Risk Less – Play Smarter Strategy

Risk Less – Play Smarter: A Winning strategy for Video Poker

This video poker strategy let’s you enjoy the game without worrying about depleting your bankroll.

A royal flush pays 250 coins for each coin inserted. Except when you bet the maximum of 5 coins, then the payout skyrockets to 4,000 coins. Have you ever stopped to consider why the casinos dangle this carrot? Could it be because their profits increase substantially if players risk five coins on every hand?

Is it really wise to consistently wager maximum coins in pursuit of a jackpot that’s only going to materialize once about every 40,000 hands, on average. One-coin play stretches your bankroll and playing time, while five-coin play can eat up your money really fast, but it gives you a crack at the biggest possible payoff.

I can hear you saying, what if I hit the Royal when I’ve got less than five coins inserted? True, you won’t collect the 4,000-coin prize, but now think of the thousands of losing hands you played, on which you spent only one coin instead of five!

With the risk less – play smarter video poker strategy you achieve both objectives – longer play and a chance at the biggest possible payout. I devised, experiment and modified this method nearly ten years ago. I have played it countless times since then, first in live casinos and then on the Internet. Overall, money-wise I’m about even playing this frugal video poker strategy. And I’ve been at it for probably well over 1,000 hours over the years.

Instructions for the Risk Less – Play Smarter Video Poker Strategy:

Pick the casino and the game you like. Buy 200 coins ($10 worth of nickels,$50 worth of quarters or 200 $1 coins). If you’re not 100% sure about the proper hold/discard rules, consult the game strategy pages for Jacks or Better,    Deuces Wild or  Joker Wild before you start to play.

Why a stake of 200 coins? Because machines go through hot and cold cycles. You could have a run of perhaps 100 hands without a significant payoff. We need to be able to last through such downturns. Eventually a string of decent hands comes along and the losses will be recovered.

Start by playing one coin only. The Risk Less – Play Smarter video poker strategy demands that you never play more than one of your original 200 coins per hand. If you win, you play your winnings plus one additional coin from the 200 coins you started with. For example, if you get back one coin, you play two coins, if you win three coins, you bet four coins on the next hand. If you win four or more coins, you bet five coins, the maximum.

After every winning hand you bet the number of coins just won plus one more. Of course, if you win five coins or more, there is no need to add an extra one, since five is the maximum you can bet on each hand. As soon as you can no longer bet 5 coins from your winnings you revert back to betting less than maximum coins

In a nutshell, with the Risk Less – Play Smarter video poker strategy you never use more than one of your original 200 coins for each hand. Play multiple coins only if you can do so by betting coins you have won. In other words, you play more than one coin per hand only if you have coins in excess of the 200 you started with.

Once you get ahead by 100 coins or more, I suggest you cash out your original stake. That way you assure that it’s not going to be a losing session. Then play your winnings at the next higher coin denomination. If you were playing nickels, switch to quarters, or change from quarters to dollars, and from dollars to $2 or $5 coins.. You’re now playing with money you’ve won from the casino, so have fun with it. Maybe you’ll hit that Royal on a five-coin hand.