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 Jacks or Better returns 99.54% — a house edge of just 0.46%, among the lowest of any game on the casino floor.
| 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. Check the schedule before you insert money, every time; two identical-looking machines side by side can pay differently.
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 check any hand with the analyzer. See the full return breakdown on our 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 Jacks or Better plays like every other Jacks or Better game — the "9/6" only describes the pay table, not the rules. You're dealt five cards, you hold any of them, and the rest are redrawn once. The smallest paying hand is a pair of jacks, so a pair of jacks, queens, kings or aces returns your bet, while a pair of tens or lower pays nothing. To play jacks or better well you always keep a high pair, and you weigh a pair of jacks against drawing hands like four to a flush or four to a royal. Because the 9/6 Jacks or Better game is fixed draw poker, its optimal strategy is exact and fully learnable.
The single most important habit on any 9/6 Jacks or Better machine is to bet five coins — the max bet. At fewer than five coins the royal flush pays a flat 250-for-1; at five coins the royal jumps to 4,000, an 800-for-1 jackpot. That royal bonus is worth almost 2% of the game's return, so betting fewer than five coins quietly wrecks an otherwise great pay table. When you're dealt four to a royal, you break almost any made hand to draw for it — the royal is that valuable. If five coins at your denomination feels steep, move down a level rather than cutting your bet.
Full 9/6 Jacks or Better strategy is the ordered chart on our Jacks or Better strategy page, but the core is simple. Hold a made four of a kind, straight flush or royal. Break anything short of that for four to a royal flush. Keep a high pair (a pair of jacks or better) over four to a flush or a four-card straight, but break a low pair or a lone high card for four to a royal. Never hold a kicker with your pair. Learn those rules, drill them in the trainer, and you'll capture nearly all of the 99.54% return that full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better offers.
Full-pay 9/6 is the best version of Jacks or Better you can find, and one of the best bets in the casino. Every step down from 9/6 — to 9/5, 8/6 or 8/5 — keeps the same rules and the same jacks or better strategy but pays less on the full house or flush, handing the house a bigger edge. Two machines side by side can look identical and pay differently, so read the full-house and flush lines before you insert a coin: 9 and 6 means full-pay. Play 9/6, bet five coins, follow correct jacks or better strategy, and few games in the building are cheaper to play.
To make Jacks or Better pay its best, three things have to line up: a full-pay 9/6 pay table, max-bet play, and correct strategy. Miss any one and you leave money behind. Full-pay Jacks or Better is worth walking the floor to find — video poker jacks or better machines with the 9/6 schedule return far more than the common short-pay versions, and the jacks or better video poker game is the same either way, so there's no reason to play a worse pay table. When you sit down to play jacks or better, glance at the full-house and flush lines first, bet five coins, and let the strategy do the rest. That's the whole recipe for full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better. Full-pay Jacks or Better is always the goal: a full-pay jacks or better machine plays exactly like any other jacks or better video poker game, only the pay table returns more. If you can find full-pay jacks or better, there is simply no reason to sit at a short-pay one.
Educational content about probability and pay tables. Not gambling advice.