Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Double Double Bonus, or Full-Pay Deuces Wild — the one common video poker game a perfect player beats (100.76%) — five coins. Pick a pay table, tap the cards you want to hold, and draw. The coach scores your hold against all 32 possible holds using the exact expected value of every draw from the remaining 47 cards on the table you chose, so it is right on every hand including the odd ones (Bonus and DDB change which quads to chase; Deuces Wild rewrites the whole strategy around wild cards). Four pay tables in one page, free, no ads, no account, nothing to install, and a play-money credit balance that carries over between visits.
Deal a hand. Hold cards by tapping them. Draw, and the coach tells you the best hold and what yours cost.
For each of the 32 ways to hold a dealt hand, the trainer deals every possible replacement from the 47 unseen cards, pays each result on the pay table you picked, and averages. That is the exact expected value (EV) of the hold, in coins won per coin bet. The best hold is the one with the highest EV. Your cost on a hand is the gap between the best hold and yours; over a session the total cost, divided by hands, is how far you sit below optimal for the game you are playing. Because the payouts differ, the best hold differs: on Double Double Bonus a single ace is worth holding over some draws that Jacks or Better would fold, because four aces with a low kicker pays 400.
Two habits produce most of the cost. Holding a "kicker" with a pair (never right in Jacks or Better). And breaking a paying hand for a draw when the draw is worth less: a made flush is worth 6, four to a royal is worth about 18, so you break the flush; but a made straight against four to a straight flush stays, because the straight flush draw is worth about 3.
| Hand | Pays (per coin) |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 (4,000 for 5 coins) |
| Straight flush | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 25 |
| Full house | 9 |
| Flush | 6 |
| Straight | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 |
| Two pair | 2 |
| Jacks or better | 1 |
The "9/6" is the full house and flush payouts. Optimal play returns 99.54% on this table. The same game paying 8/5 returns 97.30%, and 6/5 returns 95.00%; before you sit down, read the full house and flush lines. The royal only pays 800-to-1 at five coins (it is 250 per coin at fewer), which is why the trainer assumes max coins. Play a lower denomination rather than fewer coins.
| Hand | Pays (per coin) |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 |
| Straight flush | 50 |
| Four aces | 80 |
| Four 2s, 3s or 4s | 40 |
| Four 5s through kings | 25 |
| Full house | 8 |
| Flush | 5 |
| Straight | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 |
| Two pair | 2 |
| Jacks or better | 1 |
Bonus Poker pays a premium for four aces (80) and four low cards (40) in exchange for a cheaper full house (8) and flush (5). Optimal play returns 99.17%. The strategy is close to Jacks or Better but leans a little harder toward keeping low pairs and single aces, because the quad bonuses reward chasing them.
| Hand | Pays (per coin) |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 |
| Straight flush | 50 |
| Four aces + 2, 3 or 4 kicker | 400 |
| Four aces + any other kicker | 160 |
| Four 2s, 3s or 4s + A, 2, 3 or 4 kicker | 160 |
| Four 2s, 3s or 4s + any other kicker | 80 |
| Four 5s through kings | 50 |
| Full house | 9 |
| Flush | 6 |
| Straight | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 |
| Two pair | 1 |
| Jacks or better | 1 |
Double Double Bonus is the high-variance favorite: four aces with a low kicker pays 400 (2,000 for five coins), but two pair pays only 1, which is where the return leaks. Optimal play returns 98.98%, and the strategy genuinely differs — the kicker matters, so with four cards to a quad you hold the paying kicker, and single high cards are worth more. The coach's exact math handles all of this because it re-scores every hold on the DDB payouts, kicker included.
| Hand | Pays (per coin) |
|---|---|
| Natural royal flush (no deuce) | 800 |
| Four deuces | 200 |
| Wild royal flush (with a deuce) | 25 |
| Five of a kind | 15 |
| Straight flush | 9 |
| Four of a kind | 5 |
| Full house | 3 |
| Flush | 2 |
| Straight | 2 |
| Three of a kind | 1 |
All four 2s are wild, so a deuce becomes whatever card helps most. Nothing below three of a kind pays — pairs, two pair, and jacks are worthless here — which is why the whole strategy changes. This is the full-pay table, written "25/15/9/5/3/2/2/1" for the wild royal through three-of-a-kind lines; with perfect play it returns 100.76%, the one commonly available video poker game where the math is on your side (Bob Dancer's careful players have lived on it). It is getting rare — cut tables like 25/16/10/4/4/3/2/1 ("Not So Ugly," 99.73%) are far more common, so read the four-of-a-kind and full-house lines (5 and 3 on full pay) before you sit. The coach assumes full pay. Core rule the exact math will teach you: never break up wild cards — the number of deuces you hold drives almost every decision (three deuces? hold just the three deuces unless you already have a wild royal).
Same game name, different machine: casinos cut the return by trimming one or two lines of the pay table, usually the full house and flush. Find the game on the glass, read those lines, and look up the row below. Every return assumes perfect strategy and the standard quad payouts shown in the tables above.
| Jacks or Better (full house / flush) | Return |
|---|---|
| 9/6 | 99.54% |
| 9/5 | 98.45% |
| 8/6 | 98.39% |
| 8/5 | 97.30% |
| 7/5 | 96.15% |
| 6/5 | 95.00% |
| Bonus Poker (full house / flush) | Return |
|---|---|
| 8/5 | 99.17% |
| 7/5 | 98.01% |
| 6/5 | 96.87% |
| Double Double Bonus (full house / flush) | Return |
|---|---|
| 10/6 | 100.07% |
| 9/6 | 98.98% |
| 8/6 | 97.89% |
| 9/5 | 97.87% |
| 8/5 | 96.79% |
| 7/5 | 95.71% |
| 6/5 | 94.66% |
| Deuces Wild (wild royal / five of a kind / straight flush / quads / full house / flush / straight / trips) | Return |
|---|---|
| 25/15/9/5/3/2/2/1 (full pay) | 100.76% |
| 25/16/10/4/4/3/2/1 (Not So Ugly) | 99.73% |
| 25/15/10/4/4/3/2/1 | 99.42% |
| 25/16/9/4/4/3/2/1 | 99.23% |
| 20/12/9/5/3/2/2/1 | 98.94% |
| 25/15/9/4/4/3/2/1 (Illinois) | 98.91% |
| 20/15/9/4/4/3/2/1 | 97.97% |
| 20/12/10/4/4/3/2/1 | 97.58% |
| 20/12/9/4/4/3/2/1 | 97.06% |
Each step down the full house or flush line costs about a point of return, and a point matters: at $1.25 a hand and 600 hands an hour, 99.54% loses about $3.45 an hour and 95.00% loses about $37.50. The trainer plays the top-row table for each game; the strategy for a cut table of the same game is nearly identical, it just returns less. Deuces Wild tables are all paid per coin with four deuces at 200 and a natural royal at 800. Source: Michael Shackleford, wizardofodds.com video poker pay-table returns.
Video poker at 99.54% is one of the cheapest games in the building, and it is rated play: the comps guide shows what a session of it is worth in theo, and the players cards comparison shows which clubs pay points on it (most do, at a lower rate than slots). Blackjack tournament player? Final Hand is the trainer for that.
Strategy and education only. Nothing here guarantees a win; the best play on this table still loses 0.46% of coin-in over time.