The exact return of every common video poker pay table — computed from first principles over all 2,598,960 possible deals with perfect strategy. No estimates, no sampling.
In video poker, the pay table is the house edge. Two machines can look identical and play by the same rules, yet one quietly keeps three times as much of your money — the only difference is the numbers printed on the pay schedule. This page lists the exact return (RTP) and house edge for the pay tables that matter, so you can spot a good machine before you play.
| Game / pay table | Return (RTP) | House edge | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deuces Wild — Full-Pay | 100.76% | player edge +0.76% | ✓ our engine |
| Deuces Wild — NSU | 99.73% | 0.27% | ✓ our engine |
| 9/6 Jacks or Better | 99.54% | 0.46% | ✓ our engine |
| 9/5 Jacks or Better | 98.45% | 1.55% | standard |
| 8/5 Jacks or Better | 97.30% | 2.70% | standard |
RTP = long-run return to a perfect player. House edge = 100% − RTP. "✓ our engine" figures were computed here by exhaustive combinatorial enumeration of every deal; "standard" figures are the well-established published returns (engine verification in progress).
Return to player (RTP) is the percentage of every dollar wagered that a machine pays back over the very long run, assuming you play perfectly. A 99.54% RTP means the house keeps 0.46 cents of each dollar cycled through the machine on average. Play less than perfectly and your personal return is lower — which is why the strategy analyzer and trainer matter. RTP is a long-run average, not a promise for any single session; short-term results swing far above and below it.
The shorthand "9/6" refers to the full-house and flush payouts on a Jacks or Better machine: 9-for-1 on a full house and 6-for-1 on a flush. Drop either one and the house edge jumps:
| Jacks or Better | Full House | Flush | RTP | 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% |
Same game, same strategy — but an 8/5 machine costs you nearly six times the house edge of a 9/6. The pay schedule is the single most important thing to check before you sit down.
| Hand | Payout (per coin) |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 800 |
| Straight Flush | 50 |
| Four of a Kind | 25 |
| Full House | 9 |
| Flush | 6 |
| Straight | 4 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 |
| Two Pair | 2 |
| Jacks or Better | 1 |
Royal flush pays 800-for-1 only at max coins (4,000 for 5 coins) — always bet max.
In Deuces Wild all four 2s are wild, which dramatically changes the math — pairs and two pair pay nothing, but wilds make big hands far more common. On the right pay schedule, Deuces Wild is one of the very few casino games with a positive return to a perfect player.
| Hand | NSU (per coin) | Full-Pay (per coin) |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush | 800 | 800 |
| Four Deuces | 200 | 200 |
| Wild Royal Flush | 25 | 25 |
| Five of a Kind | 16 | 15 |
| Straight Flush | 10 | 9 |
| Four of a Kind | 4 | 5 |
| Full House | 4 | 3 |
| Flush | 3 | 2 |
| Straight | 2 | 2 |
| Three of a Kind | 1 | 1 |
| Return (RTP) | 99.73% | 100.76% |
Full-Pay Deuces returns 100.76% to a flawless player — a +0.76% edge. That is exactly why casinos almost never spread the full-pay schedule anymore, and why the more common NSU ("Not So Ugly") version pays a little less: full-pay Deuces requires near-perfect play to realise, and any mistakes hand the edge back. Notice how much the payouts shift between the two schedules — a one-unit change on four of a kind and the flush moves the whole game from house-favourable to player-favourable.
For each pay table our engine evaluates every one of the 2,598,960 possible five-card deals, finds the mathematically optimal hold for that hand, and averages the exact expected value. It is a complete enumeration — not a simulation — so the returns are exact. We validate against published references: our 9/6 Jacks or Better result (99.5439%) and NSU Deuces Wild result (99.7283%) match the accepted figures to the fourth decimal.
Knowing the edge is half the battle — capturing it is the other half. Every figure here assumes perfect play, so drill your holds until they are automatic.
Open the Strategy Analyzer → Practice in the Trainer
Educational content about probability and game theory. Not gambling advice. RTP figures are long-run averages under perfect strategy.