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Slot machines are by far the most popular casino game and are easy to play – just make your bet and hit the spin button.

The broad category of slot machines includes video poker. Video poker requires more effort and knowledge to play than standard slot machines. Once the bet is made, the player must decide which cards in the dealt hand to hold and which to discard.

For this reason, video poker does not have the broad appeal of standard slots.

But, because of the added complexity, video poker players can determine a great deal about each game and pay table.

The overall average return of the game/pay table combination.

The average frequency of each winning hand.

The proper playing strategy for each game and pay table.

This article covers the differences between standard, high, and frequent jackpot games.

1. Video poker types – standard, frequent jackpot, and high jackpot.

While all video poker machines may look alike, they can be significantly different.

The original video poker game was called, simply, Draw Poker. It ultimately became Jacks or Better. This game has only one jackpot – the royal flush. It normally pays 4000-for-5. This was the original standard and is considered a standard jackpot game today.

After a while, players became bored with the standard jackpot games. They wanted more action. They wanted more frequent jackpot hits.

Video game manufacturers answered players’ requests by introducing “bonus” video poker games. These include Double Bonus Poker, Double-Double Bonus Poker, Triple Bonus Poker and other similar names. These games paid bonuses for four of a kind hands.

Depending on the game, a four of a kind pays two times the normal 25-for-1 up to 4000-for-5 and even more. Since four of a kind hands appear much more often than a royal flush, players of these games hit a jackpot more often.

2. Standard video poker games.

As mentioned in the previous section, standard video poker games include mostly games that are based on the original Draw Poker game. Games such as Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe are in this group. The royal flush is the only jackpot sized hand in all these games.

3. Frequent jackpot video poker games.

This group includes jacks or better based games such as Double Bonus, Double-Double Bonus, Triple Bonus, Triple Double Bonus and others of a similar nature.

Each of these games dramatically increases the pays for many four of a kind hands. They can be as high as 4000-for-5 – the same as a royal flush. These added opportunities for jackpot sized hands are just what action-oriented video poker players are looking for.

Naturally, the casino is not going to raise the pays for certain hands without compensating for it somewhere else – and they do. All these games pay just 1-for-1 for a hand containing two pairs – the same pay as a single high pair. This may not sound like a big difference, but hands with two pairs occur in roughly one in eight hands. Cutting the pay in half takes a big bite out of the overall average return.

Many of these games also suffer a reduction in the pays for other hands such as a straight, flush, or full house. All of these changes are necessary for the casino to maintain its house edge.

Quite often the overall return from these frequent jackpot games is even less than the return from standard video poker games.

4. High jackpot video poker games.

With the exception of fairly rare video poker games such as Pick’em or Pick-a-Pair Poker, progressive games are the only video poker games that can offer very high jackpots.

Almost any video poker game can be offered as a progressive. The pays for one or more of the top paying hands slowly increases as players play the games. There can be a progressive jackpot for any royal flush. Or there can be a separate progressive jackpot for a royal flush in each suit. Sometimes there is a progressive jackpot for other infrequent hands such as a straight flush or certain four of a kind hands.

As with the frequent jackpot games, this extra payout must come from somewhere. Rather than simply lowering the pays for hands with two pairs, most progressive games reduce the pays for one or more other winning hands. Generally, the returns from progressive games when the jackpots are at their reset value are at least 2% lower than their standard counterparts.

The good thing about progressive games is players can determine the overall return and determine when the game becomes a viable option to play.

5. Summary.

There are three general types of video poker games: standard, frequent jackpot, and very high jackpot.

Just because jackpots are more frequent or very high does not mean that the return of the game is higher. In fact, in many cases the return for these games is lower than that of the standard games.

Players of the frequent and very high jackpot video poker games may see more jackpots or snag a very high jackpot, but they pay for them with very high volatility and many times with a lower overall average return.

Make sure you understand your cost for playing these games.