Video Poker Myths

Some video poker advice is as bad as an old wives’ tale. The only difference is that old wives’ tales won’t eat into your casino gambling profits like video poker myths do. This being said, it’s very important that you learn the different video poker myths so you can avoid making these mistakes in the future.

Truth: While playing for the casino jackpot in video poker is very important, it’s not the only thing you should focus on. Instead, your main goal should be making the correct decision in every situation so that you can reach the top payout percentage possible. Sure the casino jackpot is an important part of reaching the top payout percentage, but in most cases, a jackpot only makes up 2-3% of the overall money that you’d make over thousands of hands.

Myth: You should switch Games if they don’t pay out right away

Truth: This casino myth comes via land-based video poker players who believe that certain machines are “hot,” meaning they are paying out a lot of money at the time. So if a game isn’t paying out immediately, they think that the machine is “cold” and players should move to a different game. In reality though, there is no such thing as a hot or cold casino video poker game because everything is determined by a random number generator. Even if a game isn’t paying out right away, it will over the long-term so there’s no need to move.

Myth: Someone else will win your Jackpot if you stop playing

Truth: Some people become emotionally attached to certain video poker games for fear that if they quit, somebody else will “steal” their casino jackpot. And those who’ve quit a game only to watch somebody else win the jackpot right afterward think that they’re cursed in some way. However, these people can pull out of their jackpot-losing depression because nobody steals another players’ jackpot. The aforementioned random number generators determine wins within a thousandth of a second, so even if the person who lost out on the jackpot kept playing, there’s no way that they would’ve pushed the deal button at the exact same moment.

Truth: While the casino has the edge in many video poker games, there are some Deuces Wild and Double Bonus games that offer 100% payouts or greater. Of course, to achieve these huge payouts, you have to use excellent strategy, play thousands of hands, and take advantage of the VIP bonuses that casinos offer. Sure this is a lot of work, but there are people who actually make a living out of playing favorable video poker games.

Truth: Supposedly, you have little chance of winning a video poker jackpot on the same game where somebody else just won. This myth seems reasonable to an extent because casino video poker games don’t pay out jackpots every few minutes. However, the truth of the matter is that you essentially have the same chance of winning a jackpot with every hand no matter what’s occurred before. So if you see somebody win a video poker jackpot on a game, maybe you could jump on it and be the second person in a row to win!

Truth: In most cases, making max bets is a smart decision because you can’t achieve the top payouts without betting the maximum number of coins. However, casual casino players who are only playing video poker for fun don’t need to bet max coins because they probably won’t play enough hands to win the top payouts. Going further, if you’re a casual player with a small bankroll, then it’s even less advisable to make max bets because your roll might dry up really quickly this way. In any case, don’t go into video poker thinking that you have to make max bets just for strategy purposes.