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Joker’s Wild Poker Guide: Rules, Strategies & Expert Tips
Joker Poker, also known as Joker’s Wild Poker is one of the most popular video poker games and the reason for its popularity is its fun, exciting, fast-moving and you can win more often. On average, the joker appears in around ten hands, and it is a wildcard that can be nominated as any card you want increasing the chances of winning hands. The Jokers Wild Strategy is fairly easy to grasp, and our strategy card will make it even easier.
How to Play Jokers Wild Poker
A popular version of Video Poker is Jokers Poker, also known as Jokers Wild. This version uses a standard deck of 52 cards and also a Joker which can replace any card in the pack.
As you would expect, the chances of getting a winning hand are increased with the addition of a Joker, but the House Odds tend to be higher than for other versions such as Jacks or Better.
In fact, the expected payout is around 98.50%, more than 1% lower than Jacks or Better.
Joker Poker has 2 main versions: Kings or Better and Two Pairs or Better.
As the Kings or Better pays out for 2 extra hands, a Pair of Kings and a Pair of Aces, this one has better odds and should be played wherever you have a choice.
As with all versions of Video Poker, we suggest that you play with maximum coins to ensure the big payout comes when you get that Royal Flush. If you need to reduce the size of a Coin in order to play maximum, then do so.
Although having a Joker in the pack does increase your chances of getting a win, the big payout, for a Royal Flush is only for a ‘Natural Royal Flush’, which includes the 10, J, Q, K and A of the same suit, and no Joker. If the Joker does replace any of these cards, you will still get a nice payout, but considerably less than you would get without a Joker.
The presence of a Joker also gives us a new hand that you won’t get on standard 52 card Video Poker such as Jacks or Better, with 5 of a kind now possible. This is the 2nd best hand after the Natural Royal Flush and is, in fact, better than a Royal Flush that includes the Joker. Clearly, the 5 of a kind isn’t possible without a Joker in your hand.
If you are dealt a Joker, you don’t need to decide what card it will be as the computer will payout after you have discarded and then received cards based on the best possible outcome.
Before you read this strategy, make sure that you are familiar with the rules and poker hands. The video poker rules can be found here . A full breakdown of the poker hands you can get within any form of poker can be found here.
Once you have mastered this, you are ready to consider the best way to play Joker Poker.
Joker Poker Paytable
The payouts for Joker Poker do vary from casino to casino, and from software provider to software provider, so bear that in mind when deciding where to play. Make sure to keep an eye out for those that offer the best payout for a Natural Royal Flush.
The paytable below is one that is fairly standard and is for the Kings or Better version, which as mentioned should be played wherever possible instead of Two Pair or Better.
| Hand | Payout | Probability% | Return% | Odds 1 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush | 1,000 | 0.00260 | 2.60 | 38461.54 |
| Five of a Kind | 200 | 0.00930 | 1.86 | 10752.69 |
| Wild Royal Flush | 100 | 0.01070 | 1.07 | 9345.79 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 0.05940 | 2.97 | 1683.50 |
| Four of a Kind | 17 | 0.84970 | 14.44 | 117.69 |
| Full House | 7 | 1.56120 | 10.93 | 64.05 |
| Flush | 5 | 1.59760 | 7.99 | 62.59 |
| Straight | 3 | 1.68750 | 5.06 | 59.26 |
| Three of a Kind | 2 | 13.31210 | 26.62 | 7.51 |
| Two Pairs | 1 | 11.05470 | 11.05 | 9.05 |
| Kings or Better | 1 | 13.99880 | 14.00 | 7.14 |
| Nothing | 0 | 55.85650 | 0.00 | 1.79 |
| Total | 100.00 | 98.602 | 1.00 |
You will note that the minimum needed for a payout in Joker Poker is a pair of Kings or better, again this does change from casino to casino but this tends to be the most popular payoff structure.
Below shows a typical Joker Poker game, you will see you can choose the value of the coin, in the above case, it is a 1 unit coin meaning a total of 5 units for the total bet as 5 coins are being used. Playing 4 coins gives a maximum payout for a Natural Royal Flush as 3,000 coins, moving up to 5 coins makes this 5,000 coins so it is worth doing just in case you win the big one!
Joker Poker Strategy
For the strategy, see the 2 tables shown below, the top one is for no Joker in your initial 5 cards, and the bottom one is if you are fortunate enough to get dealt a Joker in the 5 cards.
Simply start at the top and work your way down, when you come to an option that represents the cards you have, hold those cards and replace the rest.
It’s that simple!
No Joker
| Cards | Action |
|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush/Royal Flush | Keep them all and celebrate! |
| 4 to a Natural Royal Flush | Keep the 4, discard 1 |
| Four of a Kind, Full House or Flush | Keep the hand, discard 1 card if Four of a Kind |
| 4 to a Straight Flush | Discard other card |
| Three of a Kind or Straight | Discard other 2 cards if Three of a Kind, keep Straight |
| 3 to a Royal Flush with K or Q High | Discard other 2 cards |
| Two Pairs | Discard the other card |
| 3 to a Royal Flush with A High | Discard other 2 cards |
| AA or KK | Discard other 3 cards |
| 4 to a Flush | Discard other card |
| 3 to a Straight Flush with no gap | Discard other 2 cards |
| Pair of Queens or lower | Discard other 3 cards |
| T, J, Q, K | Discard other card |
| 3 to a Straight Flush with gaps | Discard other 2 cards |
| Suited AK | Discard other 3 cards |
| Suited 10K, JK or QK | Discard other 3 cards |
| 4 to a Straight with no gaps | Discard other card |
| Suited 10A, JA or QA | Discard other 3 cards |
| Single Ace or King | Discard other 4 cards |
| Suited 10J, JQ or 10Q | Discard other 3 cards |
| Anything else | Discard all 5 cards |
With Joker
| Cards | Action |
|---|---|
| Any hand of Four of a Kind or better | Hold all or discard odd one if Four of a Kind |
| 4 to a Wild Royal Flush | Discard other card |
| Full House | Hold all |
| 4 to a Straight Flush with no gap | Discard other card |
| Flush | Hold all |
| 4 to a Straight Flush | Discard other card |
| Three of a Kind or Straight | Discard other 2 for Three of a Kind, keep Straight |
| 4 to a Flush with A and/or K | Discard other card |
| 3 to a Straight/Royal Flush with no gaps | Discard other 2 cards |
| 3 to a Straight Flush with gap/s | Discard other 2 cards |
| Joker with 10JK, 10QK or JQK | Discard other card |
| 4 to a Straight with no gaps | Discard other card |
| 4 to a Flush with no A or K | Discard other card |
| Joker with 3 consecutive cards | Discard other card |
| Joker with A | Discard other 3 cards |
| Joker with K | Discard other 3 cards |
| Anything else | Keep Joker, discard other 4 cards |
Remember that the above is a guide that will give you the best possible chance of winning a session when followed correctly. Some players like to trust their instincts from time to time and vary their play slightly, feel free to do this as well if it feels right.
Terminology
High Card – King or Ace. A Pair of these returns your stake, so it is worth holding. Note that due to the payouts High Card for Kings or Better differs from High Cards on some other forms of Video Poker
Outside Straight – 4 Cards that are consecutive and where a card at either end can provide you with a Straight – EG. 5,6,7,8
Inside Straight – 4 Cards where there is one number missing that would complete a Straight. EG 5,6,8,9
Joker Poker Tips
-
- You have 2 different versions of Jokers Wild. Kings or Better and Two Pairs or Better. Kings or Better has the best odds so you should play that one.
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- Play Maximum Coins – The payout for five coins played is far greater than five times the payout for playing only one coin and is the way to play to maximize your winnings.
- Play at Machines that Offer a Full Pay Schedule – The full house pay schedule for jokers wild is a 7 / 5 machine -7 Coins are paid for the full house and 5 for the flush.
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