The first tip for any video poker player is to gravitate to a machine with a better average payout. This is easier said than done because machines do not advertise average payouts and the slightly different payouts and the slightly different rules make it very difficult to compare machines.
The crucial strategy however is to decide which cards to hold and which cards to replace. Fortunately this is much easier. The exact strategy would depend on which game is being played. Some of the more common variants are discussed below.
Jacks or Better
This is the standard game and the tips are as follows:
Hold royal flushes of four cards or more
Hold three cards that can contribute to royal flushes
Hold flushes of four cards or more
Hold two high cards, or one if you do not have two.
Deuces Wild
In this game the twos are wild cards and the minimum payout is on three of a kind. Hence there is no point in collecting pairs. Also deuces wild is a game in which there should be a high degree of replacement. A common adage is "when in doubt throw it out" - as long as it is not a two. Specific tips for deuces wild are as follows:
Hold on the twos.
Hold royal flushes of three cards or more.
Hold straight flushes of four cards or more.
Hold flushes of four cards or more.
Hold two card jack or queen straight flushes.
Discard other two card royal flushes.
Do not hold on to two pairs. Discard one of them.
Jokers Wild
Jokers wild is a kings or better game so jacks and queens are useless as singletons. Hold jacks and queens only of they contribute to a straight or a flush. Specific tips for jokers wild are as follows:
Hold three cards that can contribute to royal flushes over a pair of kings or aces, unless you are holding a joker as well.
Three sequential cards of the same suit are preferable to smaller pairs.
Smaller pairs are preferable to three cards of the same suit that are nor in sequence because of the possibility of getting three of a kind.
In a junk hand discard everything except the joker.
