Video Hold’em Video Poker Guide
Video Hold’em video poker more closely resembles the popular game known as Texas Hold‘em than most other video poker games. You’ll be getting to choose between a pair of two-card deals before receiving five community cards. If you make a winning combination, you’ll receive payback while also getting the chance at several other bonuses.
When people who don’t visit casinos often hear the word “poker,” they might immediately associate it with the game that they sometimes see on television. That particular game is called Texas Hold‘em, and it features players battling it out for big pots of money. If they’ve watched closely, they might see that each player receives just two cards for their deal but also have access to five community cards.
Yet when you play most video poker games in casinos or online gambling sites, the game you see doesn’t really resemble that all. Most video poker games feature a five-card deal and no community cards. Players get to improve their hand by discarding cards they don’t want and drawing new ones.
It might cause some disconnect for people who are used to one thing from television poker and see something completely different in the casinos. If you’re one of those people, Video Hold’em video poker could provide a good alternative. No other video poker game resembles Texas Hold‘em quite as closely.
In Video Hold’em video poker, you get only two cards, just as in Texas Hold’em. And you’ll also be using five community cards. From those seven total cards, you’ll be hoping for a five-card combination that matches with one on the pay table for the game.
The main difference is that Video Hold’em video poker gives you the choice between one of two starting two-card hands. This is pretty much the only choice you’ll have to make when playing this game. It’s an easier version of video poker, since, in the five-card option, you’ll have to choose between 32 combinations of holds and discards.
Video Hold’em video poker also adds other bonuses to perk up the action a little bit. Certain starting two-card combinations will trigger a multiplier. If you can make a winning hand starting from that two-card deal, you’ll have your winnings multiplied by up to 10 times.
In another nod to Texas Hold’em, there is a Bad Beat Bonus available in Video Hold’em video poker. It comes into play when you get a good two-card starting hand but can’t turn it into a winning combination. Such a bonus helps ease the frustration of losing a hand you expected to win.
For many video poker regulars, Video Hold’em video poker might seem odd. You have much less control over the action. In addition, none of the pay tables available for Video Hold’em video poker give too much of an advantage to the player in terms of payback percentage. Still, the game offers the chance for significant payoffs on single hands, which might suit your style if you’re seeking jackpots.
In the following article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about Video Hold’em video poker. We’ll explore how the game is played and we’ll get into the different bonuses that are available. In addition, we’ll talk about how to come up with an ideal strategy while also going into what you can expect in terms of payback percentage for this unique twist on the game.
Why People Enjoy Video Poker Action
Video Hold’em video poker drastically alters the format of what you might call basic video poker. Even if you knew how to play a game like Jacks or Better, you’d need to somewhat adjust to play this game. Luckily, it isn’t a difficult leap to make.
The other good news is that Video Hold’em video poker offers pretty much all of the advantages that can be found in other video poker variations, even the five-card deal kinds. And, as video poker fans go, no casino game is as friendly to gamblers as video poker.
Video poker combines the strategy of table games with the self-contained action of slot machines. And it does so in a fashion where it offers all the positives of those other games without any of the negatives. For that reason, many video poker players won’t play anything else when they hit the casino or an online gambling site.
To illustrate why this is the case, take a look at some of the reasons you should consider video poker as your regular game of chance.
- You can play the game without any hassles from anybody else. All you need to play video poker is the machine (or the online game). There won’t be distractions from other players, casino employees, or anyone else who might ruin your enjoyment or mess up your play.
- You can learn the game in no time. If anything, Video Hold’em video poker is easier to understand than variants like Five-Card Draw, which is easy in itself. In other words, you can be up and playing pretty well within a matter of minutes.
- You can choose the video poker game that suits you best. Some casino games are locked into one mode of play. But there are dozens of different video poker games that you can find in just about any casino or on one of the top gambling websites.
- You can use strategy while playing the game. This might not seem like a big deal, at least until you play slot machines and you find that there is no strategy involved. Having just a bit of control over the action is a reassuring feeling.
- You can estimate your potential payback when playing video poker. By combining your likelihood of making winning hands with the pay table amounts, you can take the guesswork out of the equation. Not to pick on slot machines again, but you have no idea what you can expect in terms of payback from one slot machine to the next.
- You can hope to make money back playing video poker. By choosing the right pay tables, playing with excellent strategy, and earning loyalty rewards from casinos or top gambling websites, you can legitimately hope to earn a long-term profit from video poker. There aren’t too many other casino games that can boast that.
- You can play video poker online and not miss out. Many casino games suffer when played online. But video poker both looks the same and plays the same online when compared to the land-based casino version.
These reasons should give you an idea of why video poker is beloved. It’s time to learn now how to play Video Hold’em video poker so you can take advantage of all those reasons yourself.
How to Play Video Video Hold’em Video Poker
Step 1: Your Bankroll
In most areas, Video Hold’em video poker is very different from regular video poker. But establishing a bankroll is the same process in both games. And a bankroll is a necessary part of the equation.
The bankroll will allow you to make wagers and to collect your winnings. You simply need to put money into the machine to establish your bankroll. If you’re playing online, you need to sign up for a gambling website and fund it so you can begin.
Your bankroll will show up on the screen in units called credits, or coins. These units will directly correspond to the denomination you’ve chosen to use. For example, at a 25-cent machine, one coin equals 25 cents, two equals 50 cents, and so on.
Step 2: Your Bet
This is one of the areas where Video Hold’em video poker begins to vary from other video poker games. For most video poker games, the bet can be between one and five credits. You can bet in that range in increments of one.
But in the case of Video Hold’em video poker, you can bet between two and ten credits. And the bets come in increments of two. In other words, your choices are two, four, six, eight, or 10.
The reason that the betting is higher in Video Hold’em video poker is that you’re paying, in a way, for the special features that add to the payback. Without the extra betting amount, the payback would be well over 100% and the player would have a huge edge. Since casinos would go out of business with such a game, the higher bets are in place.
Step 3: Your Hand
If you’ve ever watched (or played) Texas Hold’em, you know the drill. Two cards are dealt out to each player. And then each player gets to use five community cards in whatever way that provides the best possible five-card combination.
But Texas Hold’em is a game where betting is a big part of the strategy. The community cards are revealed in three stages, allowing for betting in each round. Players are betting either because they think they have the hand to beat or because they’re bluffing.
Video Hold’em video poker is only a one-person game. Even though the five cards are technically called community cards, they’re essentially just a part of your hand alone in this game. And, since you’re the only one at the table, there’s no need to raise bets to bluff others.
The only responsibility you have it choosing between two two-card starting deals. Once you make the choice, you’ll go forward with that two-card hand and combine it with the five community cards. Of course, the community cards won’t be revealed until you decide on your two-card hand, which makes the decision difficult.
Winning Hands
How do you decide which cards to choose out of the pair of two-card hands when playing Video Hold’em video poker? You’ll be looking for the one (out of the two) that gives you the best head start into the community round as you try to make one of the following winning hands.
- 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)
On top of this list are the hands that you can expect to come up with some regularity during gameplay. These hands won’t pay as much as the ones near the bottom of the list.
Of course, the hands at the bottom of the table won’t come up very often during gameplay, if at all. As a result, the rarer the hand, the higher it will pay.
Example Hands of Video Hold’em Video Poker
Your deals in Video Hold’em video poker will come from a simulated deck of 52. This deck is always shuffling, so to speak, thanks to random number generator software inside the game.
As a result, every deal is random. You’ll receive the first two cards on top of the deck for Deal 1 and the second two for Deal 2. Let’s say that you receive the following two two-card deals to start a hand of Video Hold’em video poker.
Deal 1: Four of Clubs, Ten of Hearts
Deal 2: Seven of Diamonds, Eight of Clubs
In Deal 1, you have a pair of cards that aren’t closely connected in either rank or suit. It’s one of the weaker starting hands you might receive in Video Hold’em video poker.
Deal 2 at least provides you with a pair that are connected in rank. At the very least, that gives you a leg up when it comes to a possible straight after the community cards come. As a result, Deal 2 is the better choice. You’ll press the button indicating that’s the hand you wish to play.
Meanwhile, the two cards from Deal 1 go back into the deck, which will then contain 50 cards. After a quick random number generator shuffle, the top five cards in the deck will come out as community cards.
Imagine that these are the five cards that you receive.
Putting it all together, you have the following seven cards in your hand:
Seven of Diamonds, Eight of Clubs, Four of Diamonds, Five of Hearts, Nine of Clubs, Ace of Spades, Six of Clubs
The game will now sift through these seven cards to see what the highest winning combination you have might be, if you have any. In this case, you actually made two straights—the four through eight and the five through nine.
You can only get paid for one winning combination for each hand. No matter what pay table you’re playing, a straight pays off at three coins won for every one wagered (or 3 to 1).
Let’s take a look at another pair of starting deals:
Hand 1: King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts
Hand 2: Four of Diamonds, Four of Clubs
This is a much tougher choice. On the one hand, you have a pair already in place in Hand 2. That puts you in good shape for possibilities like two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind, after the community cards come.
But the king and queen of hearts offer you the chance of a straight flush or even a royal flush. Those are the highest-paying hands in the game.
For the sake of this example, let’s say that you decide on Hand 1. Now, let’s take a look at the community cards.
That gives you the following results.
King of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, Four of Spades, Four of Hearts, Five of Clubs, Ten of Spades, Ace of Spades
Unfortunately, you don’t have any winning combinations in this hand. What’s even more frustrating is that the draw really would have gone your way had you chosen the other starting hand.
Remember that you had a pair of fours. The first two community cards were also fours. You would have ended up with four of a kind had you made the other choice.
This example illustrates how much luck is involved in Video Hold’em video poker. It is certainly more involved than is the case in normal, five-card deal variations of video poker such as Jacks or Better. There is still luck in those games, but you have a little more control with all of the different combinations of holds and discards involved.
Video Hold’em Video Poker Bonuses
Starting Hand Multipliers in Video Hold’em Video Poker
On top of getting paid for winning hands in Video Hold’em video poker, the game also offers you the chance for some bonuses along the way. First of all, you’ll be available for multipliers if you have certain starting two-card hands in place.
The hands eligible for these bonuses are these, with the least valuable at the top to most valuable at the bottom.
- Jack and queen of same suit
- Jack and king of same suit
- Jack and ace of same suit
- Queen and king of same suit
- Queen and ace of same suit
- Pair of jacks, queens, or kings
- King and ace of same suit
- Pair of aces
- Pair of red aces
What makes these hands even more valuable is that they’re excellent starting hands even if you don’t consider the multipliers. In other words, it’s unlikely that you’ll have an empty multiplier, where it gets attached to a losing hand.
The size of the multipliers for each specific qualifying hand is occasionally dependent on the pay table you’re playing. Let’s take a look at an example. Imagine that you receive the following two deals:
Deal 1: Jack of Hearts, King of Hearts
Deal 2: Two of Spades, Seven of Diamonds
Even without the multipliers involved, it’s obvious that Deal 1 is a much better play. If there was a case where you decided against playing the qualifying deal in favor of a non-qualifying deal (which would be an odd choice), you wouldn’t get the multipliers. But here, you’ll choose Deal 1 if you’re at all interested in winning.
Imagine that you receive the following community cards.
Here are your seven cards.
Jack of Hearts, King of Hearts, Four of Hearts, Eight of Hearts, Nine of Hearts, Jack of Diamonds, King of Spades
In this case, you ended up with both a flush and two pair. The flush is the higher-paying of the two, returning 4 to 1 on a Video Hold’em video poker pay table, so that will hold precedent. Assuming you played a maximum wager of 10 coins, you’d be normally getting 40 coins in return for this hand.
But remember that you had a jack and king of hearts to start. And that yields a multiplier of 2x. As a result, your winnings take a jump to 80 coins, which is 40 times 2.
This is one of the bonuses in Video Hold’em video poker that helps to make up for the higher bet than normal. It’s also a reason why the game is volatile, capable of providing quick, significant boosts to your bankroll. But the game also holds a higher potential of draining that bankroll as well.
Bad Beat Bonus
If you’re familiar with Texas Hold’em, you know that a bad beat occurs when a player seems to be on the verge of winning a hand only to lose it at the end due to an extremely unlucky turn of the cards. In keeping with the similarities to Texas Hold’em, Video Hold’em video poker also nods to bad beats with the Bad Beat Bonus.
In essence, the Bad Beat Bonus compensates you if you start with a great deal but don’t end up with a winning hand. Qualifying hands for the Bad Beat Bonus are any pair of face cards or aces.
If you get one of these two-card starts and don’t form a winning combination, you’ll receive the amount of your bet back. It’s basically an even-money payment to soothe the blow of not coming up with what seemed like a sure-thing winner.
In addition, all of the qualifying hands for the Bad Beat Bonus are also qualifying hands for multipliers. Although the multiplier doesn’t apply to the bonus payback, the payback for the bad beat, again, is a nice consolation prize.
As an example, imagine that you received a pair of aces (ace of spades, ace of clubs) as one of your two-card deals. You choose to play it and get the following community cards.
Your total seven-card hand:
Ace of Spades, Ace of Clubs, Nine of Diamonds, Four of Spades, Six of Clubs, Two of Hearts, King of Diamonds
The hand did not turn out as you hoped, as nothing matched up with your pair and no winning combinations formed. But the good news is that the pair of aces qualified you for the Bad Beat Bonus. You would win back your original wager.
The Bad Beat Bonus essentially ensures that there’s no way that you’ll walk away from a great starting hand with nothing. It’s another nice little perk that Video Hold’em video poker brings to the table.
Video Hold’em Video Poker Pay Tables and Payback Percentages
The pay table for Video Hold’em video poker is a bit different than what you might expect than normal video poker. This is because it’s easier to make winning hands with seven cards than with five. As a result, the payback amounts are dialed back a bit for each winning hand.
This is the full-pay (highest-paying) pay table for Video Hold’em video poker that you’re likely to find in a casino.
| Coins/Hands | 2 coin | 4 coins | 6 coins | 8 coins | 10 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush on board | 1500 | 3000 | 4500 | 6000 | 20000 |
| Royal flush | 150 | 300 | 450 | 600 | 2000 |
| Straight flush | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Four aces | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 16 | 32 | 48 | 64 | 80 |
| Full house | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| 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 |
The following multipliers are in play.
- Jack and queen of same suit: 2x
- Jack and king of same suit: 2x
- Jack and ace of same suit: 3x
- Queen and king of same suit: 2x
- Queen and ace of same suit: 4x
- Pair of jacks, queens, or kings: 4x
- King and ace of same suit: 5x
- Pair of aces: 8x
- Pair of red aces: 10x
You’ll note at the top of the pay table is a hand called “royal flush on board.” This occurs when the five community cards form a royal flush, and it will pay off at that massive level no matter what your two-card deal might be. Although such a hand might be a rarity, the payoff stands much higher than most other max payouts in video poker.
This particular pay table pays back at a level of 98.15%. In other words, that is the amount that will be left after your entire bankroll is bet during an average session. The total loss would be 1.85%. That’s a little bit below what we would normally recommend for video poker. A payback percentage of 99% or above is a little more advantageous.
With a payback level that high, you can hope to atone for your losses by earning rewards from casinos or gambling sites. You might even be able to cut out the house edge and earn a profit.
Once you get below that level, it becomes increasingly unlikely that you’ll be able to do that. The full-pay version of Video Hold’em video poker isn’t far below that level. But it is low enough that it might not be suited for long-term play by serious players.
However, in the short term, it can be very advantageous. Because of its high volatility level, it raises the possibility that you could win a large amount in a short period of time. That might outweigh the less-than-ideal payback percentage for some.
Also, keep in mind that payback percentage is something that will only be a factor after you’ve played thousands and thousands of hands. Before you get to that point, your results will be determined by luck more than anything else. This is especially true with Video Hold’em video poker, since it is much more of a luck-based video poker game than other variations.
Other Pay Tables for Video Hold’em
The above pay table isn’t the only one available in the Video Hold’em video poker. Unfortunately, the others, due to lower payback amounts and multipliers in some places, will possess lower expected payback percentages than the full-pay version.
Ideally, you’ll be able to find the full-pay Video Hold’em video poker table in your search. If not, you’ll have to lower your overall expectations.
Here are the other pay tables you might find, along with their corresponding multiplier amounts:
| Coins/Hands | 2 coin | 4 coins | 6 coins | 8 coins | 10 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush on board | 1500 | 3000 | 4500 | 6000 | 20000 |
| Royal flush | 150 | 300 | 450 | 600 | 2000 |
| Straight flush | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Four aces | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 16 | 32 | 48 | 64 | 80 |
| Full house | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| 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 |
- Jack and queen of same suit: 2x
- Jack and king of same suit: 2x
- Jack and ace of same suit: 3x
- Queen and king of same suit: 2x
- Queen and ace of same suit: 4x
- Pair of jacks, queens, or kings: 4x
- King and ace of same suit: 5x
- Pair of aces: 7x
- Pair of red aces: 10x
| Coins/Hands | 2 coin | 4 coins | 6 coins | 8 coins | 10 coins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush on board | 1500 | 3000 | 4500 | 6000 | 20000 |
| Royal flush | 150 | 300 | 450 | 600 | 2000 |
| Straight flush | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Four aces | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four of a kind (any other) | 14 | 28 | 42 | 56 | 70 |
| Full house | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| 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 |
- Jack and queen of same suit: 2x
- Jack and king of same suit: 2x
- Jack and ace of same suit: 4x
- Queen and king of same suit: 2x
- Queen and ace of same suit: 4x
- Pair of jacks, queens, or kings: 4x
- King and ace of same suit: 6x
- Pair of aces: 8x
- Pair of red aces: 10x
Strategy for Video Hold’em Video Poker
When learning about strategy for Video Hold’em video poker, you have to approach it differently than you would basic video poker. In the case of basic video poker, you have to spot the ideal hold and discard out of all 32 combinations possible in your five-card deal. 31 of the 32 possibilities are mathematically wrong and will lower your expected payback.
As for Video Hold’em video poker, you have to pick the right one out of two possibilities. You have a 50/50 shot of getting it right even if you picked blindly. But the more often that you get it right, the better you’ll do in the game in the long term.
The problem is that you might not have the resources to get help with your strategy. Basic video poker can be learned through training methods like video poker training software or strategy charts. But they don’t apply nearly as well to Video Hold’em video poker.
It’s doubtful that you can find software based on Video Hold’em video poker and its two-card deal format. You might have more luck finding a strategy chart on the internet for the game, although, even that would be tricky.
Such a chart would rank every single two-card deal, all 167 possibilities, for value heading into the community card reveal. If you had access to this, you could memorize it (which would take a while). Then, as you play Video Hold’em video poker, you’d refer back to the rankings to compare one two-card hand against another.
You might think that you can use Texas Hold’em card rankings, which are easily found. But they wouldn’t be accurate. This is because Video Hold’em video poker doesn’t reward you in any way for a pair, which can be a winning hand in Texas Hold’em.
Strategic Tips
Since there might not be a way to get exact strategy in place for Video Hold’em video poker, the best you can do is go into play with some rough rules to help you get started.
Any cards that bring on the multipliers are obvious holds. The multipliers will make up a lot of your payback in Video Hold’em video poker. As a result, you should be trying to activate them wherever possible.
Pairs are ideal. These should be held over all else, with the small exceptions of certain suited connectors that put you within reach of a royal flush. Moving from a pair on the two-card hand to a winning combination in the community card round won’t take too much luck.
Look next to suited connectors. These two-card pairings are great because they’re versatile. You can practically make any winning hand with these cards involved.
Suited cards win out over ones with connecting ranks. This is just a simple matter of math. On Video Hold’em video poker, a flush pays more than a straight, so that’s where you should be leaning.
Don’t get carried away with high cards. It’s natural to think of high cards like aces and face cards being valuable, because that’s the way it is in video poker and Texas Hold’em. But since you can’t win with a pair of high cards in Video Hold’em video poker, they lose a lot of their value.
Don’t sweat strategy too much. Because of the impact of the five-card community draw, incorrect strategy won’t be as damaging to you as it would be in five-card video poker. Just do the best you can.
Video Hold’em Video Poker Pros and Cons
- Different way to look at video poker
- Should appeal to fans of the popular Texas Hold’em
- Chances for bonuses in many different ways lead to potentially big payouts
- More of the game is given over to luck
- Learning strategy won’t be easy
- Overall payback percentage isn’t as high as many standard video poker variations
Video Hold’em Video Poker Conclusion
Video Hold’em video poker lives up to its name and gives the closest approximation of Texas Hold’em to video poker players. It also simplifies things to a level that might annoy those who like more control over the action. But the chances for quick, impressive payouts within this game just might overcome any of those concerns.
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