New Jersey Video Poker

Video poker is one of the most popular games offered at New Jersey online casinos. Based on five-card draw, the game challenges players to choose wisely when holding cards and drawing for new ones, and can pay out big when they make the strongest hands. Here’s an overview of what video poker games are available at NJ online casinos and how the different variants compare, an explanation of how to read video poker paytables, and a few video poker strategy tips. 

Best New Jersey online video poker sites

What video poker games can I play at NJ online casinos?

Some NJ casino sites list video poker among their table games, while others give video poker its own category. You can also typically search for “video poker” (or just “poker”) and find the available games fairly easily. Practically all New Jersey online casinos feature video poker, and in most cases you will find all of the most common variants on all the sites.

There are three popular video poker brands that frequently show up among the options at NJ online casinos. All three come from the game developer IGT:

• Game King Video Poker
• Triple Play Draw Poker, Five Play Draw Poker, Ten Play Draw Poker
• Ultimate X Poker (Triple Play, Five Play, Ten Play)

Open any of these video poker games when playing at an NJ online casino and you’ll find each of them feature multiple video poker variants — nine of them, to be exact.

All nine are played similarly, with players dealt a five-card poker hand, deciding which cards to keep and which to discard. After the redraw the game ends, and players win money depending on the strength of their final hand. The variations involve the games having different hand rankings and paytables.

Here are the nine standard video poker variations with short descriptions of each:

• Jacks or Better — the classic video poker game in which winning hands start with a pair of jacks
• Bonus Poker — adds a bonus payout for four-of-a-kinds with aces, twos, threes, and fours
• Bonus Poker Deluxe — pays more for all four-of-a-kinds (even higher than a straight flush)
• Double Bonus Poker — also pays more for all four-of-a-kinds, with highest for aces, twos, threes, and fours
• Double Double Bonus Poker — bigger bonuses for four-of-a-kinds with certain kickers (fifth cards)
• Triple Double Bonus Poker — same as above but with some payouts equaling what a Royal Flush pays
• Deuces Wild Poker — a favorite variant in which all deuces play as wild cards
• Deuces Wild Bonus Poker — deuces are wild plus bonuses for four-of-a-kinds and five-of-a-kinds
• Joker Poker — adds a joker wild card to the deck

In other words, when you open up one of the video poker games listed above, you’ll be able to switch variants within the game, if you like. There are other differences within the games, too, worth knowing about. For example:

• Triple Draw = you play three hands at once (wagering 3x your chosen bet size)
• Five Draw = you play five hands (and wager 5x)
• Ten Draw = you play ten hands (and wager 10x)

With these you only have to make your decision about which cards to hold for one hand, but the result plays out as multiple hands. That increases your chances of winning, but also means paying more each time.

The Ultimate X Poker suite of video poker games also adds an option to double your bet and if you win you get a multiplier applied to the next hand. Choosing that option can add an extra element of fun to the game, but again will require you to wager more each time.

Some New Jersey online casinos offer still more ways to play video poker, including:

• Video Poker Remastered (Roxor Gaming) — lets you play 1, 5, 10, or 15 hands at once with a side bet option for a progressive jackpot
• Regal Poker (Spin Games) — another suite of video poker games that includes favorites like Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Jester Poker (a version of Joker Poker), and others
• Video Poker First Person (Evolution) — computer animation simulates playing at cabinet-style video poker machine in a casino
• Multi-Rise Video Poker (Ruby Seven Studios) — play up to four hands per round with multipliers added each time (1x, 2x, 4x, 8x); however, you have to make a winning hand at each step in order to “rise” up to play the next, higher-paying hand
• Jacks or Better Video Poker (NetEnt) — yet another version of Jacks or Better
• Live dealer video poker — Many sites (but not all of them) have video poker among the live dealer games available alongside other table games

Here’s a table showing some of the top NJ online casinos where you can find the different video poker games mentioned above:

	Game King (IGT)	Triple Play Five Play Ten Play Draw Poker (IGT)	Ultimate X Poker (IGT)	Video Poker Remastered (Roxor Gaming)	Regal Poker (Spin Games)	Video Poker First Person (Evolution)	Multi-Rise Video Poker (Ruby Seven Studios)	Jacks or Better Video Poker (NetEnt)	Live dealer video poker
Caesars Palace Online Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Bally Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
BetMGM Casino	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Hard Rock Bet Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
BetRivers Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
FanDuel Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
DraftKings Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
PlayStar Casino	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes

Highest RTP percentages for NJ video poker games

Many who choose to play video poker either in person at retail casinos or at online casinos do so for a couple of reasons. One is the fact that video poker incorporates a skill element not found in many casino games. Unlike, say, roulette or craps for which the games are entirely chance-based, in draw poker you can improve your chances of winning by making correct decisions about holding and discarding cards.

A second, related reason is that video poker offers one of the highest RTP (return to player) percentages among all the casino games. RTP refers to your expected return when playing a game. When you play online slots, for instance, you might find a slot that has an RTP percentage of 96%. That means for every $100 wagered, the player can expect to win $96 over the long term while playing the game. Of course, they’ll likely win more or less than that in a particular session, but on average that percentage indicates what the game pays out.

For video poker, the RTP percentages are often in the 98-99% range, but only if you play correct strategy. If you make bad decisions about which cards to hold and which to discard, the game’s RTP percentage will go down.

Here is how the sites usually list the RTP percentages for the video poker variants listed above:

• Deuces Wild Poker – 99.72%
• Bonus Poker Deluxe – 99.64%
• Triple Double Bonus Poker – 99.57%
• Jacks or Better – 99.54%
• Deuces Wild Bonus Poker – 99.45%
• Joker Poker – 99.20%
• Bonus Poker – 99.16%
• Double Bonus Poker – 99.10%
• Double Double Bonus Poker – 98.98%

Notice how all of these are very high RTP percentages, especially when compared to other casino games. Again, though, they only apply if the player is making correct decisions about holding and drawing cards.

That means it is worthwhile learning a bit of poker strategy and understanding the game odds and probabilities affecting your chances to make a hand. Not unlike with blackjack, just a little bit of study can improve your decision-making and thus help you have a chance to enjoy better results when you play video poker.

How to read video poker paytables

The other part of the equation that affects your RTP percentages is the paytable used by the game. Here is where you might find some discrepancies, with some games paying more (or less) for certain hands than others. Here’s an example of a paytable for the Game King Video Poker version of Jacks or Better as found at DraftKings Casino NJ:

	0.50	1.00	1.25	1.50	2.00
ROYAL FLUSH	400.00	800.00	1000.00	1200.00	1600.00
STRAIGHT FLUSH	25.00	50.00	62.50	75.00	100.00
4 OF A KIND	12.50	25.00	31.25	37.50	50.00
FULL HOUSE	4.50	9.00	11.25	13.50	18.00
FLUSH	3.00	6.00	7.50	9.00	12.00
STRAIGHT	2.00	4.00	5.00	6.00	8.00
3 OF A KIND	1.50	3.00	3.75	4.50	6.00
TWO PAIR	1.00	2.00	2.50	3.00	4.00
JACKS OR BETTER	0.50	1.00	1.25	1.50	2.00

Notice a few things here:

• the lowest winning hand (one pair, jacks or better) only pays 1x (that is, the amount of your wager)
• the big prize (by far) is for a Royal Flush, which means if you have a chance to draw for one (e.g., you’re dealt three to a Royal), you usually should go for it
• the payouts are proportionate (when you bet 1x, 2x, 3x, and so on, the payouts increase accordingly)

Regarding that last point, sometimes you might see the payout for a Royal Flush goes up if you bet 5 units rather than 1-4. That is to say, the Royal Flush might only pay 250x for 1-4 coins, but 800x for 5 coins. That’s a big difference.

Other things to know about video poker paytables

Games like Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, and the like (described above) will show larger payouts for four-of-a-kind hands than you see here for Jacks or Better. Meanwhile, when you play variants like Deuces Wild Poker and Joker Poker, you’ll see the same hands paying less since it is easier to make those hands with wild cards.

When you play video poker, any change to the paytable will affect the game’s RTP percentage. While the paytables for different video poker games are mostly fairly standardized across the different NJ online poker sites, you might encounter a change here or there.

For example, at DraftKings Casino NJ when you play the Game King Video Poker version of Jacks or Better, you win 9x for a full house and 6x for a flush. But over at Mohegan Sun Casino NJ (just to cite one example), you’ll see the same game pays 8x for a full house and 5x for a flush. That change necessarily lowers the RTP percentage for the game. (To be precise, it goes from 99.54% down to 97.30%.)

We can’t cover all of the many different variations and paytables for the different video poker games at all NJ online casinos. Definitely take some time looking over the paytable whenever you play video poker, especially when trying out a new game.

Play video poker on NJ online casino apps

NJ online casinos can be played either on a desktop or laptop via a web browsers or by downloading NJ online casino apps to your mobile device. While some online casino games work a lot better on a computer where you have a larger screen, video poker is a game that usually plays just fine on a phone or tablet.

There might be a few small differences in how the interface works, and of course if you choose the “Ten Play” version of the game and want to play 10 hands at once, that might not work as well on the smaller screen. But generally speaking, video poker is a great casino game for mobile play.

Five strategy tips when playing video poker at NJ online casinos

1. Learn basic video poker strategy

Spending some time online studying basic video poker strategy can go a long way. Different video poker variants call for different strategies in certain cases, such in the “bonus” games where four-of-a-kind hands pay out more than in other variants. When playing the classic Jacks or Better game, some commonly video poker guidelines include:

• Hold cards that form a winning hand (i.e., a hand that pays) and discard the others, unless you have four to a straight flush or Royal Flush in which case you can keep those four and draw one.
• Hold any pair (even low pairs), unless you have four to a straight flush or Royal Flush (i.e., don’t throw away a pair to chase a straight or flush).
• Hold three to a straight flush (or Royal Flush), discard the other two.
• If you have no pair and four to a straight or flush, keep those four and draw one.
• If you have no pair and no draw, only hold high cards (jacks or above).

2. Practice by playing free demo video poker games

Many NJ online casinos offer free-to-play demo versions of most of their games, including video poker. As you study video poker strategy, demo games are a great way to practice as there is literally no difference at all in how the games play, except for the fact that no real money is involved.

3. Look over the paytables

As noted above, sometimes you’ll encounter video poker games that have less generous payouts than what is standard. Be sure to check out the paytable to make sure there aren’t any surprises. That’s also a good habit when moving between video poker variants, as there are some big differences there, too. Knowing which hands pay the most obviously should affect your drawing decisions.

4. Take advantage of oversized payouts

As you study those paytables, make a note if a Royal Flush pays out more when betting 5x than when betting less (e.g., 800x versus 250x). If so, that may encourage you to make the bigger bet, as otherwise the payouts are the same for all the lower winning hands.

5. Practice responsible gambling

Always be thoughtful with your decision-making whenever you gamble, including when you play video poker. Stakes at NJ sites can range from $0.50 to $500 on a single hand, but you always need to practice smart bankroll management and obviously never gamble with money you cannot afford to lose. Learn more here about responsible gambling in NJ.