’ll receive the amount on the pay table for that hand corresponding to how much you wagered. Your bet will have been deducted at the start of the hand, so you won’t lose any more at that point if you don’t make a winning combination.

You can continue playing video poker in this manner by simply repeating the steps listed above. If at any point your bankroll is emptied, you’ll have to replenish it to keep playing. Or you could redeem the credits in your bankroll at any point as well.

That should give you all the information you need to know about Split Way Royal video poker. Now, it’s time to look at the pay table and see how the idea of two royal flushes affects the payback for this game.

Pay Table for Split Way Royal Video Poker

It’s always important that you locate the pay table before playing any video poker game. The pay table is the most important piece of information you can have. You can use it to compare one type of video poker to another.

In the case of Split Way Royal video poker, the key difference to the pay table is the inclusion of the low royal flush. That will really affect everything severely, from the payback percentage to the volatility of the game to the strategy you have to use. We’ll explore how as move forward.

Let’s take a look at the pay table for Split Way Royal video poker.

Coins/Hand	1 Coin	2 Coins	3 Coins	4 Coins	5 Coins
High royal flush	250	500	750	1,000	4,000
Low royal flush	250	500	750	1,000	4,000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	40	80	120	160	200
Full house6	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
Nothing	0	0	0	0	0

As you look at this pay table, you can see what we talked about in terms of the importance of betting five coins per hand. Notice the jump in payback for both royal flushes from four to five coins bet. This should give you a visual illustration of why you should be going with the max bet on every hand.

Let’s look at some other common for video poker pay tables for context and contrast.

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

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 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	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

Bonus Poker Deluxe 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	80	160	240	320	400
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	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

First up is Jacks or Better, which is the most common of all video poker games, both in casinos and online. The Jacks or Better pay table, like the others below it, does not offer special payback for a low royal flush. That lessens your chances for a jackpot-style payoff.

But Jacks or Better pays off a robust 9 to 1 for a full house. Compare that to the 6 to 5 you’ll get for that hand when playing Split Way Royal video poker. It’s a sharp difference on a hand that will come up occasionally.

Next up is Bonus Poker. Bonus Poker games are known for increasing the payback for four of a kind hands when compared to Jacks or Better. Split Way Royal video poker does the same, so it’s understandable to compare it to Bonus Poker.

Bonus Poker splits up the payback for four of a kind depending on the rank involved. Four aces pay more than they do for Split Way Royal video poker, but four fives through kings pays less. Thus, the overall difference there is negligible.

Bonus Poker, like Jacks or Better, gets the better of Split Way Royal video poker on the full house. But, like Jacks or Better, there is just the high royal flush involved.

Considering that it also features 9 to 1 for the full house, you might wonder why anyone would consider Split Way Royal video poker over it. Look toward the bottom of the pay table and you’ll see.

Split Way Royal video poker, like the Jacks or Better and basic Bonus pay tables, offers 2 to 1 on a two pair hand. But for Bonus Deluxe, you’re looking at only even money for that hand. Considering how often that hand will likely show up during game play (about once every 10 hands or so), you’ll be glad you’re not getting short-changed on it with Split Way Royal.

As you can see, these pay tables are similar in a lot of ways. But the Split Way Royal video poker stands out with the second royal flush. Much of the overall payback for the game will lie in those two royal flush hands.

And that’s why Split Way Royal video poker is a high-volatility game. You’ll be relying on rare hands to boost your bankroll. In the stretches where that doesn’t happen, your bankroll could drop rapidly.

As a result, your bankroll will soar at times and sag at others. And its fortunes will change in a hurry. That is the hallmark of a volatile game.

Whenever you’re dealing with a high-volatility game, you have to make sure to boost your bankroll to account for it. We talked about that above and how you could run the risk of losing the entirety of your bankroll if you don’t make the adjustment. If you hope to make the most out of Split Way Royal video poker, you have to make sure you stay afloat for one of those royal flush hands.

Split Way Royal Video Poker Payback Percentage

We just told you about the volatility of Split Way Royal video poker. But for those players who are planning to play the machine (or online game) often and can come in with a big enough bankroll, volatility won’t matter as much. If you fall into that category, you should be much more concerned with the game’s payback percentage.

Payback percentage measures how much you can expect to return from your initial bankroll on average. And that last part of the sentence, “on average,” is the key to understanding it.

When you play video poker in short bursts, your results will be a byproduct of luck more than anything else. You could hit a royal flush early on and your bankroll could soar. Or you could get stuck in a rut of losing hands, one that drains your bankroll in a mighty hurry.

But after time, the luck involved in these short sessions will even out. The results you get will be based on the probability of achieving winning hands and the payback tied into these hands. Combining these factors yields the payback percentage.

In terms of payback percentage, a good one for video poker is one that sits at 99% or over. That would mean that the house edge is 1% or less.

In the case of Split Way Royal video poker, the payback percentage sits at an enviable 99.8%. This ranks it among the higher payback percentages in all of video poker. You should jump at playing this game if you want to be a serious player in search of profits.

Yet the structure of Split Way Royal video poker requires great patience for you to achieve these winning totals. Without factoring in royal flush payouts, your percentage sits closer to 96%. And 96% is actually pretty skimpy.

There is no guarantee you’ll see one of those royal flushes right away. The main point to stress is that you’ll have to have the kind of bankroll in place to withstand some of the rougher patches. If you can manage that, Split Way Royal video poker is the kind of game where you can actually eke out a profit in the long term, assuming you know how to play the game with ideal strategy.

Strategy for Split Way Royal Video Poker

As we just mentioned, the only way that you can hope to earn the maximum amount playing Split Way Royal video poker is to play the game with perfect strategy. That means making the right mathematical decision every hand that you play. It sounds tough, but not so much if you get some help.

And that’s the key. Many novice video poker players think that they can make the right choices based on having played a little poker in the past or just by figuring it out as they go. They don’t realize that, on certain deals, the choice isn’t so cut and dried.

When you get a five-card deal, you’ll have 32 possible choices in terms of the combinations of cards you can hold and discard. Just one of those choices is the right one, the one that will unlock the hand’s ultimate potential.

The problem with trying to learn this on your own is that you could be swayed by results that you get into the wrong strategy. For example, let’s go back to the sample hand we dissected above:

As we said, you can play this deal several different ways. One of those possibilities was holding all four of the hearts and going for the flush. Imagine that you saw this deal for the first time playing Split Way Royal video poker and you decided to go in that direction.

The draw takes place and this is the result:

You managed to make the flush as you wanted. Going forward, it’s likely that you’ll play this hand the same way if it comes up again. As a matter of fact, your instant success might convince you that this is the right way to play the hand every time.

In actuality, if you were to play that hand over and over hundreds of times, your best results would be gained by holding just the two, three and four of hearts. The main reason for that is that you are giving yourself a chance at the low royal flush and the big payback that comes with it.

Ultimately, the best play for every possible deal has to be determined by the math combining the probabilities and the pay. And that’s impossible to calculate correctly for every deal in the heat of the game. Even if you could, you’d be playing so slowly it would lose its value.

Instead, you can get some help to achieve perfect play on a Split Way Royal video poker machine. Let’s take a look at two resources you can use that have already done all the math and have the results ready and waiting for you to learn.

Video Poker Training Software

This is a good way to learn Split Way Royal video poker strategy if you’re a complete newcomer to video poker. Not only will you get the strategy down, but you’ll also get the feel for how to play video poker in general. You’ll get the hang of betting, pressing the right buttons and so on.

In terms of how it teaches strategy, video poker training software essentially uses trial and error. You can play sample hands of Split Way Royal video poker and will be faced with choices about what to hold and discard. The software tells you when you’re right and, more importantly, it tells you when you’re wrong so that all the right plays become second nature.

Strategy Charts

If you’re a more experienced video poker and are specifically interested in strategy for the Split Way Royal video poker pay table, you should try a strategy chart. You’ll be able to learn the strategy as soon as you can memorize the chart. It might take some time, but perfect play will be worth it.

You’ll see on the chart a list of all the potential winning combinations of cards you might get on the deal. These combinations will be ranked based on the potential value they provide going forward into the deal. Once you know all of that, you’ll be able to tell on each deal you receive which cards you should be holding.

Pros and Cons of Split Way Royal Video Poker

Split Way Royal Video Poker Conclusion

Split Way Royal video poker puts you much more within reach of the highest-paying hand in all of video poker. That means you’ll have to rely on that hand to get you through. If you can handle the volatility, the payback you can earn makes this an excellent choice.