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Jacks or Better

A video poker game where a pair of jacks is the lowest hand that pays. Its return depends on the paytable and on playing each hand correctly.

Jacks or Better is among the most common video poker games. The player gets five cards, chooses which to keep, and is paid by the final hand according to a paytable. A pair of jacks or higher is the lowest paying hand. The paytable matters a great deal. The full pay version, often called 9/6 because a full house pays 9 and a flush pays 6 per unit, returns about 99.54% with perfect strategy. Versions that pay less on these hands return noticeably less.

Example

On a 9/6 machine with perfect play, the long run return is about 99.54%, a house edge of roughly 0.46%. A 8/5 paytable of the same game returns less, around 97.3%.

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