Video poker is a family of single-player machine games based on five-card draw poker. The player is dealt five cards, chooses which to hold and which to replace, and is paid according to the poker rank of the final hand against the game's pay table.
Definition
Video poker is a family of single-player machine games based on five-card draw poker. The player is dealt five cards, chooses which to hold and which to replace, and is paid according to the poker rank of the final hand against the game's pay table.
Outcomes come from a certified RNG dealing from a standard 52-card deck (plus jokers in some variants). Common variants include Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Double Bonus and many others, each with its own pay table and optimal strategy.
Video poker is distinctive among casino games because the theoretical return depends heavily on the specific pay table and on the player making mathematically correct hold decisions. A full-pay version of some variants, played with perfect strategy, can have a very high RTP — occasionally at or near 100% — while a short-pay version of the same game, or imperfect play, gives back much less.
The house edge is real on any realistic pay table with real play, but the range is unusually wide.
In context
For affiliates, video poker is a niche but knowledgeable-audience topic where accurate content is genuinely valued. Useful coverage explains that the game's return is set by the pay table (so the version matters — a review should identify the pay table, e.g. "9/6 Jacks or Better"), that optimal strategy is a solved, learnable set of hold rules specific to each variant, and that deviating from it lowers the return.
It can point readers to strategy charts and note which operators carry the better-paying pay tables, since two casinos offering "Jacks or Better" may not offer the same one.
The honest framing has two parts. First, video poker rewards knowledge more than most casino games — learning the correct strategy for a variant genuinely improves the expected return — so accurate strategy content is legitimately helpful.
Second, this does not make it a positive-expectation game in practice: realistic pay tables at real operators carry a house edge, near-100% figures require rare full-pay tables and flawless play over a huge number of hands, and variance is high. Content should present video poker as a lower-house-edge option for a player willing to learn correct play, identify pay tables and strategy resources, and keep the standard age and responsible-gambling framing without implying the game can be reliably beaten.
Worked example
An affiliate's video poker guide identifies each operator's Jacks or Better pay table (one runs 9/6, two run 8/5), links a strategy chart for the variant, and explains that correct hold decisions materially raise the return but the game still carries a house edge on realistic pay tables. It is age-gated with responsible-gambling messaging.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Browse the full iGaming & affiliate glossary — hundreds of EN/RU terms with examples.
← Back to glossary