Aces Faces is similar to Jacks or Better Video Poker however the payout table is different. Aces & Faces has 2 special payouts, the Four Ace's payout is the second highest in the game with a jackpot value of 400 coins (if you are betting all 5 coins), the other special winning hand is the 4 of a face card (Jacks, Queens and Kings are face cards), this is the 4th highest payout in the game allowing you to win up to. Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker presents a slight twist on the common method of playing Joker Poker video poker. You’ll need at least a pair of aces to walk away with some winnings. This is a higher winning standard than most Joker Wild games, where all you need is a pair of jacks. Wild Aces Poker Sports Club, Angeles City: Address, Phone Number, Wild Aces Poker Sports Club Reviews: 4.5/5. How They Stack Chips. The way a player arranges his chips is one of the main signs to help you.

This page describes the ranking of poker hands. This applies not only in the game of poker itself, but also in certain other card games such as Chinese Poker, Chicago, Poker Menteur and Pai Gow Poker.

• Low Poker Ranking: A-5, 2-7, A-6
• Hand probabilities and multiple decks - probability tables

Standard Poker Hand Ranking

There are 52 cards in the pack, and the ranking of the individual cards, from high to low, is ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. In standard poker - that is to say in the formal casino and tournament game played internationally and the home game as normally played in North America - there is no ranking between the suits for the purpose of comparing hands - so for example the king of hearts and the king of spades are equal. (Note however that suit ranking is sometimes used for other purposes such as allocating seats, deciding who bets first, and allocating the odd chip when splitting a pot that can't be equally divided. See ranking of suits for details.)

A poker hand consists of five cards. The categories of hand, from highest to lowest, are listed below. Any hand in a higher category beats any hand in a lower category (so for example any three of a kind beats any two pairs). Between hands in the same category the rank of the individual cards decides which is better, as described in more detail below.

In games where a player has more than five cards and selects five to form a poker hand, the remaining cards do not play any part in the ranking. Poker ranks are always based on five cards only, and if these cards are equal the hands are equal, irrespective of the ranks of any unused cards.

Some readers may wonder why one would ever need to compare (say) two threes of a kind of equal rank. This obviously cannot arise in basic draw poker, but such comparisons are needed in poker games using shared (community) cards, such as Texas Hold'em, in poker games with wild cards, and in other card games using poker combinations.

1. Straight Flush

If there are no wild cards, this is the highest type of poker hand: five cards of the same suit in sequence - such as J-10-9-8-7. Between two straight flushes, the one containing the higher top card is higher. An ace can be counted as low, so 5-4-3-2-A is a straight flush, but its top card is the five, not the ace, so it is the lowest type of straight flush. The highest type of straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 of a suit, is known as a Royal Flush. The cards in a straight flush cannot 'turn the corner': 4-3-2-A-K is not valid.

2. Four of a kind

Four cards of the same rank - such as four queens. The fifth card, known as the kicker, can be anything. This combination is sometimes known as 'quads', and in some parts of Europe it is called a 'poker', though this term for it is unknown in English. Between two fours of a kind, the one with the higher set of four cards is higher - so 3-3-3-3-A is beaten by 4-4-4-4-2. If two or more players have four of a kind of the same rank, the rank of the kicker decides. For example in Texas Hold'em with J-J-J-J-9 on the table (available to all players), a player holding K-7 beats a player holding Q-10 since the king beats the queen. If one player holds 8-2 and another holds 6-5 they split the pot, since the 9 kicker makes the best hand for both of them. If one player holds A-2 and another holds A-K they also split the pot because both have an ace kicker.

3. Full House

This combination, sometimes known as a boat, consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank - for example three sevens and two tens (colloquially known as 'sevens full of tens' or 'sevens on tens'). When comparing full houses, the rank of the three cards determines which is higher. For example 9-9-9-4-4 beats 8-8-8-A-A. If the threes of a kind are equal, the rank of the pairs decides.

4. Flush

Five cards of the same suit. When comparing two flushes, the highest card determines which is higher. If the highest cards are equal then the second highest card is compared; if those are equal too, then the third highest card, and so on. For example K-J-9-3-2 beats K-J-7-6-5 because the nine beats the seven.If all five cards are equal, the flushes are equal.

5. Straight

Five cards of mixed suits in sequence - for example Q-J-10-9-8. When comparing two sequences, the one with the higher ranking top card is better. Ace can count high or low in a straight, but not both at once, so A-K-Q-J-10 and 5-4-3-2-A are valid straights, but 2-A-K-Q-J is not. 5-4-3-2-A, known as a wheel, is the lowest kind of straight, the top card being the five.

6. Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank plus two unequal cards. This combination is also known as Triplets or Trips. When comparing two threes of a kind the rank of the three equal cards determines which is higher. If the sets of three are of equal rank, then the higher of the two remaining cards in each hand are compared, and if those are equal, the lower odd card is compared.So for example 5-5-5-3-2 beats 4-4-4-K-5, which beats 4-4-4-Q-9, which beats 4-4-4-Q-8.

7. Two Pairs

A pair consists of two cards of equal rank. In a hand with two pairs, the two pairs are of different ranks (otherwise you would have four of a kind), and there is an odd card to make the hand up to five cards. When comparing hands with two pairs, the hand with the highest pair wins, irrespective of the rank of the other cards - so J-J-2-2-4 beats 10-10-9-9-8 because the jacks beat the tens. If the higher pairs are equal, the lower pairs are compared, so that for example 8-8-6-6-3 beats 8-8-5-5-K. Finally, if both pairs are the same, the odd cards are compared, so Q-Q-5-5-8 beats Q-Q-5-5-4.

8. Pair

A hand with two cards of equal rank and three cards which are different from these and from each other. When comparing two such hands, the hand with the higher pair is better - so for example 6-6-4-3-2 beats 5-5-A-K-Q. If the pairs are equal, compare the highest ranking odd cards from each hand; if these are equal compare the second highest odd card, and if these are equal too compare the lowest odd cards. So J-J-A-9-3 beats J-J-A-8-7 because the 9 beats the 8.

9. Nothing

Five cards which do not form any of the combinations listed above. This combination is often called High Card and sometimes No Pair. The cards must all be of different ranks, not consecutive, and contain at least two different suits. When comparing two such hands, the one with the better highest card wins. If the highest cards are equal the second cards are compared; if they are equal too the third cards are compared, and so on. So A-J-9-5-3 beats A-10-9-6-4 because the jack beats the ten.

Hand Ranking in Low Poker

There are several poker variations in which the lowest hand wins: these are sometimes known as Lowball. There are also 'high-low' variants in which the pot is split between the highest and the lowest hand. A low hand with no combination is normally described by naming its highest card - for example 8-6-5-4-2 would be described as '8-down' or '8-low'.

It first sight it might be assumed that in low poker the hands rank in the reverse order to their ranking in normal (high) poker, but this is not quite the case. There are several different ways to rank low hands, depending on how aces are treated and whether straights and flushes are counted.

Ace to Five

This seems to be the most popular system. Straights and flushes do not count, and Aces are always low. The best hand is therefore 5-4-3-2-A, even if the cards are all in one suit. Then comes 6-4-3-2-A, 6-5-3-2-A, 6-5-4-2-A, 6-5-4-3-A, 6-5-4-3-2, 7-4-3-2-A and so on. Note that when comparing hands, the highest card is compared first, just as in standard poker. So for example 6-5-4-3-2 is better than 7-4-3-2-A because the 6 is lower than the 7. The best hand containing a pair is A-A-4-3-2. This version is sometimes called 'California Lowball'.

When this form of low poker is played as part of a high-low split variant, there is sometimes a condition that a hand must be 'eight or better' to qualify to win the low part of the pot. In this case a hand must consist of five unequal cards, all 8 or lower, to qualify for low. The worst such hand is 8-7-6-5-4.

Deuce to Seven

The hands rank in almost the same order as in standard poker, with straights and flushes counting and the lowest hand wins. The difference from normal poker is that Aces are always high , so that A-2-3-4-5 is not a straight, but ranks between K-Q-J-10-8 and A-6-4-3-2. The best hand in this form is 7-5-4-3-2 in mixed suits, hence the name 'deuce to seven'. The next best is 7-6-4-3-2, then 7-6-5-3-2, 7-6-5-4-2, 8-5-4-3-2, 8-6-4-3-2, 8-6-5-3-2, 8-6-5-4-2, 8-6-5-4-3, 8-7-4-3-2, etc. The highest card is always compared first, so for example 8-6-5-4-3 is better than 8-7-4-3-2 even though the latter contains a 2, because the 6 is lower than the 7. The best hand containing a pair is 2-2-5-4-3, but this would be beaten by A-K-Q-J-9 - the worst 'high card' hand. This version is sometimes called 'Kansas City Lowball'.

Ace to Six

Many home poker players play that straights and flushes count, but that aces can be counted as low. In this version 5-4-3-2-A is a bad hand because it is a straight, so the best low hand is 6-4-3-2-A. There are a couple of issues around the treatment of aces in this variant.

• First, what about A-K-Q-J-10? Since aces are low, this should not count as a straight. It is a king-down, and is lower and therefore better than K-Q-J-10-2.
• Second, a pair of aces is the lowest and therefore the best pair, beating a pair of twos.

It is likely that some players would disagree with both the above rulings, preferring to count A-K-Q-J-10 as a straight and in some cases considering A-A to be the highest pair rather than the lowest. It would be wise to check that you agree on these details before playing ace-to-six low poker with unfamiliar opponents.

Selecting from more than five cards

Note that in games where more than five cards are available, the player is free to select whichever cards make the lowest hand. For example a player in Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better whose cards are 10-8-6-6-3-2-A can omit the 10 and one of the 6's to create a qualifying hand for low.

Poker Hand Ranking with Wild Cards

A wild card card that can be used to substitute for a card that the holder needs to make up a hand. In some variants one or more jokers are added to the pack to act as wild cards. In others, one or more cards of the 52-card pack may be designated as wild - for example all the twos ('deuces wild') or the jacks of hearts and spades ('one-eyed jacks wild', since these are the only two jacks shown in profile in Anglo-American decks).

The most usual rule is that a wild card can be used either

1. to represent any card not already present in the hand, or
2. to make the special combination of 'five of a kind'.

This approach is not entirely consistent, since five of a kind - five cards of equal rank - must necessarily include one duplicate card, since there are only four suits. The only practical effect of the rule against duplicates is to prevent the formation of a 'double ace flush'. So for example in the hand A-9-8-5-joker, the joker counts as a K, not a second ace, and this hand is therefore beaten by A-K-10-4-3, the 10 beating the 9.

Five of a Kind

When playing with wild cards, five of a kind becomes the highest type of hand, beating a royal flush. Between fives of a kind, the higher beats the lower, five aces being highest of all.

The Bug

Some games, especially five card draw, are often played with a bug. This is a joker added to the pack which acts as a limited wild card. It can either be used as an ace, or to complete a straight or a flush. Thus the highest hand is five aces (A-A-A-A-joker), but other fives of a kind are impossible - for example 6-6-6-6-joker would count as four sixes with an ace kicker and a straight flush would beat this hand. Also a hand like 8-8-5-5-joker counts as two pairs with the joker representing an ace, not as a full house.

Wild Cards in Low Poker

In Low Poker, a wild card can be used to represent a card of a rank not already present in the player's hand. It is then sometimes known as a 'fitter'. For example 6-5-4-2-joker would count as a pair of sixes in normal poker with the joker wild, but in ace-to-five low poker the joker could be used as an ace, and in deuce-to-seven low poker it could be used as a seven to complete a low hand.

Lowest Card Wild

Some home poker variants are played with the player's lowest card (or lowest concealed card) wild. In this case the rule applies to the lowest ranked card held at the time of the showdown, using the normal order ace (high) to two (low). Aces cannot be counted as low to make them wild.

Double Ace Flush

Some people play with the house rule that a wild card can represent any card, including a duplicate of a card already held. It then becomes possible to have a flush containing two or more aces. Flushes with more than one ace are not allowed unless specifically agreed as a house rule.

Natural versus Wild

Some play with the house rule that a natural hand beats an equal hand in which one or more of the cards are represented by wild cards. This can be extended to specify that a hand with more wild cards beats an otherwise equal hand with fewer wild cards. This must be agreed in advance: in the absence of any agreement, wild cards are as good as the natural cards they represent.

Incomplete Hands

In some poker variants, such as No Peek, it is necessary to compare hands that have fewer than five cards. With fewer than five cards, you cannot have a straight, flush or full house. You can make a four of a kind or two pairs with only four cards, triplets with three cards, a pair with two cards and a 'high card' hand with just one card.

The process of comparing first the combination and then the kickers in descending order is the same as when comparing five-card hands. In hands with unequal numbers of cards any kicker that is present in the hand beats a missing kicker. So for example 8-8-K beats 8-8-6-2 because the king beats the 6, but 8-8-6-2 beats 8-8-6 because a 2 is better than a missing fourth card. Similarly a 10 by itself beats 9-5, which beats 9-3-2, which beats 9-3, which beats a 9 by itself.

Ranking of suits

In standard poker there is no ranking of suits for the purpose of comparing hands. If two hands are identical apart from the suits of the cards then they count as equal. In standard poker, if there are two highest equal hands in a showdown, the pot is split between them. Standard poker rules do, however, specify a hierarchy of suits: spades (highest), hearts, diamonds, clubs (lowest) (as in Contract Bridge), which is used to break ties for special purposes such as:

• drawing cards to allocate players to seats or tables;
• deciding who bets first in stud poker according to the highest or lowest upcard;
• allocating a chip that is left over when a pot cannot be shared exactly between two or more players.

I have, however, heard from several home poker players who play by house rules that use this same ranking of suits to break ties between otherwise equal hands. For some reason, players most often think of this as a way to break ties between royal flushes, which would be most relevant in a game with many wild cards, where such hands might become commonplace. However, if you want to introduce a suit ranking it is important also to agree how it will apply to other, lower types of hand. If one player A has 8-8-J-9-3 and player B has 8-8-J-9-3, who will win? Does player A win by having the highest card within the pair of eights, or does player B win because her highest single card, the jack, is in a higher suit? What about K-Q-7-6-2 against K-Q-7-6-2 ? So far as I know there is no universally accepted answer to these questions: this is non-standard poker, and your house rules are whatever you agree that they are. Three different rules that I have come across, when hands are equal apart from suit are:

1. Compare the suit of the highest card in the hand.
2. Compare the suit of the highest paired card - for example if two people have J-J-7-7-K the highest jack wins.
3. Compare the suit of the highest unpaired card - for example if two people have K-K-7-5-4 compare the 7's.

Although the order spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs may seem natural to Bridge players and English speakers, other suit orders are common, especially in some European countries. Up to now, I have come across:

• spades (high), hearts, clubs, diamonds (low)
• spades (high), diamonds, clubs, hearts (low)
• hearts (high), spades, diamonds, clubs (low) (in Greece and in Turkey)
• hearts (high), diamonds, spades, clubs (low) (in Austria and in Sweden)
• hearts (high), diamonds, clubs, spades (low) (in Italy)
• diamonds (high), spades, hearts, clubs (low) (in Brazil)
• diamonds (high), hearts, spades, clubs (low) (in Brazil)
• clubs (high), spades, hearts, diamonds (low) (in Germany)

As with all house rules, it would be wise to make sure you have a common understanding before starting to play, especially when the group contains people with whom you have not played before.

Stripped Decks

In some places, especially in continental Europe, poker is sometimes played with a deck of less than 52 cards, the low cards being omitted. Italian Poker is an example. As the pack is reduced, a Flush becomes more difficult to make, and for this reason a Flush is sometimes ranked above a Full House in such games. In a stripped deck game, the ace is considered to be adjacent to the lowest card present in the deck, so for example when using a 36-card deck with 6's low, A-6-7-8-9 is a low straight.

Playing poker with fewer than 52 cards is not a new idea. In the first half of the 19th century, the earliest form of poker was played with just 20 cards - the ace, king, queen, jack and ten of each suit - with five cards dealt to each of four players. The only hand types recognised were, in descending order, four of a kind, full house, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, no pair.

No Unbeatable Hand

In standard poker a Royal Flush (A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit) cannot be beaten. Even if you introduce suit ranking, the Royal Flush in the highest suit is unbeatable. In some regions, it is considered unsatisfactory to have any hand that is guaranteed to be unbeaten - there should always be a risk. There are several solutions to this.

In Italy this is achieved by the rule 'La minima batte la massima, la massima batte la media e la media batte la minima' ('the minimum beats the maximum, the maximum beats the medium and the medium beats the minimum'). A minimum straight flush is the lowest that can be made with the deck in use. Normally they play with a stripped deck so for example with 40 cards the minimum straight flush would be A-5-6-7-8 of a suit. A maximum straight flush is 10-J-Q-K-A of a suit. All other straight flushes are medium. If two players have medium straight flushes then the one with higher ranked cards wins as usual. Also as usual a maximum straight flush beats a medium one, and a medium straight flush beats a minimum one. But if a minimum straight flush comes up against a maximum straight flush, the minimum beats the maximum. In the very rare case where three players hold a straight flush, one minimum, one medium and one maximum, the pot is split between them. See for example Italian Poker.

In Greece, where hearts is the highest suit, A-K-Q-J-10 is called an Imperial Flush, and it is beaten only by four of a kind of the lowest rank in the deck - for example 6-6-6-6 if playing with 36 cards. Again, in very rare cases there could also be a hand in the showdown that beats the four of a kind but is lower than the Imperial Flush, in which case the pot would be split.

Hand probabilities and multiple decks

The ranking order of poker hands corresponds to their probability of occurring in straight poker, where five cards are dealt from a 52-card deck, with no wild cards and no opportunity to use extra cards to improve a hand. The rarer a hand the higher it ranks.

This is neither an essential nor an original feature of poker, and it ceases to be true when wild cards are introduced. In fact, with a large number of wild cards, it is almost inevitable that the higher hand types will be the commoner, not rarer, since wild cards will be used to help make the most valuable type of hand from the available cards.

Mark Brader has provided probability tables showing the frequency of each poker hand type when five cards are dealt from a 52-card deck, and also showing how these probabilities would change if multiple decks were used.

Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker presents a slight twist on the common method of playing Joker Poker video poker. You’ll need at least a pair of aces to walk away with some winnings. This is a higher winning standard than most Joker Wild games, where all you need is a pair of jacks.

Video poker separates itself from many casino games. Like slot machines, there are hundreds of different video poker machines and online games available to you. It’s just a matter of selecting one.

Wild card play is a popular way to spice up your video poker action. Certain cards in the deck will be designated as wild. This means they can be changed into whatever cards makes your hand the best.

You might be familiar with the two basic kinds of wild card video poker games, Deuces Wild or Joker Wild. Deuces wild features the twos in the deck as wild. And Joker Wild, sometimes known as Joker’s Wild or Joker Poker, adds a 53rd card to the deck, the joker, as the wild card.

In many ways, Joker Poker finds a nice middle ground between basic video poker and Deuces Wild. You still get access to a wild card to change up play a little bit. But because there’s only one wild card in the deck, you don’t have quite the volatile nature of play that occurs during Deuces Wild.

Most Joker Wild games sets the lowest-paying hand as a pair of kings. This compares to the pair of jacks that is necessary to win a hand when playing a game without a wild card. The presence of the wild card makes all poker hands a tad easier to make. That’s why you have the adjustment. (By comparison, a Deuces Wild pay table usually starts with three of a kind.)

But Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker presents a subtle change by making the pair of aces the hardest hand to achieve. The game compensates for this by offering slightly higher payback for hands like a full house than you could hope to get playing Kings or Better.

Ultimately, you should be concerned with the payback that you can expect to get from Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker. Unfortunately, the highest-paying version of the game falls a little bit below what you should be looking for from a video poker machine. But the low volatility can still be inviting.

In the following article, we’ll tell you all you need to know about the game known as Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker. We’ll talk about how to play a basic hand of video poker and we’ll go into what it takes to play a wild card game. And we’ll also look into important video poker aspects such as pay tables, payback percentage and strategy.

Why You Should Be Playing Video Poker

Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker stands as just one of hundreds of different varieties of video poker that you should be able to find in casinos or as part of gambling websites. And the reason that there are so many different types of games is because of the popularity of video poker as a whole. There is great demand for new games from enthusiasts.

Why is video poker so popular? Video poker somehow manages to combine the most player-friendly aspects of table games and slot machines into one ingenious package. Once you’re played it for a while, you’re likely to understand why so many people love it.

If you’re new to video poker, here are some of its attributes that are most beneficial to gamblers:

• Video poker is a one-person game. For those who prefer a solitary gambling experience where nobody bothers with you, it’s hard to top. There will be no worries coming your way from other casino patrons or employees.
• The game is simple. Novice gamblers who have never even played a hand of poker should have a firm grasp of it within a few hands or so. And those with a poker background will be able to pick it up on the fly.
• Video poker is a strategy-based game. Of course, there is some luck involved, as is the case with all games you can play in a casino or online gambling setting. But video poker differs from slot machines in how it allows some impact over gameplay with the decisions you make.
• Video poker takes its cues from the probabilities found in a deck of playing cards. These probabilities don’t change from hand to hand, meaning you can figure out how often winning hands will show up and how much a specific machine will typically pay. And this allows for more transparency than you can get from most casino games.
• The game ranks high on the payback scale. On average, video poker provides a higher percentage of return than slot machines by a pretty good margin. Some high-paying video poker machines even rank higher than table games in the payback department.
• Video poker can be played easily online. Not only is video poker simple to play online, but the experience you get will be similar to what you would get from playing in a casino. And you can find all the most popular video poker variations at top online casino websites as well.

This list should give you an idea of what video poker offers you compared to other casino games. Now, all that’s left to do is learn how to play.

If you already have an idea of how video poker is played, you can skip ahead to find out about the specific characteristics of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker. But if you’re new to the game, this quick tutorial will show you all you need to know.

Step-By-Step Playing Video Poker

Step 1: Create a Bankroll

Your bankroll is a necessary element of playing video poker so that you can make wagers and collect winnings. It’s easy to create your bankroll if you’re playing at a video poker machine, because all you have to do is put some money into the slot on the machine. If you’re playing online, it will require creating a gambling account at the website of your choice then funding that account.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll see that your bankroll shows up on the screen as units known as credits or coins. These units will be directly linked to the denomination of the machine (or online game) that you’re playing. For example, a five-credit wager at a 25-cent machine will cost you $1.25 (5 times .25).

Step 2: Make a Bet

Strategy in video poker begins with the size of your bet. You’ll have the opportunity to bet between one and five credits when playing Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker. Novices often don’t put much thought into their bet, or perhaps they’ll try to change it each hand to guess whether or not they might win based on past hands.

First of all, trying to “time” a video poker machine is a futile exercise. Your chances of winning a particular hand are exactly the same whether you’ve won 10 hands in a row or lost 50 in a row leading up to that hand. The playing-card probability will dictate that no matter what’s coming before.

Second, it’s important that you bet in such a way that you maximize your expected return. And the only way you can do that is by betting five coins per hand. The reason for that comes down to payback for the pure royal flush hand (meaning one achieved without the help of a wild card).

If you achieve a pure royal flush and have bet one through four coins, your payback will be 250 to 1 on a Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker machine. But if you attain that hand on a five-coin hand, you’ll receive, at least, payback of 4,000 coins, which is 800 to 1.

You might feel that betting less than five coins per hand will be easier on your budget. But, in reality, you’re actually short-changing yourself by playing in this manner. If you feel that betting five coins per hand is too much, you should look for a game with a lower denomination rather than lowering the bet at the current game.

Step 3: Play a Hand

When you play video poker, you are replicating the style of play used by the table game known as Five-Card Draw. Five-Card Draw also sets up with a deal of five card and allows you to discard the cards that you don’t want, just like video poker. And both games allow you to draw new cards to replace discarded ones with the goal of making the best five-card poker hand that you can.

But video poker doesn’t require bluffing or other methods to trick other players. There aren’t any other players that you would have to trick. Your goal is simply to achieve one of the winning hands listed on the pay table.

Here are the hands you’ll be striving to make playing Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker

• Pair of jacks or better
• Two pair
• Three of a kind
• Straight (five cards of consecutive rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
• Flush (five cards of same suit)
• Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
• Four of a kind
• Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
• Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)

You can see that a pair of aces or better is the lowest-paying and most common winning hand, hence, the name of the game. As you move down the list, you’ll see that the winning hands get increasingly more difficult to achieve. But the hands also pay more as you move down the list.

When you make your bet then hit the “deal” button on a video poker machine, five cards will appear on your screen. In most video poker games, these cards will come from a standard deck of 52, simulated within the machine’s software. But, in the case of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker, the deck will contain 53 cards, 52 cards plus the joker.

You’ll assess the five cards in your deal for potential winning hands. Perhaps, you’ll get lucky on the deal and end up with a winning combination right off the bat.

It’s more likely that your hand won’t be a winner right off the bat. But that’s alright, because you can change the contents of your hand in the draw to improve matters.

First, you have to decide which cards to discard. The cards you discard will eventually be replaced on the draw with others from the same deck which provided you with the deal. This deck will have 48 cards in it for the draw in Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker, 53 minus the five you were dealt.

You’ll make the decision about what to keep and discard based on your chances of making winning combinations. But you should also be thinking about the payback for winning hands as well. Sometimes, it makes sense to go for a higher-paying hand even though your chances of attaining a lower-paying hand are greater.

It all comes down to risk vs. reward when deciding on what to do in your video poker hand. Once you make the choice, press the buttons for the cards that you want to hold (if any). Then, press the “draw” button so the machine will replace the cards you’ve discarded to complete the hand.

At that point, if any or all of the five cards in your hand make up one of the winning combinations on the pay table, the amount of coins allotted for that combination will be added to your bankroll. Your bankroll won’t be deducted at that point if you lose the hand, because the amount of your bet will have already been deducted when you hit the “deal” button to start play.

That’s how each hand of video poker will be played. You can play as long as you have credits in your bankroll by simply replaying steps two and three. Or you can cash out at any time to complete your hand.

Now, you know how to play the basic game. It’s time to talk about playing with wild cards as you will in Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker.

Wild Card Video Poker Play

As we said above, Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker adds a special 53rd card to the deck, which is the joker. When you see the joker show up in your hand, it’s always a good thing. That’s because you can turn the joker into any other card in the deck, specifically the one that improves your hand the most.

Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker presents wild card action that’s a bit like dipping your foot into the pool for this style of play. The other common form of wild card video poker game, Deuces Wild, gives you four wild cards (the twos) in a deck of 52.

You’ll see wild cards show up much more often in Deuces Wild play. But you also have to realize that the threshold for a winning hand is much higher on a Deuce Wild pay table. For the most part, a Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker pay table looks like a Jacks or Better one with a few exceptions, as we’ll explain when we get to the pay table section below.

In terms of how the wild card works, let’s take a look at how a hand of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker might play out. Imagine that you received the following five cards on the deal:

You can see that you’ve been lucky enough to receive a joker in this hand. As we said, the joker can be turned into whatever card will improve your hand the most. That process will be completed on the draw, but you can at least speculate on how the joker might be used when making your decision about what to hold and discard.

There are a few options at your disposal in this regard. If you were to hold the pair of sixes with the joker, you would go into the draw with three of a kind, since the joker could be a third six. You could discard the other two cards and hope for a full house, four of a kind, or even five of a kind.

For the sake of this example, let’s imagine that you decide on the second way of playing the hand and you hold on to the joker and the four through six of hearts. Let’s take a look at what might happen on the draw in this Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker example.

You didn’t make any of the hands you had originally been striving for when you made your decision. But you did end up with a second five.

At this point, the machine will take over and dictate what the joker will become, automatically choosing the card that makes your hand the most lucrative. In this hand, it would transform the joker into another five, giving you three of a kind. Even though you hadn’t intended for this to happen, the joker’s flexibility bailed you out and gave you a winning hand anyway.

This illustrates how important getting a Joker in your Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker hand can be. When you see a joker on the deal or the draw, your chances of winning the hand go up dramatically.

Again, you won’t see the joker show up as often as you’ll see the twos in hands of Deuces Wild video poker. But, as you’ll see as we move on to the pay tables for Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker, adjustments have been made to ensure that you receive a competitive payback for this game.

Joker Wild Aces or Better Video Poker Pay Tables

The first thing you should do when you encounter a new video poker machine is take a look at the pay table. It will determine how you should play specific hands in terms of your strategy. And it will also reveal what you can expect from the game in terms of payback.

In terms of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker, you’ll notices certain aspects of the pay table that stand out. The first thing is that the lowest-paying hand is a pair of aces or better.

That is a higher threshold than a pair of jacks, which is what you need when playing Jacks or Better video poker or other pay tables associated with it like Bonus Poker games. The presence of the joker requires this adjustment.

But a pair of aces is an easier hand to make than three of a kind, which is the lowest-paying hand on a Deuces Wild machine. Obviously, having four wild cards on a Deuces Wild machine will greatly increase your chances of making standard winning hands, which is why it takes a better hand to get paid in that game.

If you’re familiar only with Jacks or Better style play, you might notice some other specific differences in the Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker pay table. First of all, there is a payback for five of a kind. This hand is impossible to get in basic Jacks or Better play, but you can achieve it here by getting four of a kind and a joker in a single hand.

In addition, you’ll see that there is a distinction between a royal flush and a wild royal flush on the Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker pay table. Here is the difference between the two:

Royal Flush: Ten of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Queen of Clubs, King of Clubs, Ace of Clubs

Wild Royal Flush: Ten of Clubs, Joker, Queen of Clubs, King of Clubs, Ace of Clubs

As you can see, the wild royal flush includes the joker being transformed into the Jack of Clubs to complete the hand. The pure royal flush is a rarer hand in terms of the probabilities, which is why it pays a little bit more.

Below is the full-pay version of a Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker. By full-pay, we mean that it returns the most in terms of payback percentage to the player. Take a look below.

Aces Wild Poker Tournament

The payback percentage for this full-pay Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker pay table stands at 98.42%. In other words, in an average session, you could expect to return 98.42% of your original bankroll after it has all been wagered. Your average loss for this game sits at 1.58%.

It’s not unusual for a video poker pay table to have a negative expectancy. After all, that’s what the house edge is all about. If all casino games were expected to pay back positively to gambles, casinos and gambling websites would quickly go under.

But we must tell you that 98.42% falls a bit below what you should be seeking when you pick out a video poker game. We generally recommend that a game have a payback percentage of at least 99% before you make it your regular game.

If you can find a game with payback of over 99%, you could hope to make up your minimal losses through casino rewards and loyalty programs at top gambling websites. That way, you could still have a legitimate shot at making a profit over the long haul. Unfortunately, you couldn’t hold that same expectation with this Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker pay table.

One area where Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker actually holds an edge on other wild card games is in its volatility level. By volatility, we mean the way your bankroll rises and falls during play. Low volatility games tend to experience minimal swings in terms of wins and losses. But high volatility games offer a much bumpier ride, with wild swings between big wins and significant slumps.

Harrah's Video Poker Free Super Times Play

In the case of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker, it offers lower volatility because there’s only one wild card involved. A Deuces Wild pay table, on the other hand, bases its pay table on the likelihood of more hands than not including at least one wild card. Not having a wild card in your hand makes it very difficult to form a winning combination in Deuces Wild play, which ups it volatility level on the whole.

Because of its low volatility level, Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker allows you to play longer, on average, with a low bankroll than you could playing Deuces Wild. Of course, this is all relative. Joker Wild Aces or Better is actually higher in volatility than games like Jacks or Better with no wild cards involved.

We showed you the full-pay table for Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker above. You might also encounter pay tables with lesser payback percentages attached to them. These pay tables usually discount the payback for hands like the full house or four of a kind from the full-pay version.

Ideally, you’ll be able to find the full-pay version of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker. Barring that, you should try to find the pay tables that offer the most beneficial payback if faced with a choice between two versions.

Here are some of the other Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker you might encounter:

Free Casino Poker Deuces Wild

Strategy for Joker Wild Aces or Better Video Poker

In some ways, strategy for Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker is a little easier than other non-wild card games. You know when you see a joker on the deal that you should be holding on to it.

But, by the same token, you sort of have to learn how to play Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker two different ways. You have to know which of the other cards to keep when you get a joker on the deal. And you have to know how to play hands where you don’t end up with a joker on the deal.

Why is the right strategy important? Playing with incorrect strategy will actually lower your expected payback percentage. You might get away with some incorrect choices in the short run because of the luck of the draw. But, eventually, the luck will even out, and your wrong choices will hurt you.

What’s the difference between right and wrong when talking about what cards to hold and discard in video poker? Well, there are 32 different combinations of holds and discards you can make on each five-card deal. Only one of those combinations will max out your winning expectations for the specific cards you’ve been dealt based on the probability math and the payback for each winning hand.

As you can tell, there’s a lot of math involved here. No one can be expected to make the correct mathematical play during a round of video poker every time, especially if they’re trying to play the game at a rapid pace.

In terms of Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker, we suggest that you try one of these two methods to learn perfect play.

Video Poker Training Software

The best training software will allow you to customize your instruction to the pay table you’re playing. It should also have the ability to incorporate wild cards as a Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker game would. You might have to purchase software like this, but it will be worth it in the long run if you achieve perfect play.

When playing with video poker training software, you’ll have to decide what cards to hold and what to discard as if you were playing for real. If you make a wrong choice, according to the math, the machine will let you know and tell you the right play. Practicing in this manner for a long time will help you achieve perfect play.

Strategy Charts

A game like Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker is popular enough that it shouldn’t be difficult for you to find a strategy chart devoted to it somewhere online. Once you find this chart, memorize it. It might take a while, but you’ll have all the information you need for perfect play once you manage to finish the memorization.

A strategy chart will have all the possible card combinations you can get on the deal ranked in terms of their expected value heading into the draw. You can then compare what you have on your deal to what is in the chart. In that way, you’ll know which cards you should hold and which you can throw back.

Joker Wild Aces or Better Video Poker Pros and Cons

• Wild card play is extremely exciting compared to games without the wild cards
• The pay table isn’t too demanding in terms of what makes a winning hand
• Not nearly as volatile as other wild card games like Deuces Wild

• Not as much chance of getting a wild card as other wild card games
• Payback percentage isn’t that competitive
• Might be a bit trickier in terms of learning strategy than normal games

Aces Wild Poker Games

Joker Wild Aces or Better Video Poker Conclusion

Play Five Card Draw Deuces Wild Free

Joker Wild Aces or Better video poker lets you try wild card play without sacrificing the simplicity of basic video poker action. For some, that won’t be enough to satisfy their need to see a lot of wild cards in play. But, for others, it will be enough of a twist to basic play to make it worth their while.