Guaranteed Play Video Poker Guide

Guaranteed Play video poker gives players a different way to approach their video poker play. Normal video poker gives you a certain amount of credits for the money you put into the machine. But with guaranteed play, you assure yourself of a certain number of hands for your initial investment.

There are many ways to enjoy video poker. You can play different pay tables on video poker machines, or you can choose to play versions where certain cards are wild. You can even find video poker games with special features that slightly alter the usual rhythm of play with bonus spins, multipliers, or other twists.

But, for the most part, all of these games feature the same bankroll. You put money into a machine or into an account at a top gambling website. That money is registered as credits or coins, which are equal to the denomination you’ve chosen to play.

Guaranteed Play video poker is unique because it changes up this format. Instead of paying for credits on the machine, you buy a certain amount of hands. The monetary value of what you put in won’t change from normal play, but it will be rendered in a different way.

Once you play Guaranteed Play video poker, you’ll see the amount of hands you have to play. You’ll also see the amount of winning (or losing) you’ve done during the session rendered at a base level of zero. If you’re ahead, you’ll have positive credits and, if you’re behind, you’ll see a negative number.

Guaranteed Play video poker basically changes the way you think about playing video poker. When you’re playing normally, you might decide to quit when your credits reach a certain level or when you get tired of playing. In the case of Guaranteed Play, you’ll be done with your session when your hands run out or you decide to cash out.

In the following article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about Guaranteed Play video poker. We’ll talk about how to play basic hands of video poker and how the Guaranteed Play style of play changes your thought process. Finally, we’ll talk about the pay tables you might find as well as the strategy you can use to maximize your winnings.

Playing Video Poker

Guaranteed Play video poker is basically a new way to bankroll your video poker play. But it in no way changes the basic gameplay found in video poker. You’ll still be doing the same things as if you were playing the game with a traditional bankroll setup.

If you’re new to video poker, you might not realize how beneficial the game is to gamblers. In fact, many video poker proponents won’t play anything else when they walk into a casino. The same goes for those who do their gambling online and only want to play video poker at top websites.

Why is video poker so popular with both beginning and expert gamblers? Here are some of the reasons:

• Video poker is easy to learn no matter your experience level. Even beginners should be up and running in no time. Meanwhile, those who know how to make poker hands should take to it immediately.
• Video poker is a one-person experience. You don’t have to waste time and energy worrying about your casino etiquette or what casino employees or patrons will think of your play. All you have to do is sit at a machine and enjoy yourself.
• Video poker incorporates strategy into gameplay. At a certain point in every hand, you have to decide which cards you want to hold and which you want to discard. In this way, you’ll have a direct impact on the outcome.
• Video poker is bound by basic probability math. There are 52 cards in the simulated deck that provide you with your video poker hands. Because of that, you’ll know going into each hand what your chances are of forming a winning combination.
• Video poker is quite lucrative. Compared to the average slot machine, video poker offers much more in payback to players. In fact, many video poker games average a higher payback rate than even the top table games.
• Video poker can be played online without losing any benefits. There’s basically no difference in gameplay between casino video poker and online video poker. Playing online at top gambling websites gives you great convenience and comfort compared to playing in a casino.

These are just a few of the benefits you’ll reap when playing video poker. We’re going to show you how to play the game. Then, we’ll show how Guaranteed Play video poker changes thing up.

Step 1: Your Bankroll

This is the part of the game that is significantly altered by Guaranteed Play video poker. For that reason, we’ll hold off on describing that for now.

Step 2: Your Bet

Even though the bankroll is set up differently in Guaranteed Play video poker and your time of play will be based on the hands that you’re playing, you’ll still be betting in the same manner as you would regular video poker. You will have the choice of betting between one and five credits per hand.

It all comes down to the payback for the royal flush. The royal flush is the most difficult hand to achieve in video poker and also the highest paying. When you bet between one and four credits and end up with a royal flush, you’ll earn 250 credits for everyone that you wager. But if you make the royal flush on a five-credit wager, you’ll receive 4,000 credits in return, which is an 800 to 1 ratio.

Step 3: Your Hand

In many ways, video poker resembles the card game known as Five-Card Draw. Both feature five-card deals, a chance to discard, and a draw of new cards from the deck. You’ll follow that process in both Five-Card Draw and video poker in order to make the best possible poker hand.

But Five-Card Draw is for multiple players. As a result, the only way you can win a hand is to beat everybody at the table. Or you have to try to trick other players into folding by bluffing on your bets.

Video poker is, by contrast, a one-person game. To win, you just have to finish your hand with one of the winning combinations listed on the pay table. Get one of those hands and you’ll get paid in return.

The card combinations that are considered winners will differ depending upon the pay tables you’re playing. For instance, games where wild cards are involved have a higher threshold for a winning hand than games without wild cards. For the most part, however, you’ll be trying to achieve the following winning hands when playing Guaranteed Play video poker:

• Pair of jacks or better
• Two pair
• Three of a kind
• Straight (five cards of consecutive rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
• Flush (five cards of same suit)
• Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
• Four of a kind
• Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
• Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)

These hands are listed in order from most common (at the top) to the hardest to achieve (at the bottom). As you move down the list, the payback rises. In other words, the rarer the hand, the higher the return.

You’ll see five cards on your screen when you make your bet and press the “deal” button. These five cards will come from a simulation of a standard deck of 52 cards (53 if playing Joker Poker).

Due to a random number generator in the software of the game, your chances of receiving any specific card are completely random. It doesn’t matter what happened in previous hands. Your chances of receiving, for example, the ace of spades in any position on the screen are always 1 in 52.

You’ll be making this decision about what to hold and discard based on your probabilities of turning the cards you have in your deal into a winning combination. In addition, you should be considering what the payback might be for these winning combinations. Video poker basically comes down to risk versus reward, as so many other casino games do.

Let’s take a look at a sample deal to see how this process works. Imagine that you receive the following five cards on the deal:

In this deal, there are no winning combinations right off the bat. But there are many combinations in the deal that come up just shy of a winning combination. You’ll have to decide which of these winning “seeds” you want to pursue.

For example, you might want to hold onto the pair of eights and discard everything else. If you do that, you’ll be drawing three cards. And you’ll open up the possibility of two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind, all winning hands.

Another option would be to hold on to four cards of consecutive rank. If you discard one of the eights, you can potentially draw a straight if you get a seven or queen. You could also get a small win if you draw another jack to make a pair.

One other possibility would be to keep the eight, nine, and 10 of diamonds only. That would leave you with the chance at a straight, a flush, or even a straight flush on the draw. The latter is an extremely high-paying hand, but you would need a lot of luck on the draw for that hand to come to fruition.

As you can see, this deal presents some decisions. Many video poker hands won’t be so complicated. In any case, check out the strategy section below to learn how to make these decisions. Once you do make your choice, press the buttons for the cards you want to hold. Press the “draw” button to complete the hand. Cards will be drawn to replace your discards to see if you have a winner.

That’s basically all you need to know to play video poker. Just keep repeating the second and third steps as long as you want to play. It’s a simple process. Now that you know how to play a hand. It’s time to look at how the setup for those hands differ when you’re playing Guaranteed Play video poker.

What Guaranteed Play Means

The name of Guaranteed Play video poker can be a little misleading. After all, when you set up a bankroll in traditional video poker, you’re guaranteed the ability to play the game. But what you don’t know is how many hands you’ll get to play. Also, if you run out of credits, you have to stop playing until you replenish your bankroll.

Guaranteed Play video poker tells you up front how many hands you can play based on how much you put into the machine. The number of hands won’t change no matter if you’re winning or losing. In traditional video poker, the amount of hands you play is dependent on how much you win or lose.

Imagine that you have $100 and want to play at a denomination of $1 and also wish to make the maximum bet of five credits every hand, as we recommended.

If you were playing common video poker, that would show up on the screen as 100 credits. When you bet your five credits to play the first hand, your credit total will drop to 95.

For the sake of this example, let’s assume you lose that first hand. Your credits would still remain at 95 credits for the next hand, if you choose to play.

Now, let’s imagine you were playing Guaranteed Play video poker. Since you’ve got $100 at a $1 machine but you want to play the max bet, you’ll be granted 20 hands to play.

Your credits will start at zero. That won’t change until the end of the hand. But once you start the hand, you’ll see that the amount of hands you have to play will drop to 19. Let’s assume that you lose the first hand. Your credits will drop to -5.

Credits for both games would go up and down from there depending on the wins and losses. Playing traditional video poker, you’ll tend to have more credits in your bankroll. But the finances are mostly the same if you play them over the long haul, in terms of expected return.

But what about if you had played four of five hands of Guaranteed Play video poker and your credits sat at zero? You wouldn’t have any incentive to cash out. The $100 that you put into the machine is already gone, and you don’t have any credits in your bankroll.

You’ll have a few more hands to score a high-paying combination that you might otherwise have shunned if you were playing normal video poker. In that way, Guaranteed Play video poker can be a help. After all, the best way to score big in a short round of video poker is to snag a high-paying hand.

The downside, of course, is that you’re much more likely to lose most or all of your original bankroll playing Guaranteed Play video poker. If you’re just breaking even, which is often the result of a session of video poker, your bankroll won’t be very high. Even a slightly positive session, in terms of winning more credits than losing, might end up in a negative return.

There will be times when it might make sense to cash out from a round of Guaranteed Play video poker before you’ve played all your allotted hands. For example, let’s imagine that, using the parameters of the example above, you managed to hit a royal flush early on.

If that were the case, your bankroll would be somewhere around 4,000. Since most video poker games have a house edge, any hands that you play from that point to complete your 20 might only decrease that bankroll. It might make sense to take your winnings and run.

All of that strategizing comes into play when you deal with Guaranteed Play video poker. Again, if you play the game enough, all the differences between standard video poker and guaranteed play will even out. You just have to decide what you’re looking for from the game in the short run to see if it’s for you.

Pay Tables for Guaranteed Play Video Poker

Since Guaranteed Play video poker only affects the bankroll, there’s really no limit to the amount of pay tables you can play on these machines. You can choose a pay table that fits your style of play.

For example, you can play close to the vest with Jacks or Better, which is the most conservative table. Pay tables with the words “Bonus” or “Super” in them give you more opportunities at big, jackpot-style payoffs. And games with wild cards, like Deuces Wild, give an opportunity to achieve rare hands.

Here are some of the pay tables you might encounter on a Guaranteed Play video poker machine.

Jacks or Better Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	40	80	120	160	200
Four of a kind (any other)	20	40	60	80	100
Full house	8	16	24	32	40
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Bonus Poker Deluxe Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	80	160	240	320	400
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	7	14	21	28	35
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Double Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind aces w/ any 2,3,4	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind 2s, 3s, or 4s w/ any A,2,3,4	160	320	480	640	800
Four aces	160	320	480	640	800
Four 2s, 3s, 4s	80	160	240	320	400
Four 5s through Ks	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Triple Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, or 4 kicker	800	1600	2400	3200	4000
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s A, 2, 3, or 4 kicker	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind – aces 5s – Ks kicker	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 5s – Ks kicker	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind – any other	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	7	14	21	28	35
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Super Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (Jack through Kings)	120	240	360	480	600
Four of a kind (Two through Four)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (Five through Ten)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Super Double Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four aces w/ any 2,3,4	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four aces w/ any J, Q, K	320	640	960	1280	1600
Four 2s, 3s, 4s w/ any A,2,3,4	160	320	480	640	800
Four Jacks through Kings w/ any J,Q,K, A	160	320	480	640	800
Four aces	160	320	480	640	800
Four 2s, 3s, 4s	80	160	240	320	400
Four 5s through Ks	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	8	16	24	32	40
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

White Hot Aces Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (aces)	240	480	720	960	1200
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	120	240	360	480	600
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Super Aces Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight flush	60	120	180	240	300
Four of a kind (aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s)	80	160	240	320	400
Four of a kind (any other)	50	100	150	200	250
Full house	7	14	21	28	35
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

Deuces Wild Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five of a kind	16	32	48	64	80
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	2	4	6	8	10
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Deuces Wild Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces with an Ace	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five aces	80	160	240	320	400
Five 3s, 4s or 5s	40	80	120	160	200
Five 6s through Ks	20	40	60	80	100
Straight flush	15	30	45	60	75
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	3	6	9	12	15
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	1	2	3	4	5
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Double Bonus Deuces Wild Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Four deuces with an Ace	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four deuces	200	400	600	800	1000
Wild royal flush	25	50	75	100	125
Five aces	160	320	480	640	800
Five 3s, 4s or 5s	50	100	150	200	250
Five 6s through Ks	20	40	60	80	100
Straight flush	12	24	36	48	60
Four of a kind	4	8	12	16	20
Full house	4	8	12	16	20
Flush	3	6	9	12	15
Straight	1	2	3	4	5
Three of a kind	1	2	3	4	5

Joker Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Five of a kind	100	200	300	400	500
Wild Royal Flush	50	100	150	200	250
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind	20	40	60	80	100
Full house	10	20	30	40	50
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	2	4	6	8	10
Two pairs	1	2	3	4	5

Strategy for Guaranteed Play Video Poker

If you only play Guaranteed Play video poker once in a while for short sessions of a limited amount of hands, you might want to adjust your strategy. As we said above, just breaking even or even winning small amounts won’t do you much good compared to the size of your initial wager.

Since that’s the case, you might have more of an incentive to sell out for rare hands like four of a kind or a royal flush playing Guaranteed Play video poker. This will give you the chance of hitting the kind of payback that will make the game worthwhile in the short run.

Long-term video poker players, on the other hand, should really try to learn the correct mathematical play for any hand that might come up. In the long-term, the probabilities, combined with the payback amounts, should lead you in the right direction.

Doing all that math is next to impossible in the heat of a video poker session. That’s why we recommend you get some help in the strategy department.

First of all, you should settle on a specific pay table you want to play. That will make it easier for you to learn all of the right plays. Even for just one pay table, that’s a lot of information to digest. Once you decide on a pay table, we suggest one of the following methods to learn perfect play for Guaranteed Play video poker.

Video Poker Training Software

You’ll be able to input the pay table you want to play on a Guaranteed Play video poker machine into the training software. That will ensure you’re receiving the proper instruction. After that, it’s just a matter of taking your time with the software to make sure you have every possible base covered.

Video poker training software lets you play sample hands of video poker as if you were playing for real. When you make a mistake about what cards to hold and discard on a specific hand, the software lets you know. It also tells you what the right play should be, so you don’t make the same mistake again.

Strategy Charts

It’s important when you’re dealing with strategy charts that you find one that’s directly linked to the specific pay table you’re playing. Otherwise, you could end up getting the wrong information. Once you have the right chart, you should try to memorize it and have that information ready to use when you play Guaranteed Play video poker for real.

Pros and Cons of Guaranteed Play Video Poker

Guaranteed Play Video Poker Pros

• Might be easier to understand the bankroll when you’re dealing with how many hands you have to play
• You might play longer than normal, giving you better chances for big payoffs
• Most top pay tables are available

Guaranteed Play Video Poker Cons

• You need to win significantly to win something back at all
• Your initial investment won’t come back to you if you only break even
• Might be a difficult concept to grasp for people used to traditional video poker

Conclusion on Guaranteed Play Video Poker

Guaranteed Play video poker allows you to come at video poker from a different perspective. Knowing how many hands you have left in your round might cause you to stick around for high-paying hands. If you’re only going to play short sessions, it might give you the best chance of a big payoff for that reason.