The full-pay version of the most popular video poker game — and the single best pay table you can play. Here's what "9/6" means, why it matters, and how to spot it.
"9/6 Jacks or Better" is shorthand for a specific pay schedule: a full house pays 9-for-1 and a flush pays 6-for-1. Those two numbers are the whole difference between a great machine and a mediocre one. With perfect strategy, 9/6 returns 99.54% — a house edge of just 0.46%, among the lowest of any game on the casino floor.
Pick your five cards and the analyzer returns the mathematically optimal hold, ranked by expected value on the 9/6 pay table. Switch to the 9/5 or 8/5 table and watch the return drop for the identical game — the clearest proof of why 9/6 is worth finding.
| Hand | 1 coin | 5 coins (max) |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 250 | 4,000 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 250 |
| Four of a Kind | 25 | 125 |
| Full House | 9 | 45 |
| Flush | 6 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 20 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 | 15 |
| Two Pair | 2 | 10 |
| Jacks or Better | 1 | 5 |
The royal flush jumps from 250 (per coin) to 4,000 only at max coins — always bet five coins so the royal pays its full 800-for-1.
Casinos lower the return by shaving the full-house and flush payouts. The game plays identically and the strategy barely changes, but the cost to you climbs sharply:
| Pay table | Full House | Flush | Return | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 (full-pay) | 9 | 6 | 99.54% | 0.46% |
| 9/5 | 9 | 5 | 98.45% | 1.55% |
| 8/5 | 8 | 5 | 97.30% | 2.70% |
An 8/5 machine costs you nearly six times the house edge of a 9/6 for exactly the same game. Over a session that difference is real money.
Look at only two lines on the pay schedule: the full house and the flush. If they read 9 and 6, you've found full-pay. If either is lower (a "5" on the flush, an "8" on the full house), keep walking — the game is the same but the return is worse. Two identical-looking machines side by side can pay differently, so check the schedule before you insert money, every time.
The 99.54% figure is the long-run return to a player who makes the optimal hold every hand. Learn the play on our Jacks or Better strategy page, drill it in the trainer, and see the full return breakdown on the house edge page.
Our engine evaluates every one of the 2,598,960 possible five-card deals, finds the mathematically optimal hold, and averages the exact expected value — a complete enumeration, not a simulation. The result, 99.5439%, matches the accepted published figure to the fourth decimal.
9/6 plays like every other Jacks or Better game — the "9/6" describes the pay table, not the rules. You're dealt five cards, hold any of them, and the rest are redrawn once; the smallest paying hand is a pair of jacks. The one habit that matters most is betting five coins: at fewer coins the royal flush pays a flat 250-for-1, but at five coins it jumps to 4,000 — an 800-for-1 jackpot worth almost 2% of the game's return. Betting short quietly wrecks an otherwise great pay table, so if five coins at your denomination feels steep, drop a level rather than cut your bet. The core strategy is simple: keep any made four of a kind, straight flush or royal; break anything short of that for four to a royal; hold a high pair over four to a flush or a four-card straight; break a low pair or lone high card only for four to a royal; and never hold a kicker with a pair. The full ordered chart is on the Jacks or Better strategy page.
The 9-for-1 full house and 6-for-1 flush payouts give it a 99.54% return, higher than the 8/5 or 9/5 versions you will often see on the floor.
0.46% with perfect strategy — a figure our engine computes exactly over all 2,598,960 possible deals.
Educational content about probability and pay tables. Not gambling advice.