Super Hand Poker Video Poker
Super Hand Poker video poker takes multiple play video poker and gives it quite a twist. For a somewhat substantial extra bet, you get to choose the best of three possible deals. Then, you get to carry that deal forward into the three hands that you’re playing, giving you the best potential for maximum winnings.
Many people are happy with the basic version of video poker known as Jacks or Better. In that game, you play a single hand at a time. For the most part, it’s a simulated version of the home card game known as five card draw. In terms of winnings, they are mostly modest, but you can usually sustain your bankroll if you play the right way.
But many people like the idea of video poker having a bit more action. Games with extra features have been created to put a spin on basic video poker and create more exciting opportunities. It’s also why multiple play games are so popular. They let you play more than one hand at a time, thereby speeding up the action and your chances of winning.
Super Hand Poker video poker actually combines multiple play mode and an extra feature. In this variation of video poker, you can play three hands at a time and choose among many different possible pay tables which are loaded on the game, whether you’re playing online or at an actual casino. The extra feature requires you to double your maximum bet, so this is by no means a cheap proposition.
When you do activate the extra feature for Super Hand Poker video poker, you actually change the way the three hands are played. Instead of getting a single deal, you’ll be getting three. And the best of those deals is the one that will govern the three draws to come.
You have a much better chance of receiving an excellent deal than if you were playing regular video poker. You have the deal going ahead into three hands and the chances of cashing in off that good hand are tripled.
You will need those good hands to come through for you, however, since the ten-credit bet only gets you a five-credit payoff. A few rounds where you come up empty playing Super Hand Poker video poker can really deliver a hit to your bankroll. That’s the tradeoff you have to accept for the chance at the bigger hands.
In the following article, we’ll look at all the ins and outs of Super Hand Poker video poker. We’ll talk about how to play basic video poker, then advance to learning triple play. We’ll also talk about pay tables, strategy, and how the game stacks up compared to other video poker versions.
Basic Video Poker
Why do people who play video poker often rave about it as the best possible casino entertainment? Well, there are a number of reasons. Chief among those is the fact that it takes slot machines and table games, extracts the best elements of both, and creates a hybrid that is fun and easy to play. It also helps that it pays pretty well!
Video poker is often found right alongside of slot machines in the casino, and that makes sense because they are both played by gamblers at a machine in solo fashion. That’s one of the chief lures of video poker over table games. You can play without the interruption or hassle of anybody else at whatever pace you prefer.
But video poker also possesses a big edge on slot machines as well. Slot machines are random, as you have no control over whether you win or lose on a spin. You also don’t know how often winning spins are expected to appear on the game.
By contrast, video poker probabilities are easily understandable because you only have 52 cards from which to choose. With the pay tables and probabilities out in the open, you can make a pretty good estimate about how much each machine will pay you. On top of all that, you can make an impact on each hand of video poker by the decisions you make about which cards to hold and which to discard.
Payback for the average video poker game easily outdistances the average slot machine by several percentage points. The most competitive video poker games can compare with the payoffs of the best table games. All of that adds up to a pretty enviable game to play.
The good news is that the basic version of video poker, once learned, will be close to what you play on all other versions of the game. There might be twists added, as is the case with Super Hand Poker video poker. But if you can play the basic game, you won’t have too much of a hard time moving on to this or any other variation.
With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at how to play video poker at its most basic level:
Step 1: Insert Your Money or Ticket
You need a bankroll to play video poker. This can be established by putting some money in the machine or a redemption ticket from elsewhere in the casino which still has some monetary credit on it. If you’re playing online, creating a bankroll requires you to enter credit card information or come up with some other method of funding.
Your bankroll will be expressed on the machine in the form of credits or coins. Each of these units will be equal to the unit of denomination for the machine you’ve chosen. Most of the machines you encounter will come with a set denomination, such as a nickel or a dollar, while others might let you choose between several denominations.
Divide the amount of money that you’ve inserted by the denomination to determine how many credits that you’ll have. For instance, if you put $10 in a 25-cent machine, divide 10 by .25. You’ll have 40 credits to play.
Step 2: Make Your Bet
In the case of normal video poker, you have the choice of betting between one and five coins. It is always recommended on these machines that you play five coins, which is also known as the “max bet.” Playing the max bet allows you to get the highest odds of payout on a royal flush hand, as you’ll see when we get to the section on pay tables.
In the case of Super Hand Poker video poker, however, you will also have the choice of betting ten coins per hand. Considering that this game only comes in triple play mode, and that you must bet for each hand, that would mean 30 coins every round. While that is expensive, you’ll see that it is a good idea for you to make that extra bet because it increases the overall payback percentage, as do most special features.
Step 3: Play the Hand
Video poker, as we mentioned above, basically takes five card draw poker and simulates it with the software inside the machine. In five card draw poker, you are trying to bear all other players in the game by making the best hand that you can out of a deal of five cards and a draw round where you get to have cards replaced by others in the deck. But in video poker, you aren’t playing against any other players.
Instead, your goal is to make a winning hand out of the cards that you receive. Those winning hands will be listed on the machine. While some games change them up, here are the hands that most commonly reward you when playing video poker:
- Pair of jacks or better
- Two pair
- Three of a kind
- Straight (five cards of consecutive rank)
- Flush (five cards of same suit)
- Full house (three of a kind and a pair in same hand)
- Four of a kind
- Straight flush (five cards of consecutive rank and same suit)
- Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)
When you make your bet on a video poker machine, you will see five cards appear on the screen. Maybe those five cards will constitute one of the winning hands above. But even if they don’t, you can still win the hand.
That’s because there is still another round in the hand. The second round is known as the draw round. In the draw round, you get to discard the cards (if any) that aren’t helping you in your hand and have them replaced by other cards from the deck that gave you the initial deal.
The decision about what to hold and what to discard is the moment where you get to make an impact on whether you win or lose. You have to judge which winning hands you’re going to attempt. This choice will be based on your chances of getting those hands and how much those hands will potentially pay.
In some cases, this decision will be relatively easy. But you might come upon some hands where it is extremely difficult to choose. Take a look at this hand, for example:
Right off the bat, you might notice that you have a pair of jacks. That will pay you back even money on most pay tables. Plus, you might be able to improve it into several more lucrative winning hands on the draw if you drop the three low cards.
But those three low cards have some worth as well. If you really want to go for a big payout, you can keep the three through five of clubs, which give you three cards to a straight flush. The straight flush is the second-most lucrative hand in all of video poker.
On top of that, you have four clubs total in the hand, which is just one shy of a flush. If you were to drop the jack of spades, you might be able to draw one of the remaining ten clubs out of the 47 cards remaining in the deck. That would provide a solid return, not nearly as much as the straight flush but more than the simple pair.
You can see how that decision can get a little tricky. Take a look at our strategy section to learn more about it.
Meanwhile, for this hand, you’ll have to press the “Hold” button for whichever of the cards you decide to keep, if any. Once you do that, push the “Draw” button to see what your replacement cards might be. Your hand is then over and will be scored if you won anything.
Step 4: Play Again or Cash Out
Repeat steps two and three as long as you want to keep playing, considering the credits you have left. If you don’t have any credits left, you’ll need to reload your bankroll. At any point, you can cash out the remaining credits you have and get a redemption ticket.
It really is as simple as all that. For those who have played five card draw before, you won’t have a hard time learning it. And even if you don’t know that game, you can probably learn in just a few minutes and a few hands.
Once you’ve got that down, you’re ready to get rolling with Super Hand Poker video poker. Let’s take a look.
Playing Super Hand Poker Video Poker
The first thing you need to know about Super Hand Poker video poker is that you’ll be playing three hands at a time. This is a game that doesn’t allow you to play only one hand at a time. That’s because the extra feature wouldn’t work without the extra hands in play.
To play the three hands, you need to make a bet for each. If you do what we recommend and bet the extra coins for each hand, it will cost you 30 coins for every single round. That can be expensive even on a smaller denomination, so it is something you have to consider before committing to this game.
In normal triple-play mode, which you can play if you don’t give the extra bet, you would receive one deal. You would make your decisions about this deal as if you were playing a single hand. This decision would then be repeated for three different draws based on that deal.
For instance, let’s take a look at that example deal above again:
Let’s say that you want to play the Jacks and you discard the three low cards. You might then receive the following three draws:
- Two of Diamonds, Six of Hearts, King of Diamonds, Jack of Spades, Jack of Clubs
- Three of Spades, Seven of Spades, Jack of Hearts, Jack of Spades, Jack of Clubs
- King of Hearts, King of Clubs, King of Diamonds, Jack of Spades, Jack of Clubs
The first hand turned out to be a loser. But in the second hand, you received three of a kind. And, in the bottom hand, you came away with a full house.
The machine would score each of these hands and add the winnings to your credits. Notice that you received the king of diamonds on two of the draws. This is because the 47 cards left in the deck are the same for each draw, meaning that you can get the same card in multiple draws based on them.
As you can tell from that hand, which gave you a good deal, basic triple play can really pay off well if you get the cards. But a bad deal really can sting. You’d be looking at a loss of 15 coins if you come up empty on all three draws.
Compare that to how Super Hand Poker video poker works. In this game, you receive three different deals instead of one. You then get to take the best one forward with you.
Let’s say you make the 30-coin wager needed to activate the Super Hand Poker video poker extra feature. That means you will receive three deals on the screen. For example:
- Four of Clubs, Four of Diamonds, Jack of Spades, Queen of Cubs, Ace of Hearts
- Five of Clubs, Eight of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Clubs, Ace of Hearts
- Three of Clubs, Four of Hearts, Eight of Hearts, Ten of Hearts, King of Hearts
The first deal gives you just a pair of fours. Meanwhile, the third delivers a possible flush draw. But best of all is the middle deal, which gives you three of a kind right off the bat.
The Super Hand Poker video poker will automatically choose the deal with the best expected value and make that the bottom hand. You do have the choice to change the bottom hand (the hand which you’ll take into the draws) if you want. But it isn’t something you should consider doing, since the machine is doing the math for you and telling you what the right selection is.
One note on that example above is that you’ll see how the ace of hearts appears in two hands. That’s because the deals come from three separate 52-card decks instead of a single deck.
What happens with Super Hand Poker video poker is that you come out in most rounds with a pretty solid deal. Since that deal is then played out over three hands, you really have the chance to make the most of that deal. And that puts you on the brink of big winnings on a single round, which makes this game perfect who want to win a lot of money in a short amount of time.
Those who want to sustain a bankroll for a long time should probably look elsewhere, however. 30 coins per hand will drain your bankroll fast if you hit an unlucky stretch where you aren’t getting much done even with the three deals.
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 | 30 | 60 | 90 | 120 | 150 |
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 Pairs | 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) | 82 | 164 | 246 | 328 | 410 |
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 Pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Jacks or Better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Triple Double Bonus 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 Aces (with 2, 3, 4) | 800 | 1600 | 2400 | 3200 | 4000 |
Four 2s, 3s, 4s (with Ace, 2, 3, 4) | 400 | 800 | 1200 | 1600 | 2000 |
Four Aces | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
Four 2s, 3s, 4s | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
Four 5s through Kings | 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 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Two Pairs | 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 | 16 | 32 | 48 | 64 | 80 |
Straight Flush | 13 | 26 | 39 | 52 | 65 |
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 |
What astute video poker players might have noticed from these pay tables is that some of the rare hands have had their payouts boosted from normal versions of these games. Some common hands have had their payouts lowered a bit. When you combine those pay table adjustments with the expense of playing the game, it all makes Super Hand Poker video poker a bit of a rich proposition.
On top of that, payback percentages for the game are lagging as well. A payback percentage is an estimation of what the machine pays out on average based on pay tables and probabilities. We generally recommend any video poker game with a payback percentage of over 99%, since that means less than a 1% loss, a total which can easily be erased when you consider bonuses for playing often.
Of the seven different games you can play on a Super Hand Poker video poker machine, only two rise above that threshold. They are Deuces Wild and Triple Double Bonus. Both have payback percentages above 100%, which is highly coveted. So, if you’re going to play this game, try to choose those two at their full-pay levels if you can to maximize your winnings.
Strategy For Super Hand Poker Video Poker
In terms of strategy for Super Hand Poker video poker, you’ll need to either learn the correct plays for seven different games or focus on one or two. Learning correct strategy is very important because it is the only way to max out winnings if playing the game for a long period of time. Otherwise, your incorrect decisions will end up costing you money.
When we talk about correct and incorrect decisions in terms of video poker, we mean that certain decisions give the hand that you’re playing the maximum expected value. The wrong choices will drop that expected value. This really comes into play when you are playing Super Hand Poker video poker long-term.
When playing a short session, you can get away with some wrong decisions because the luck of the draw might bail you out. Over time, that luck will even out and you’ll need to make the right decisions for every single hold and discard for every hand. And this need is really magnified when you consider the triple play mode which governs Super Hand Poker video poker.
First, pick out one or two pay tables on which you want to concentrate. Then look up those pay tables on one of the following two resources for learning perfect video poker strategy:
- Video Poker Training Software: You can buy this software and then customize the instruction based on whatever pay table you wish to play. When you have it installed, this software will let you simulate playing hands of video poker and going through the whole process of choosing which cards to hold and discard. Every time that you make the wrong choice, the software will let you know and inform you of the right one.
- Strategy Charts: You can find strategy charts online for all of the pay tables that are included on the Super Hand Poker video poker machine. The charts rank all of the possible combinations of cards that you might receive on the deal from highest expected value to lowest. When you compare the combinations of cards in your hand to the ones on the chart, you’ll know which cards are the most valuable to keep and which can be discarded. Below is a sample video poker strategy chart:
Pros and Cons of Super Hand Poker Video Poker
- Magnifies the effect of triple play poker by giving you the best chance of a great deal.
- Allows you to choose from many different pay tables.
- Great chances for big payoffs with some hands enhanced on pay tables.
- Very expensive game to play with the extra feature
- One bad round can really hurt your bankroll
- Only some of the pay tables provide recommended payback percentages
Conclusion on Super Hand Poker
When you play Super Hand Poker video poker, either at a casino or on a top casino site, you come away with a really good chance each round of a beneficial deal. Considering you then get to play that deal three times, it really increases the impact. Ultimately, you’ll have to decide whether the hefty bet each round is worth that impact.