How to Read a Video Poker Machine Paytable

The paytable is the one piece of information that turns video poker from guesswork into a numbers game. Walk onto the floor at Crown Melbourne or sit at a club machine in Parramatta, and you will see the same grid of payouts above the buttons. Most players glance at it, press "deal," and never really read what it says. Those who take the time quickly realise the paytable is the difference between a session that drains the wallet and one that holds steady.

What the paytable does is translate poker hand rankings into cash returns and stack the rules of the variant on top. Once you can read it, you can compare machines, choose the right denomination, and play a strategy that matches the version in front of you. This walkthrough is for anyone in Australia who wants to know what the numbers mean before the first card is dealt.

What the Paytable Actually Shows

At its simplest, the paytable is a list of every winning hand ranked from highest to lowest, with a payout next to each. The top line is almost always the royal flush, followed by straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, and a pair of jacks or better in the most common variant. The payout next to each hand is a multiple of the amount wagered, so a "9" next to a full house means 9 credits for every 1 credit bet. Players who already understand the basic rules of blackjack will recognise the same idea of a published payout grid, where every possible outcome has a number attached.

You will also see a row labelled "credits played," where the machine shows how the payout changes when you bet the maximum number of coins. A royal flush might pay 250 for one coin, 500 for two, 750 for three, 1000 for four, and jump to 4000 for five. That last figure is the royal flush bonus, the single biggest reason experienced players always play max coins when the bankroll allows. Skipping it means you are playing a worse game for the same money.

The other detail baked into most paytables is the minimum qualifying hand. In Jacks or Better, that is a pair of jacks. In Deuces Wild, the minimum is three of a kind because twos are wild. Reading that line tells you which cards in your final hand are actually worth holding.

The Anatomy of a Standard Paytable Layout

Most machines print the paytable across the top of the screen, with one hand per row and the coin value running across the columns. Some venues still use the older cabinet style where the paytable is etched into the glass, and the text can be tiny under the dim lounge lighting common in many RSL and club venues across Sydney and Brisbane. A clear paytable bolds the royal flush row, since that is the headline figure players look for first.

Below the hand rankings, you will see a smaller block describing special features, including a "double up" gamble option, a wild card symbol, or the rules around held and drawn rounds. In Australia, machines offering a gamble feature usually cap the number of consecutive gambles at five, with rules set by state regulators such as Liquor & Gaming NSW or the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation. Reading that fine print matters because a gamble feature can swing your session's variance considerably.

Some paytables also include a small block of explanatory icons worth checking before you sit down.

• A small card icon next to a hand means wild cards are in play for that variant
• A coin stack icon marks the denomination range available on the machine
• A question mark opens the help screen with full rules and return figures
• A bell symbol often flags a bonus round triggered by certain hands
• A lightning bolt can indicate a "double up" gamble is available after a win

These little icons save a trip into the help menu and let you confirm the variant and bonus features at a glance.

Reading Variants and Their Different Numbers

Not every video poker machine in an Australian club is running Jacks or Better. Deuces Wild is common in many larger venues, and you will find Bonus Poker, Double Bonus, and Joker Poker on multi-game cabinets, particularly in the high-roller rooms at The Star Sydney. The same range of variants shows up on live casino platforms aimed at Australian players, where each game carries its own paytable you can open from the help menu.

In Deuces Wild, all twos are wild, so four of a kind becomes far more common and the natural royal flush is rarer. The paytable reflects that, with four of a kind paying more and the royal flush paying the same headline figure. The minimum hand shifts to three of a kind, and the strategy changes to favour any hand containing a deuce. Joker Poker adds a 53rd card to the deck and pays for a pair of kings or better, with a separate payout for five of a kind, which is impossible in standard poker.

Bonus variants layer extra payouts on specific four-of-a-kind combinations. Four aces might pay 80 credits per coin while four twos through fours pay 40. These bonuses change the optimal hold strategy because the machine now rewards chasing certain quads over others. Reading the paytable means spotting these lines and adjusting your discards to target them when the right cards show up.

Spotting the Numbers That Actually Matter

A few key numbers carry most of the information, and once you know what to look for, you can size up a machine in under a minute.

• The full house and flush payouts in the top row, which tell you whether the machine is full-pay
• The royal flush bonus for a five-coin bet, since that single line drives most of the long-term return
• The minimum qualifying hand, because it sets the floor for what counts as a winner
• Any bonus payouts for specific four-of-a-kind hands, which shift the strategy
• The maximum number of coins, which dictates the denomination range

The expected return, sometimes printed as a percentage on the help screen, is the other figure that ties it all together. A 9/6 Jacks or Better machine played with max coins and perfect strategy returns around 99.5 percent over the long run, which is why the variant is a favourite among serious players in Australia. Drop the paytable to 8/5 and the return falls to roughly 97 percent, and over hundreds of hands that gap adds up to a meaningful difference. The TrusteeCasinos2024 reference library covers paytable theory in more depth and breaks down RTP figures by variant for anyone who wants to go beyond the screen.

Comparing Machines at a Venue or Online

Once you can read a paytable, the next step is using that skill to choose where to play. In a physical venue, that means checking the help screens on each terminal before sitting down. Most Australian clubs disable the paytable button when the machine is idle, so you may need to insert a loyalty card or press the help key twice. The same approach works on desktop clients and online portals, where the paytable is usually tucked into the game information menu.

Players who want a refresher on related table games sometimes check the published return for baccarat or roulette, and that habit of reading the rules before sitting down is the same one to bring to video poker. Treat the paytable as a small piece of paperwork, the way you would treat a contract before signing. A five-minute read saves a lot of guessing during the session.

If you are practising at home on a laptop, you can clear out old game files and other clutter with a quick disk cleanup pass so the client runs smoothly, then open a free trainer app to test strategies.

A practical habit worth keeping is to write down the full house and flush payouts of any machine you intend to play, along with the coin value. That single note, on the back of a docket or typed into your phone, is enough to identify the best-paying terminals on the floor and walk past the rest. The paytable is a small thing, but reading it well is what separates the players who treat video poker as a thinking game from those who simply hope for the best.