Common misconceptions
Due machines, hot streaks, lucky seats, and other expensive stories.
Due machines and hot streaks
Every video poker hand starts from a freshly shuffled 52-card deck. The machine has no memory of the last hand, the last hour, or the last jackpot — which makes most casino folklore expensive to believe.
Holds that don't help
The best hold: the aces alone. The kicker costs you a draw and pays nothing.
Kicker rules in Double Double Bonus and Triple Double Bonus are different — there, the fifth card can matter, but only after quads arrive. The Games page strategy notes cover each game.
The only lever
Strip the stories away and video poker reduces to one decision: which cards to hold. The deal is random, the draw is random, the pay table is fixed — but the hold is yours, and it has an exact, measurable price every hand.