Reading a pay table
What '9/6' means, why one number changes everything.
The 9/6 shorthand
A video poker pay table is a list of what each made hand pays per coin bet. Because most of the table is fixed by convention, players name a game by the two lines that move the most: the full house and the flush, quoted at their 1-coin values. "9/6 Jacks or Better" is Jacks or Better where a full house pays 9-for-1 and a flush pays 6-for-1.
Read any pay table on this site the same way: find those two identity lines first, then scan the quads and the bottom line. That's 90% of what distinguishes one game from another — the Games page derives these signatures straight from the engine's payout tables.
Why max bet is mandatory
Every line of the table scales linearly with coins — except one. The royal flush pays 250-for-1 on bets of one to four coins, and jumps to 800-for-1 on the fifth coin. That jump is worth more than a percentage point of the game's total return, so every return figure on this site assumes a 5-coin bet.
If a smaller total bet feels more comfortable, the honest answer is a smaller denomination at 5 coins — never fewer coins at a bigger one.
Spotting a short-pay table
Short-pay tables look identical to full-pay ones except for one or two shaved lines. This site carries both Jacks or Better variants so you can see exactly what one line costs:
| Game | Full house | Flush | Return | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 Jacks or Better | 9-for-1 | 6-for-1 | 99.54% | 0.46% |
| 9/5 Jacks or Better | 9-for-1 | 5-for-1 | 98.45% | 1.55% |
One number changed, and the house edge more than tripled — from 0.46% to 1.55%. The cut follows you into individual decisions, too: four to a flush is worth 1.213 credits per coin on the 9/6 game and only 1.021 on the 9/5 game. Same cards, same draw, different price.
Try it at the table
Play 9/6, then switch to 9/5 from the Games page — watch the EVs shift on flush draws.