A Guide to Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker takes normal video poker action and spices it up with some exciting features when you double your bet. They allow you to win nine hands at a time and add multipliers.

You can find different types of video poker at your local casino. You’ll find both basic poker games and some exciting variants. This applies to the video poker section at online gambling websites, too.

If you want to keep it simple, look for Jacks or Better. It’s one of the easiest pay tables to understand. It basically pays off according to the likelihood of a hand occurring, with rarer hands paying better. Gameplay is also pretty simple, since the game basically mimics Five-Card Draw.

Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker assumes you have a basic understanding of video poker. It provides a pair of interesting features that require you to increase your normal bet substantially. If you do, you open yourself up to the possibility of much higher payments in a single round.

First of all, you’ll essentially be playing nine hands of video poker at a time, even though the screen looks like normal Triple Play video poker. From those three lines, five-card combinations are pulled from different directions. The end of a round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker looks like a slot machine.

A maximum bet of 10 coins also gives you the chance for multipliers. Each winning hand provides a multiplier on that same pattern. Get another winning hand and more multipliers will come your way. The action in Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker is fast and furious. And it can seem confusing when you see it for the first time. But you’ll still be making decisions about what to hold and discard.

In this article, we’ll tell you everything about Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. We’ll explain how video poker works and the twists of this variation. And we’ll also talk about pay tables and strategy.

How to Play Basic Video Poker

Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker actually looks a lot more confusing than it really is. The multipliers are pretty easy to understand. And the different combinations produced by the “Spin” portion of the game pretty much work themselves out without you having to worry too much.

Still, it’s a good idea to go into the game with a basic idea of how to play video poker at its most basic level. And it’s a good idea to understand why video poker is such a great game for gamblers. Here’s a list of some of the advantages:

• It’s easy to learn.
• You don’t need anyone else to play, allowing you to play at your own pace.
• You get to use strategy, which means you get to impact whether you win or lose.
• Playing card probabilities will reveal your likelihood of coming up with winning hands.
• You’ll be able to tell how well one machine compares to another in terms of payback.
• Payback generally outranks what you can expect from slot machines and also compares very well with the payback of table games.
• Online video poker play at top gambling websites provides basically the same experience as if you were playing in a casino.
• There’s a great variety of styles and types of games available to you.

These are just a few of the reasons why video poker is so beneficial to you, the gambler. Let’s learn the steps of playing a hand so we can then tackle other aspects of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker.

Step 1: Your Bankroll

Your bankroll will come from the money that you insert into a machine at the start of play. If playing online, you’ll create your bankroll by funding a gambling account at a gambling website. In either case, your bankroll will be rendered on screen as units called credits or coins.

Each of these units will correspond to a unit of the denomination you’re playing. For example, 10 coins on a 25-cent machine equals $2.50 (10 times .25).

Step 2: Your Bet

At the most basic level of video poker, you’ll be betting between one and five credits per hand. But Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker features a different wagering structure.

First of all, you’ll be betting nine hands at a time because of the spin format. You’ll have the chance to bet between one and five credits if you choose to play without the multipliers. But if you do want to have a shot at the multipliers, you’ll need to bet 10 credits per hand.

If you don’t play with the multipliers, you’ll be betting between one and five coins for each of the nine hands. We recommend you bet five coins per hand if you play the game this way. This will ensure you get the highest payback for the royal flush, as you’ll see when you look at the pay tables below.

Step 3: Your Hand

As we said above, video poker basically replicates the format of the table game Five-Card Draw. It captures the same rhythm of deal, discard, and draw that you get when you play Five-Card Draw.

The big difference is that video poker is a one-person game. You’re just trying to make one of the winning hands as determined by the pay table you’re playing.

Different pay tables possess different requirements for what constitutes a winning hand. But, for the most part, you’ll be trying for one of the following hands in 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)
• Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)

You’ll see five cards on the screen once you make your wager and hit the “deal” button. These cards come from a simulated deck of 52. The cards will appear for each deal at random thanks to the software in the machine constantly shuffling them.

Once you get your deal, you’ll start looking for one of the combinations above. But you don’t have to have one on the deal to come up a winner. You still have the draw to make your best hand.

On the draw, you get to acquire new cards from the deck in exchange for ones that you choose to discard. This choice is the moment when you get to display strategy in video poker.

You’ll be trying to hold cards that you think will help you on the draw. This depends on the cards remaining in the deck (47 of them after the deal). And it also depends on the potential payout for the winning hands you have a chance of achieving.

Once you make your decision, you’ll press the buttons you want to hold. You’ll then hit the “draw button.” Any discarded cards will be replaced and the hand is complete.

That’s how you play a single hand of video poker. As you’ll see, the decision-making process for Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker is essentially the same as what we just described. But there are a lot of interesting elements that get added to the picture.

The Spin Part of Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

You’ll sometimes hear Spin video poker described as a combination of video poker and slot machines. That’s not quite accurate, as you’re still basically playing video poker by deciding what to hold and discard. It’s just the look and the way the cards are scored that owe something to a slot machine.

When you play Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker, you’ll see three lines on the screen. The deal will appear on the middle line. You will make your decisions about what to hold and discard as you would in single-hand video poker.

Let’s say that you receive the following deal in a round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker:

You have a pair of interesting possibilities here. On the one hand, a pair of queens is a winning hand already on most video poker pay tables. If you hold on to them, you could hope to improve the hand on the draw to two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind.

You also have three of the five cards needed for a straight, a flush, or ever a straight flush with the four, six, and seven of diamonds. That’s another way you can go.

Let’s say that you choose the pair of queens. You will then carry those queens into the top and bottom lines on the screen.

The draw will take place on all three lines from the 47 cards left in the deck. Unlike common multiple play video poker, there are not three separate decks of 47 involved in the draw when you play Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. In other words, you can’t possibly draw the same card on two different lines.

What also separates Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker from multiple play is the fact that there will be other five-card combinations that are scored besides the three horizontal lines. There are nine combinations total. They are:

• Top Row
• Middle Row
• Bottom Row
• Upward “V”
• Downward “V”
• First and Second Card in Row 1, Middle Card in Row 2, Fourth and Fifth Card in Row 3
• First and Second Card in Row 3, Middle Card in Row 2, Fourth and Fifth Card in Row 1
• First, Third and Fifth Card in Row 2, Second Card in Row 1, Fourth Card in Row 3
• First, Third and Fifth Card in Row 2, Second Card in Row 3, Fourth Card in Row 1

Hands one through three are what you would expect. But the other six resemble what you would see when playing three reels of a slot machine at a time. Those patterns often form winning combinations on the slots even if the straight horizontal lines don’t.

Let’s take a look at how the draw might work out for the sample deal, remembering that you held on to the pair of queens.

• Top Line: Queen of Diamonds, Five of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Hearts
• Middle Line: Nine of Hearts, Nine of Spades, Ace of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Hearts
• Bottom Line: Nine of Diamonds, King of Spades, King of Diamonds, Queen of Clubs, Queen of Hearts

You might be able to tell that you’ve done well with the horizontal lines. But how about with the other combinations? Here are how the nine five-card hands play out in this round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker (the numbers correspond to the positions as they are listed above):

• Three of a Kind
• Two Pair
• Two Pair
• Full House
• Three of a Kind
• Three of a Kind
• Pair of Queens
• Pair of Queens
• Pair of Queens

As you can see, you ended up with a winning combination for every line and pattern in this round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. Your winnings would be the sum of all the payback for those nine hands according to the pay table.

That kind of hand will quickly offset the hefty bet needed to play Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. And it will also trigger a ton of multipliers, as we’re about to learn.

The Ultimate X Part of Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

Whenever you see an Ultimate X game, you have to realize that the “X” stands for the multiplier. And multipliers do just what they say. If you have, for example, a 5x multipliers on a hand that would normally pay off 20 coins, you would instead earn:

5 times 20 coins = 100 coins

In Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker, you earn multipliers for any winning five-card combination that you achieve. The multipliers are applied to the same position on the screen for the following round.

The size of the multipliers depends on the pay table you’re playing and the winning hand involved. Let’s take our example from above and see how this all works.

Imagine that you were playing a Jacks or Better pay table and you came up with those nine winning combinations from the sample round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. Here’s what the multipliers would look like:

• Three of a Kind = 4x
• Two Pair = 3x
• Two Pair = 3x
• Full House = 12x
• Three of a Kind = 4x
• Three of a Kind = 4x
• Pair of Queens = 2x
• Pair of Queens = 2x
• Pair of Queens = 2x

Those multipliers come into play on the next round. Let’s see how the math might work out. Imagine that you achieved the following in the next round, with the normal payout for a Jacks or Better pay table included for the winning hands.

• Nothing
• Flush = 30 coins
• Nothing
• Three of a Kind = 15 coins
• Nothing
• Flush = 30 coins
• Nothing
• Three of a Kind = 15 coins
• Pair of Jacks or Better = 10 coins

Now, let’s see how much the winning hands pay with the above multipliers attached:

• Hand 2: 30 coins times 3 = 90 coins
• Hand 4: 15 coins times 12 = 180 coins
• Hand 6: 30 coins times 4 = 120 coins
• Hand 8: 15 coins times 2 = 30 coins
• Hand 9: 10 coins times 2 = 20 coins

When you add all that up, you end up with a total of 440 coins. Taking into account the 90-coin wager for the hand, you made a profit of 350 coins.

On top of that, you would have more multipliers coming to you in the five positions where you scored winning combinations for the next round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. In that way, the game provides an interesting kind of carryover that can really be beneficial to you.

Of course, the other side of the coin is that a losing round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker can really hit your bankroll hard. Losing 90 coins all at once is the equivalent of losing 18 hands in a row in normal, single-hand video poker. That’s why the game is a bit of a bumpy ride.

One note on Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker: You should always try to walk away from the machine, if you can, on a round where you lose all nine combinations. If you leave after scoring one winning hand or more, you will be leaving multipliers unused. Try to get every bit of juice out of the multipliers before calling it quits.

Pay Tables for Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

Consider games like Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker to be umbrella games. You can fit all of the top pay tables in video poker underneath the umbrella. In that way, you can choose the kind of video poker play you prefer.

For example, conservative players might want to balance out some of the volatility that’s found in Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker by playing a Jacks or Better pay table. Jacks or Better is the best table for you if you’re trying to stay afloat for a long time on your bankroll. On the other hand, it limits your jackpot potential.

Bonus pay tables might be to your liking if you’re hoping for the jackpots to come your way. These pay tables allow for boosted payouts for four of a kind hands. The longer the name of the Bonus table, the more you can expect from those quad hands.

Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker also allows you the chance to play wild card pay tables like Deuces Wild. In the case of Deuces Wild, all four twos in the deck of 52 are designated as wild. As a result, they can be changed into whatever cards in the deck make your hand the best.

All of the specific families of pay tables will have several variations available, depending on where you find your Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker machine. Ideally, you’ll be looking for the full-pay versions of each.

By full-pay, we mean that it’s the version of the pay table that offers the highest payback percentage on average. The higher the payback percentage, the less the house edge will be.

But that luck will even out for those who play the game often. When it does, it will be important that you’re playing the pay tables that pay you back the most. And, as we said above, one way to maximize your percentage is to make the full 90-coin wager for each round of Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker.

Here are the full-pay tables available on Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker machines:

Jacks or Better Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	8	16	24	32	40
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	40	80	120	160	200
Four of a kind (any other)	20	40	60	80	100
Full house	7	14	21	28	35
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus Poker Deluxe Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	80	160	240	320	400
Full house	8	16	24	32	40
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Double Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four aces w/ any 2,3,4	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four 2s, 3s, or 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	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Triple Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, 4 kicker	800	1600	2400	3200	4000
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s A, 2, 3, or 4 kicker	400	800	1200	1600	2000
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	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 pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Deuces Wild Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	20	40	60	80	100
Five of a kind	12	24	36	48	60
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
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

Deuces Wild Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces with an Ace	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five aces	80	160	240	320	400
Five 3s, 4s or 5s	40	80	120	160	200
Five 6s through Ks	20	40	60	80	100
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	3	6	9	12	15
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	1	2	3	4	5
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Strategy for Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

Even though Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker has some interesting extra features, the strategy doesn’t differ all that much from the most basic video poker. You’ll still be making decisions the way you always do. After that, the extra features take over and are really out of your hands for the most part.

But you still have to learn how to make the right selection about what to hold and discard. That’s no easy task. It requires that you coax the highest expected value of each possible deal.

What do we mean by expected value? Well, imagine that you played a video poker machine that gave you the same five-card deal every single hand that you play. There would be one combination of cards that would produce the highest return based on the probabilities and payback for each winning hand.

As you might expect, figuring out the right play for every deal is a tough process. Even if you have a good hold on probability, it’s likely there will be some deals which leave you stumped about the right play.

Making the wrong selections about what to hold and discard will lower your payback percentage in the long run. You might get lucky on the draw now and again if you make the wrong selection. But eventually, those wrong choices take a toll on your payback.

Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker also complicates things a bit by including a lot of different pay tables. There are certain deals which should be played differently depending on which pay table you’re playing. Check out this deal as an example:

If you were playing a Jacks or Better pay table, the right play would be to hold on to the two pair. You’re ensured of 2 to 1 payback. And you might draw to a full house.

How can you learn all of these different combinations for the different pay tables? Well, first of all, you should probably narrow it down to a one or maybe just a few pay tables that you plan on playing on an Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. That will lessen the load of learning you’ll have to do.

Once you’ve done that, try some methods for learning Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker instruction.

Video Poker Training Software

Using training software will ensure that you learn perfect video poker play. You just have to realize that it might take a while. With software, you basically learn by doing, playing sample hands, and learning the right plays when confronted with a tricky deal.

It’s a good idea to invest in software that allows you to customize the instruction based on the pay table involved. You’ll also want to choose software that gives you different ways of learning the information. Some people prefer to play random hands, while others want to look at specific deals they might not know how to play.

Strategy Charts

Strategy charts provide a faster fix when it comes to learning the proper strategy for Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker. You can find charts for all of the pay tables listed above with relative ease if you do some online searching. Once you find the chart you need, you can memorize the contents to take the information with you when you play.

To use a strategy chart, you’ll compare the cards in your deal to the ranked list of card combinations on the chart. The combinations are ranked in terms of their expected value. Therefore, you’ll be able to tell which cards you need to hold and which can be discarded from each deal.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

Advantages of Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

• Two popular variations combined into one
• Basic strategy isn’t really affected
• Multipliers can really boost your winnings if you get on a hot streak

Disadvantages of Ultimate X Spin Poker Video Poker

• Extremely expensive version of video poker
• One bad round can severely dent your bankroll
• Pay tables are somewhat depressed to compensate for extra features

Conclusion on Ultimate X Spin

Ultimate X Spin Poker video poker might be one of the most exciting real money video poker variations available. You might have a hard time wrapping your head around what’s going on when you play a round. But you can watch your winning skyrocket if the cards go your way.