Fair Go video poker

Fair Go video poker returns, in Fair Go's words

Fair Go publishes two return figures for its video poker, both as its own claims:

Both figures assume perfect strategy: the mathematically best hold on every hand. Mistakes cost you, so treat these as the ceiling. For the other games, Fair Go publishes no figure, and the pay table on screen is your guide. Even so, these returns sit well above Fair Go's 97% average for pokies.

How video poker works

1. Bet. Choose your coin size and coins per hand, and how many hands to play.
2. Deal. You get five cards from a freshly shuffled deck.
3. Hold. Tap the cards you want to keep.
4. Draw. The rest are replaced from the same deck. Your final hand is paid from the pay table.

There's no dealer to beat and no other players. Your only opponent is the pay table, which is why it matters so much. That's the big difference from the table games, where a dealer's hand decides the result.

Reading a pay table: the 9/6 test

In Jacks or Better, look at what a full house and a flush pay for one coin. A full-pay game pays 9 and 6, written as 9/6, and that's the version Fair Go's 99.54% figure refers to. A machine paying 8 and 6 for the same hands returns about a percentage point less, and one paying 8 and 5 more than two points less. Same cards, same strategy, a worse deal.

Two more checks. First, many machines only pay the royal flush bonus at maximum coins, so check whether Fair Go's version does. Second, bonus games like Double Double Bonus move value from two pair to four of a kind. That makes them swingier, with longer dry spells between big hits.

Playing up to 100 hands at once

Fair Go says you can play 1 to 100 hands at once. You hold cards on one starting hand, and every hand draws its own replacements from a separate deck. The return percentage doesn't change, but the cost per deal does: ten hands at 25 cents is $2.50 a deal, not 25 cents. Multi-hand play burns through a budget much faster, so size your bet for the total, not for a single hand. If it stops feeling like fun, our responsible gambling page lists free help.

Which video poker game should you pick?

• Jacks or Better if you're new. The strategy is the easiest to learn, and the full-pay version is the benchmark.
• Aces and Eights for the highest return Fair Go publishes, with bonuses for four aces or four eights.
• Deuces Wild if you like wild cards. Every 2 substitutes, so the strategy is different from the other games.
• Double Double Bonus Poker if you want big moments. Four of a kind, especially aces with a kicker, pays generously, at the cost of a lower payout for two pair.
• Bonus Poker sits between Jacks or Better and the double bonus games.

Fair Go video poker FAQ