Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker Guide

Stack the Deck Poker video poker allows players many more chances for rare, high-paying hands than the average video poker game. You need to pay for this privilege by adding two coins onto the maximum bet of five. If you do, the game will add needed cards to the deck depending on what kind of deal you received.

When you play real money video poker, you’re playing a game that’s extremely gambler-friendly. You shouldn’t have a hard time learning, even though you do get to add strategy to the action. On top of that, the payback is as lucrative as some of the best table games.

You also get to choose from a wide variety of video poker games. If you keep it simple, you can play one hand at a time on a simple pay table like Jacks or Better. Or you might choose a more elaborate pay table that gives you better chances at big payouts on a single hand.

If you’re truly adventurous, you might want to try a video poker variation with an extra feature added to it. And Stack the Deck Poker video poker is one of those games with a twist. It’s a twist that will put hands offering big payouts within reach.

First of all, you have to bet a bit more to make this happen. You must bet seven coins to activate the extra feature. The payoffs will only be based on a five-coin bet, although many winning hands will see a boost in payout compared to the normal version of the game.

As for the extra feature, you’ll see it come into play when you get certain card combinations on the deal. If you do, the game will add extra cards to the deck being used for the draw to give you a better opportunity to improve the hand.

For example, if you had three of a kind with fours, the machine might add five more fours in the deck. Your chances of drawing to four of a kind vastly improves.

Having these extra opportunities at big winning hands creates serious thrills playing Stack the Deck Poker video poker. The key is to decide whether these thrills are worth the expensive nature of the game, which, in casinos, only comes in multiple play mode.

In the following article, we’ll explain how Stack the Deck Poker video poker works. We’ll talk about playing a basic hand of video poker and how the extra twist on the game works when applied to multiple hands at once. We’ll also look at what kind of strategy you can use to play the game at its highest level.

Basic Video Poker Play

Stack the Deck Poker video poker represents a version of video poker that’s a bit more involved than the norm. For that reason, it’s a good idea to first learn the rhythm of basic video poker play. Once you do that, you’ll be able to handle a game like Stack the Deck Poker with a little bit more complexity in the mix.

If you’ve never played video poker, consider it a combination of slot machines and table games. But it takes the best elements of those two games. And it does so while allowing you to choose from a great number of variations on the basic game.

Like table games, video poker allows you to implement strategy. That strategy will come from the basic probability math associated with making poker hands. Thanks to this probability, you can also go into a video poker machine knowing exactly what the machine you’re playing is expected to pay you back on average.

In addition, video poker makes for an excellent game to play online. You can find many top variations of the game, including Stack the Deck Poker video poker, as a part of online casinos. And these online versions of video poker look and play just like the casino versions.

Let’s take a look at how to play a basic hand of video poker. Once we do that, we can go into what it looks like to play Stack the Deck Poker video poker with the extra feature enacted.

Step 1: The Bankroll

When you play video poker, you need to insert money into the machine so that you can bet. This money will be your bankroll, which is also the place where the money you win will be collected. If you’re playing online, you’ll need to fund a betting account at the gambling website that you’ve chosen.

Your bankroll will be converted from dollars and cents into credits or coins on the video poker screen. Each of these units will correspond to the denomination of the game you’ve chosen to play.

For example, imagine playing a nickel machine and making a five-credit wager. That wager would be worth 25 cents, since 5 times .05 equals .25.

Step 2: The Bet

Betting in Stack the Deck Poker video poker takes on a bit of a different look than if you were playing just basic, single-hand video poker. For one, you’ll either be playing three, five, or 10 hands at a time if you play the game in the casino. And you have to make a wager for each one of those hands.

On top of that, you have to decide whether or not you’re going to play the game with the extra twist involved. If not, you can bet between one and five coins per hand, just as in most video poker games. And, if you do choose to play the game this way, you should try to bet five coins per hand, since that unlocks the highest pay for the royal flush.

To play with the extra feature, you need to bet seven coins per hand. Let’s take a look at what that means in multiple play mode:

• 3 Hands = 21 coins
• 5 Hands = 35 coins
• 10 Hands = 70 coins

Even at the lower denominations, these bets represent significant financial commitments. These bets bring back the highest payback percentages when you’re playing Stack the Deck Poker video poker. If you can’t afford them, you might be better off finding a lower denomination so that you don’t get short-changed.

Step 3: The Hand

Video poker essentially replicates the style of play of the table game known as Five-Card Draw. You will get five cards on the deal, just as in Five-Card Draw. And, in both games, you get to replace the cards you don’t like with others from the deck.

Your goal is to make the best possible poker hand. In Five-Card Draw, you’d have to beat everybody at the table. But, in video poker, you’ll just try to make one of the winning hands on the pay table you’re playing.

Winning hands can differ depending on the pay table. Wild card games, in particular, feature a different set of winning hands. But, for the most part, you’ll be looking to make one of the following hands:

• 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)

You will first look at your five-card deal to see if you have any of these combinations. Perhaps you’ll have a winning hand right off the bat. If not, you can always improve the hand on the draw.

On the draw, you get to essentially substitute cards in the deck for cards in your deal that you want. You’ll make this decision based on your probabilities of completing winning hands. And you’ll also try to take into account how much each of the winning hands might pay off.

You can keep all of your cards, discard all of your cards, or put together whatever combination of holds and discards you think serves your hand the best. Once you make your decision, you will press the buttons underneath the cards you wish to hold.

The draw will then be completed as the machine will replace your discards with cards from the same deck that provided the deal. That means you’ll be drawing from 47 cards (the original 52 minus the 5 you were dealt).

Each deal and draw are completely random. A random number generator within the software ensures that. Don’t go looking for any patterns in an attempt to predict which cards might be arriving.

Once the draw has taken place, the hand is complete. Your winnings, if any, will be added to the bankroll. At that point, you can continue playing by repeating steps two and three.

You can also cash out at any point. If you run out of credits, the game will be over unless you add some more money to the bankroll.

Let’s now move on to the specifics of Stack the Deck Poker video poker. First, we’ll talk about playing multiple hands at once.

Learning Multiple Play

We talked above in the betting section that you must bet on every single hand you play. In the case of Stack the Deck Poker video poker machines, you’ll have the opportunity to play three, five, or 10 hands at once.

The key to understanding this process is to realize that the multiple hands are all governed by a single deal. Whatever decisions you make about what to hold and discard will be played out over all the hands. Each draw will take place from a separate deck, each containing the same 47 cards (again, 52 minus the 5 you were dealt).

Let’s say that you received the following deal while playing three hands of Stack the Deck Poker video poker at once:

Looking at this deal, you decide that your best way forward is to keep everything but the four of clubs. Doing this gives you the chance to draw either an eight of a king for a straight. Let’s see how the three different draws work out.

Hand 1:

Hand 2:

Hand 3:

In Hand 1, you were able to draw your straight as you had hoped. Hand 2 didn’t provide the straight, but you did end up with a pair of queens, which is a winning hand on most pay tables. Unfortunately, Hand 3 didn’t improve.

Still, you would get paid for Hands 1 and 2 based on the pay table you’re playing. Multiple play video poker truly rewards a good deal. By contrast, a poor deal might cause more damage to your bankroll.

The Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker Extra Feature

Think of the special feature on Stack the Deck Poker video poker as the extra boost you need to get winning hands that might elude your grasp. What the machine does is add extra cards to the draw deck based on what cards you need to fill out a lucrative hand.

Only certain deals will qualify. Here are the deals that qualify by pay table, followed by the cards that will be added to the deck:

Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Bonus Deluxe, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus

• Four of a Royal Flush: Five extra cards of the card that completes the royal
• Four of a Kind: Five extra of the rank involved in the quad
• Three of a Kind: Five extra of the rank involved in the three of a kind

Triple Double Bonus

• Four of a Royal Flush: Five extra cards of the card that completes the royal
• Four of a Kind: Five extra of the rank involved in the quad
• Three of a Kind: Three extra of the rank involved in the three of a kind

Deuces Wild and Bonus Deuces Wild

• Four of a Royal Flush: Five extra cards of the card that completes the royal
• Two through Four Deuces: Four extra deuces

Keep in mind, these cards do not replace cards that are already in the draw deck. In other words, if you have a situation where five cards are being added because of a specific deal in Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker, it will mean there are 52 cards from which to choose on the draw.

Imagine, for example, that you were to receive three eights on a Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker with a Jacks or Better pay table. As per the lists above, five more eights will be added to the deck. The suit of these eights will be whatever suit was left out of your three of a kind.

Normally in that situation, you would have one possible card that you could draw to make the four of a kind out of the 47 left in the deck. But, with the five added in Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker, you instead would have a 6 out of 52 chance of drawing the needed eight. That would put your chances at about 1 in 8 2/3, a much better opportunity than 1 in 47.

Of course, all of this comes at a price. The seven coins you’ll be betting is not cheap. And remember that any winnings are based on a five-coin wager.

For instance, imagine you wanted to play a normal round of video poker and bet five coins on a Jacks or Better table. If you ended up with a pair of jacks or better on the draw, you would receive five coins in return. That’s a breakeven bet, and it is important to get those during video poker to give you more chances at big payoffs.

Now, imagine that you went for the extra feature on Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker and ended up with the same hand on the same pay table. Instead of breaking even, you would end up with a two-coin loss. After all, you bet seven coins and only received five in return.

You have to weigh all of these factors when considering whether to play Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker. As we said earlier, playing with the seven-coin bets will return the highest payback to you if you play the machine over a long period of time. But the high bets will make it harder for you to sustain play on a small bankroll if you don’t end up with some of the higher-paying hands in the game.

Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker Pay Tables

Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker is what is sometimes known in video poker circles as an “umbrella” game. You can attach the special feature to any number of pay table styles. As a result, you can say that those pay tables come under the Stack the Deck Poker umbrella.

For the most part, Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker pay tables look like their counterparts on video poker games without the special features. For example, Jacks or Better still pays off hands directly based on the probability that you will achieve them. But Bonus Poker tables award four of a kind hands at a higher rate than normal.

But there are some interesting differences when it comes to Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker. For example, you’ll note as you look at those tables below the presence of some winning hands not normally found.

First of all, there is the baby royal flush. This is a royal flush with suited cards running in rank from nine through kind.

In addition, you will see five of a kind on the pay tables. Normally, five of a kind is only possible on machines with wild cards. But, with Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker, you can achieve five of a kind even without wild cards because of the extra cards added when the special feature is in play.

On top of all that, you might also notice on the Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker pay tables below that some of the mid-priced hands, such as the full house, flush, straight, and three of a kind, get a boost. These boosts only appear when you play the game with the maximum wager.

For example, take a look at some of the discrepancies on a Jacks or Better pay table.

Hand	Full-Pay Jacks or Better	Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker Jacks or Better
Full house	9 to 1	12 to 1
Flush	6 to 1	11 to 1
Straight	4 to 1	7 to 1
Three of a Kind	3 to 1	4 to 1

These differences help to make the Stack the Deck Poker video poker game competitive in payback even when you’re betting the extra amount. Most of the pay tables below return average payback of between 98% and 99% to the player.

Normally, we would recommend only those games above 99% payback. Such a game minimizes the house edge. But Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker deserves a look because it comes close to those levels and it adds increased opportunities for huge payoffs.

Here are the pay tables that you can expect to see when encountering Stack the Deck Poker video poker in a casino or on a gambling website:

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
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five aces					4,000
Five twos through fours					1,600
Five fives through kings					500
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	12	24	36	48	60
Flush	11	22	33	44	55
Straight	7	14	21	28	35
Three of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
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
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five aces					4,000
Five twos through fours					1,600
Five fives through kings					500
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (Two through Four)	40	80	120	160	200
Four of a kind (Five through King)	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	14	28	42	56	70
Flush	8	16	24	32	40
Straight	6	12	18	24	30
Three of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
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
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five aces					4,000
Five twos through fours					1,600
Five fives through kings					500
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	80	160	240	320	400
Full house	10	20	30	40	50
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	24
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pairs	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

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
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five aces					4,000
Five twos through fours					1,600
Five fives through kings					500
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	13	26	39	52	65
Flush	8	16	24	32	40
Straight	6	12	18	24	30
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pairs	1	2	3	4	5
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
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five aces					4,000
Five twos through fours					1,600
Five fives through kings					500
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four aces w/ 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	10	20	30	40	50
Flush	7	14	21	28	35
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	250	500	750	1,000	4,000
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five aces					4,000
Five twos through fours					1,600
Five fives through kings					500
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	480	640	800
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 5s – Ks kicker	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind – any other	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	12	24	36	48	60
Flush	8	16	24	32	40
Straight	6	12	18	24	30
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
Natural baby royal flush					2,000
Five deuces					4,000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1,000
Wild royal flush	36	72	108	144	180
Five of a kind	14	28	42	56	70
Straight flush	12	24	36	48	60
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus 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
Baby royal flush					2,000
Five deuces					4,000
Four deuces and an ace					2,000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1,000
Wild royal flush	30	60	90	120	150
Five of a kind (aces)	80	160	240	320	400
Five of a kind (three through five)	40	80	120	160	200
Five of a kind (six through king)	20	40	60	80	100
Straight flush	13	26	39	52	65
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Strategy for Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker

When you play any type of video poker, you should be striving to play with ideal strategy. Ideal strategy is based on mathematics. There’s only one combination of holds and discards for each possible deal that will bring the highest expected value to that deal.

In other words, you shouldn’t be trying to make your decisions based on a hunch. You might get away with guessing occasionally based on the luck of the draw. But if you going to play Stack the Deck Poker video poker on a regular basis, you really have to learn strategy to a tee.

And Stack the Deck Poker video poker confuses matters a bit. There are a lot of different pay tables to choose from. You have to tailor your instruction to the pay table you’re playing.

In addition, the extra feature provides some interesting dilemmas. For example, imagine that you receive a full house on the deal.

This is also technically a three of a kind hand. As we showed above, such a hand puts more of the fourth card from that rank into the deck with the Stack the Deck Poker video poker special feature activated.

That leaves you with an interesting choice. If you hold on to the full house, which you would do 100% of the time in most video poker games, you’re guaranteed a nice winning payoff. But it’s not as high as you would get with four of a kind.

On the other hand, if you discard out of the full house, there’s a chance you might not draw the fourth card for the quad, even with the extras in the deck. If that were to occur, you would miss out on the full house and have to settle for the three of a kind. It’s still a winning hand, but it doesn’t pay nearly as much.

In order to learn the strategy involved with all of these twists and turns in Stack the Deck Poker video poker, it’s a good idea to get some help. First of all, you should choose the pay table that you’d most like to play. Then, you should try out one of the following methods of learning perfect play.

Video Poker Training Software

In the case of Stack the Deck Poker video poker, training software might be the better of the two recommendations for you. That’s because the software will often let you not only customize the pay table, but it might also allow you to include something like the extra feature. It will help you when it comes to those tougher decisions that only occur in Stack the Deck Poker.

When you use video poker training software, you have to practice for a while to expect to achieve perfect play. As you practice and encounter difficult decisions, the software will help you out by showing you the right mathematical plays. These correct plays will become second nature to you after a while.

Strategy Charts

The tricky thing with a strategy chart is finding one that’s tailored to Stack the Deck Poker video poker. That includes the twists of the special features. It might be hard to include all of the possible variables in a single chart.

If you simply focus on the pay table, however, you should still be able to come close to perfect play with strategy charts. These charts rank all of the possible combinations you might receive on the deal based on their expected value. When you compare your hand to the chart, you’ll know which cards to hold and discard.

Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker Pros and Cons

Stack the Deck Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Stack the Deck Poker video poker, whether you find it in a casino or at a top gambling website, provides just the right gameplay for those who feel they’re always coming up just short of the most lucrative hands. You can expect to attain some of these elusive winners if you make the extra bet and get other cards put in the deck. Whether or not you can afford to play that way for the long term is something you’ll have to determine.