Listen, I’ve spent more hours than I care to admit squinting at video poker machines in casinos across the country, and I’m going to let you in on something casinos absolutely hate when players figure out: the difference between winning and losing machines often comes down to a couple of tiny numbers on a screen that most people never even look at.
After years of grinding through sessions—both brutal losing streaks and some genuinely profitable runs—I learned that understanding pay tables isn’t just nerdy gambling trivia. It’s literally the difference between losing $5 for every $100 you bet versus losing less than 50 cents. That’s not a minor distinction when you’re talking about an evening at the casino.
Understanding the 9/6 vs 6/5 Pay Table Difference: The Numbers That Separate 99.5% Payback from 95% Returns—and Why Casinos Hope You Won’t Notice
Let me start with something most players get completely wrong: they think all Jacks or Better machines are basically the same. They walk up to one machine, squint at the screen, and if it says “Jacks or Better,” they’re ready to go. That’s exactly what casinos are counting on.
Here’s the reality check. When professionals talk about a “9/6 Jacks or Better,” they’re actually using shorthand code. The first number refers to what you get paid for a full house, and the second number is what you win for a flush. Simple as that. In a 9/6 machine, you win 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush (betting just one coin to start with).
Now here’s where things get interesting: when you play a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine with perfect strategy—meaning you make the mathematically correct decision on every single hand—you get back 99.54% of what you bet over the long run. That’s an absolutely phenomenal return for a casino game. You’re talking about a house edge of less than half a percent.
Let me put that in real money terms. If you’re playing 500 hands per hour at $5 per hand on a full-pay machine, you’re putting $2,500 into action every hour. With that 99.54% payback, your expected loss is about $11.50 per hour. That’s it. You could literally sit there for a full evening and barely lose anything if you play well.
Now flip to a 6/5 Jacks or Better. This is what casinos actually want you to play. Notice anything different? Full house still pays something decent, but flush? Down from 6 coins to 5 coins. It seems minor. It’s not. That small change tanks your payback percentage all the way down to 94.99%.
Your expected hourly loss on the same $2,500 action? Around $125 per hour. That’s not a rounding error—that’s more than 10 times worse.
I remember sitting next to a woman who was playing one of these 6/5 games, and she had no idea. She kept saying, “Well, I lost $150 tonight, but that’s normal for slots.” No, sweetheart, that’s not normal for video poker. That’s what happens when you’re playing a predatory pay table.
The crazy part? In many casinos, you can find both machines on the same floor. A 9/6 game and a 6/5 game might be sitting right next to each other, taking up the same physical space, looking nearly identical. The house edge difference is about 4.5 percentage points. Over a year of regular play, that difference is worth thousands of dollars.
Here’s something else that gets overlooked: every single one-unit reduction in the pay table (like going from 9 to 8 on the full house payout) reduces the game’s return by approximately 1.1%. So an 8/5 machine? That’s around 97.3% payback. Still better than slots, still playable, but noticeably worse than full-pay. And as casinos have gotten greedier over the years, finding an actual 9/6 Jacks or Better has become harder than it should be. The golden days of video poker are long gone. Full-pay games used to be common. Now? They’re becoming extinct in most casinos.
I learned this lesson the hard way. Early on, I’d just sit down and play whatever was available. My bankroll suffered accordingly. Once I started actually checking the pay tables before playing, my results improved dramatically. It wasn’t because I suddenly got luckier. It was because I stopped playing in a handicap race.
Reading Pay Tables: Where to Look on the Machine Screen—Step-by-Step Guide to Identifying Full-Pay Machines in Seconds, Even for Beginners
Okay, so you’re standing in front of a video poker machine and you want to know if it’s worth your time. Here’s what you actually do.
First thing: don’t put money in yet. I know this is obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people feed the machine first and ask questions later. The pay table is displayed right there on the screen, usually as a little chart visible even when you’re not actively playing.
Look for that pay table display. On most machines, you can see it without entering any money. If you can’t find it easily, look for a button that says “pay table” or “info” or sometimes just “help.” Press it. This should bring up the full breakdown of what each hand pays.
Now here’s what you’re looking for specifically. Ignore the royal flush for a second—that payout is important, but it’s the same on most machines anyway. Instead, focus on two key hands: the full house and the flush. These are the hands that vary most between different pay tables, and they’re the ones that really drive the payback percentage up or down.
Let me give you the good news: if you see 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush, you’re looking at a full-pay Jacks or Better. This is what you want. That’s your 99.54% payback machine right there. Congratulations.
If you see 9 and 5, you’ve got 98.45% payback. It’s playable, but not ideal.
If you see 8 and 5, you’re at 97.3%. This is actually pretty common in land-based casinos, especially on the Strip. It’s decent, but you’re giving up some serious value compared to a 9/6.
Anything that shows 6 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush? Run away. That’s 94.99% payback. You’re basically playing a slot machine at that point.
Here’s a quick mental shortcut that works surprisingly well: if you can instantly memorize the two key numbers and compare them to what you already know, you save yourself time. After a while, you’ll just walk past machines and instantly know which ones are good. You’ll develop a sixth sense for it.
But here’s something important: different video poker variants use different notation. Deuces Wild doesn’t use the full house/flush system because the payouts are structured differently due to the wild cards. So you need to know what variant you’re looking at first.
For Deuces Wild, you’re looking at different key hands—things like the wild royal flush payout and the straight flush payout. A full-pay Deuces Wild might look like “25/15/9/5/3/2” which refers to specific hand combinations. That payback percentage? Around 100.76% on the best versions. But remember, those are getting harder to find too.
For Bonus Poker, the payoff structure emphasizes the four-of-a-kind hands differently than regular Jacks or Better. The full-pay version offers 99.2% payback.
My advice? Download a quick strategy card on your phone or even just take a photo of one before you go to the casino. Have it handy. Most casinos don’t mind you using these reference materials—they actually know serious players study strategy. It’s the casual players they’re trying to separate from their money.
One more thing: check the denomination carefully. A quarter machine (25 cents) versus a dollar machine plays out the same way percentage-wise, but your actual stakes are different. If you can only afford to bet 5 coins on a quarter machine, maybe that’s your actual sweet spot rather than trying to force yourself onto a dollar machine for the prestige.
Common Casino Tactics That Hide Low-Paying Machines: How Casinos Use Placement, Lighting, and Marketing to Steer Players Toward Worse Odds
Here’s where things get a little sinister, and I’m not exaggerating. Casinos are exceptionally good at making sure players don’t stumble onto the good machines by accident.
Let’s start with placement. You know where the best video poker machines are located? Honestly? Often tucked away in corners or in less visible areas. The premium floor space—especially near the entrances, by the restaurants, near the sports books—these prime real estate spots are usually packed with tighter machines. Casinos know exactly which machines the casual visitor will see, and they’re not putting their best payers there.
The bar machines are a perfect example. You’re sitting at the bar, having a drink, watching sports on TV, playing some video poker. It’s convenient. But let me tell you: bar machines are often significantly tighter than the machines just fifty feet away on the regular gaming floor. Why? Because casino operators know that someone sitting at the bar is usually relaxing, not paying close attention, and willing to accept worse odds in exchange for the convenience and the free cocktails.
Lighting plays a role too, though people don’t talk about this enough. Notice how some areas of the casino are really brightly lit, with all the bells and whistles, bells ringing, lights flashing? Those areas tend to concentrate worse-paying machines. The psychological effect is powerful—all that sensory overload makes people less likely to sit down and think carefully about what they’re playing. They just want to participate in the excitement.
Meanwhile, the section with the 9/6 Jacks or Better machines? Often quieter, less flashy, less exciting-looking. It’s boring. Intentionally. Because serious players who know what they’re doing go to those machines, and casual players see the lack of bells and whistles and assume those machines are somehow worse.
Then there’s the whole marketing angle. Casinos advertise “hot” machines and “recent winners.” They’ll put progressive jackpots on bad-paying machines to make them seem more appealing. You walk by and see that the jackpot is at $15,000 or $20,000, and you think, “Wow, that’s huge!” But what they’re not advertising is that the underlying game’s payback is only 95% even if you do hit that jackpot.
I’ve also seen casinos use machine clustering strategically. They’ll group bad machines together and call it a “loose section.” Loose is a relative term—sure, these machines are looser than the slots right next to them, but they’re still not as good as what’s available elsewhere. It’s psychological manipulation, pure and simple.
The loyalty program is another tool. Casinos track which machines you’re playing on through your card. If you’re crushing it on a 9/6 game, they might start offering you bonuses to play on other machines—higher denomination stuff, different games, you name it. They’re trying to move you away from the games where you have an advantage.
And here’s the dirty secret that took me years to figure out: sometimes casinos will literally adjust the pay tables on machines based on demand. They notice that nobody’s playing the video poker section on a Tuesday afternoon, so they might loosen up a few machines temporarily. But come Friday night when the casino is packed? Those machines get their pay tables adjusted back down. It’s all algorithm-based and mostly automated.
In my experience, the most important thing is just being aware of this. Once you know these tactics exist, they become obvious. You start noticing that the bright, flashy section has way more 8/5 and 7/5 machines. You realize the quiet, less exciting area actually has the better games. And honestly? Most serious video poker players have figured this out already, which is why they’re often found in those quieter sections, heads down, grinding away methodically.
The Best Video Poker Variants by Payback Percentage: From Deuces Wild to Bonus Poker—Which Games Offer Over 99% Return with Perfect Strategy
If you want to play something other than Jacks or Better, the landscape gets more interesting but also more complicated. Different variants have different payback potential, and honestly, some of them are genuinely exceptional if you can find the right pay table.
Let me break down the major contenders.
Deuces Wild is absolutely fascinating because it can actually exceed 100% payback on the best versions. The game uses deuces (2s) as wild cards, which changes the entire strategy and the hand rankings. A wild royal flush beats a natural royal flush (that’s new territory for players coming from regular poker). The full-pay version, which was available in Vegas until recently, paid 100.76% according to the math. That’s right—you’re actually supposed to win money long-term if you play perfectly. Of course, casinos mostly got rid of these because of that 100%+ thing. Smart of them.
What you’ll find nowadays is typically a “Not So Ugly” Deuces Wild with around 99.97% payback, or various other versions ranging from 98% to 99%+. Even the “bad” versions are still pretty good. The catch? Deuces Wild strategy is complicated. Not impossible to learn, but definitely more complex than Jacks or Better. You can’t just wing it.
Bonus Poker is a variation of Jacks or Better that offers bonus payouts for four-of-a-kind hands. The full-pay version returns 99.2% with optimal play. What I like about this game is that the strategy isn’t radically different from Jacks or Better, so the learning curve isn’t as steep as it is with Deuces Wild. The payback is slightly lower, but it’s more accessible.
Bonus Deuces Wild combines both elements—you get wild deuces and bonus payouts for special hands. The best versions I’ve seen are paying around 99.86%. That’s seriously competitive with the best Jacks or Better machines. The strategy is more involved, sure, but the payback percentage potential is excellent.
Double Bonus Poker is another variant that offers 100.2% payback on the best versions. Again, this is only on the most generous pay tables (typically labeled as 10/7 versions), and finding these machines is like discovering buried treasure. The “average” Double Bonus you’ll encounter is more like 99% or so.
Double Double Bonus Poker takes things even further, offering payouts that vary based on the specific cards in your four-of-a-kind. It’s complicated, and the payback depends heavily on the specific pay table. Top versions get close to 100.1%, but you’re looking at high variance and definitely not a casual game.
Here’s the thing though: payback percentage only matters if you actually play optimally. If you don’t know the strategy for a variant, you’re basically playing a worse game than advertised. I’ve seen people play Deuces Wild with Jacks or Better strategy, and it kills their returns. The games are structurally different enough that you can’t just transfer knowledge.
My recommendation? Stick with what you know unless you’re willing to actually study a new variant’s strategy. A 9/6 Jacks or Better where you play perfectly beats a 99.97% Deuces Wild where you’re making strategy mistakes.
If you do want to expand your horizon, YouTube has tons of strategy guides now, and there are books dedicated to specific variants. Spend a few hours learning before you hit the casino floor with real money.
Online vs. Land-Based: Where to Find Better Pay Tables in 2025—Comparing Digital Platforms and Brick-and-Mortar Casinos for Optimal Video Poker Payouts
This is where things get legitimately interesting because the online world has actually leapfrogged brick-and-mortar casinos in terms of machine quality. I say this as someone who genuinely loves the feeling of a physical casino.
Land-based casinos, especially on the Las Vegas Strip, have been trending toward worse and worse pay tables over the past decade. They want premium floor space to be profitable, and they figure they can squeeze every last fraction of a percent out of machines. A lot of what you find on the Strip now is 8/5 at best, with plenty of 7/5 and even 6/5 games. It’s depressing.
The exception? Downtown Vegas and the locals casinos have historically been better. Off-Strip places like the Golden Nugget and various downtown spots are where you still find some 9/6 action. But even that’s becoming rarer.
Now, Atlantic City has some decent options, and there are a few regional casinos scattered around the country with reasonable pay tables. But you have to hunt for them. The days of walking into a random casino and finding full-pay machines everywhere are long gone.
Online casinos, especially ones regulated in states like New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, often have genuinely excellent video poker. We’re talking 99%+ RTP on multiple variants. Some online operators are offering games with RTP that land-based casinos would never offer. Why? Because online competition is fierce, and players can compare RTPs between sites instantly. There’s no “out of sight, out of mind” advantage for casinos online.
One specific advantage online: you can actually see the pay table before you start playing. More importantly, you can see it without any ambiguity. There’s no squinting at a screen or wondering if your eyes are playing tricks on you. It’s right there, crystal clear.
That said, online gaming has restrictions depending on where you are. It’s only legal in a few states in the US. If you’re somewhere with regulated online gaming, it’s absolutely worth exploring. Games like Jacks or Better through providers like Game King often exceed 99% RTP online.
The other consideration is bankroll. Online, you can play for lower stakes comfortably. Lots of people will bet quarters or even pennies if they want. That lower barrier to entry actually makes variance more manageable for casual players.
One warning though: not all online casinos offering video poker are created equal. Some have legitimately great pay tables and are genuinely playable. Others are…less than great. Do your research. Check sites that actually aggregate RTP information. Know what you’re getting into before you deposit.
Here’s my personal take: if you have access to regulated online video poker where you live, it’s worth at least exploring. You might find better games than what’s available within a hundred miles. But if you’re looking for an in-person experience, regional casinos off the Strip still offer better value than most of what you’ll find in major tourist destinations.
The Bottom Line
After all these years of playing, the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is this: video poker is unique among casino games because you can know your odds before you sit down. You don’t have to play blind like you do with slots. That’s your advantage. Use it.
Take five minutes before you play to check the pay table. Memorize what a 9/6 game looks like. If you can’t find one, at least find an 8/5. Know what you’re getting into. Learn the basic strategy for the variant you’re playing.
Will you still lose money sometimes? Absolutely. Variance is real, and the house always has a mathematical edge (except in those rare cases where it doesn’t). But you’ll lose less money, you’ll play longer on your bankroll, and you’ll have better shot at actually winning.
That’s not a guarantee. It’s just good strategy. And good strategy is the only edge you have in this game.
Now go find yourself a full-pay machine.
