How to Play Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker

Multi-Strike Video Poker

Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker pushes the idea of multipliers in video poker to the limit. It’s all about the winning streak in this exciting and fast-paced version of video poker. Put enough winning hands together in a row and you can end up with multipliers up to 16 times the original amount.

Video poker stands out as being one of the most exciting games in the entire casino. You can choose your level of play, thanks to the outstanding variety of games available. For the most part, all of these variations spring from the version known as Jacks or Better. It’s a simple game to understand.

Speaking of twists and turns, Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker contains a lot of them. For one, there are few video poker games which allow you to choose from a wider range of pay tables as this one. You can thus precisely match up your preferred style of play with the table you choose.

But the real difference-maker in Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker is the way the game aggressively offers multipliers. These multipliers take the normal payback you get for a winning hand and give them a major boost. You can win up to 16 times the amount listed on the pay table for a winning hand.

How do you get multipliers? Well, you have to make a pretty sizable wager. Whereas most video poker games have a maximum wager of five coins, Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker asks you to bet five times that amount, for a total of 25 coins, to have access to the most multiplier possibilities.

That bet allows you to play up to five lines of video poker. You move up and play the line above your current level if you form a winning hand. With each line you move up, your multiplier doubles. As a result, a winning streak of two or more hands becomes valuable when playing Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. Each winning hand will not only set off a new multiplier above it but also feature boosted payback from the multiplier already in place.

Obviously, the downside comes when you fail to cash in on your multipliers. Betting 25 coins per hand with minimal winnings in return will really take a bite out of your bankroll. That’s why Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker is best played by long-term players who can withstand the occasional costly slump.

In the following article, we’ll explain everything about Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. We’ll show you how to play a basic hand of video poker and the multipliers aspect of this variation. We’ll also get into important video poker subjects like strategy and video poker pay tables.

Playing Basic Video Poker

If you’ve never played video poker before and come upon Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker, you might be a bit baffled by everything that’s taking place on the screen. For that reason, you should consider learning basic video poker first. Then, you can take on this game, which is much more complex.

Mobile Video Poker Machine With Several Chips and Cards Behind It

Video poker isn’t that hard to learn, which is one of its many selling points. If you’re familiar with table games and slot machines but not with video poker, you might be surprised at what you find. You’ll quickly learn that video poker actually takes the best parts of those two games and mashes them together to create something simple, exciting, and potentially lucrative.

Video poker resembles slot machines because it’s played by a single person at a machine. For people who don’t like to deal with the hassles of other casino patrons or employees, this is ideal. You can play at your own pace without having to worry about what anyone else thinks about it.

But video poker also takes a cue from table games in that there are probabilities involved. Since there are only 52 cards in the deck for most video poker games, you can estimate how often winning hands will show up. And you can also judge what the average payback of a given game might be.

You can also use the probabilities when making your decisions each hand. The fact that video poker allows you to use such strategy is another advantage. In slot machines, you have no control at all.

On average, video poker also pays back more than the average slot machine. In fact, there are many video poker variations and pay tables which can offer you better payback than table games. Some of those pay tables can even be found on a Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker machine.

Add all that to the fact that video poker is ideal for online play. Many of the top real money online casino sites feature video poker. What you’ll find is that there’s practically no difference between playing video poker online or playing it at a casino.

With all of that going for it, it’s no wonder video poker is popular. Let’s look at how to play a basic hand, then learn the intricacies of Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker.

Step 1: The Bankroll

You’ll create your bankroll by inserting money or a ticket with credits into a video poker machine. If you’re playing online, you’ll have to fund a wagering account at an online betting website. The bankroll will be used to place your bets and it’s where your winnings from the game go until you stop playing.

The bankroll will be represented on screen by units known as credits or coins. These units will be linked to whatever denomination you might be playing. For example, five credits on a 25-cent machine will equal $1.25 (5 times .25).

Step 2: The Bet

In most video poker games, you can bet between one and five credits on a single hand. On those games, it is always advisable to bet five credits per hand. That’s the only way to unlock the maximum payout amount for a royal flush hand.

In the case of Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker, you will still be betting between one and five credits. But you’ll have the chance to bet that chosen amount anywhere from one through five times.

In other words, you can play five credits only and just play a single line of video poker on a Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. You wouldn’t have access to any of the multipliers in that case.

But if you start multiplying that bet, anywhere from two to five times, you’ll be able to play more lines and have access to more multipliers. The maximum wager is 25 coins, which allows you to play all five lines of Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker and be open to multipliers on every line but the bottom.

Betting the full 25 coins gives you the highest payback on average when you play Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. It’s understandable that you might try to limit your betting exposure if you can’t afford a big bankroll. But if you desire to compete in this game at the level of maximum return on gambling investment, you should really splurge on the maximum wager.

Step 3: The Hand

Video poker basically resembles a card game known as Five-Card Draw. You’re dealt five cards and get to discard any of them that you don’t want. In return for the discarded cards, you’ll draw new cards from the deck to try and make the best possible poker hand.

That’s how Five-Card Draw works, and it’s also how video poker works, albeit with simulated cards instead of real ones. In video poker, you only have to make one of the winning hands on the pay table to get paid something in return for your wager.

You’ll note that different pay tables contain their own unique set of winning hands. But, for the most part, in games without a wild card involved, you’ll make the following hands playing 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)

At the top of that list are hands that will come up relatively often. As you move down the list, the hands will be more difficult to achieve. The rarer the hand, the higher the payback will be.

The hand begins after you make your wager and hit the “deal” button. Five cards from the simulated deck of 52 will appear on your screen. This is your deal and the basis for your hand going forward.

You’ll have a chance to change this five-card hand up by discarding cards that aren’t useful and then drawing new ones from the deck to complete your hand. Think of it as the three Ds: deal, discard, and draw. Your goal is to make one of the winning hands on the pay table after this process is complete.

The key to the hand comes when you decide what to hold and what to discard from your original five-card deal. You’ll have to measure your chances of drawing the cards you need from the remaining cards (47) in the deck. And you’ll also have to decide how much it’s worth to pursue certain hands.

It’s always a case of risk versus reward when you make these decisions. Here’s a sample deal so you can get an idea of how this works:

Two of Spades, Two of Hearts, Three of Hearts, Six of Hearts, Queen of Hearts

In this deal, you have no winning combinations. But you do have several “seeds,” which are card combinations which only need a little bit of help on the draw to make them turn into winners.

For example, the pair of twos can be a good starting point. If you discard the other three cards, you could potentially make two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind.

You might also decide to stick with the four hearts in the hand. That would give you an excellent chance at a flush. It’s a solid mid-priced hand that could give your bankroll a boost, and you’d have a little less than a one in five chance of making it happen on the draw.

But the biggest target in this hand is a straight flush. You could only make that happen by dropping the two of spades and queen of hearts and drawing the four of hearts and five of hearts. It’s a long shot draw, but it would pay off very well for you if it comes through.

You might think that this decision-making process is a bit overwhelming. But, in truth, most video poker hands will be more obvious than this one in terms of what to hold and what to discard. And once you play for a while, you’ll learn how to make even decisions like this one pretty quickly (read the strategy section below for more on that).

Once you’ve made your decision, press the buttons underneath the cards you want to hold, if any. Press the “draw” button to set off the draw and complete the hand. Repeat the steps to continue playing.

As you can see, playing a hand of video poker is a relatively simple process. Now that you know how to do that, you can start to understand what’s going on in Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker.

The Rising Multipliers of Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker

Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker is not the only kind of Multi-Strike Poker you might find in casinos or as part of gambling websites. The difference with this game is that it goes to a higher level than the other Multi-Strike Poker games, which usually stop at 8x.

When you start play on a Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker machine, you’ll notice that there’s room on the screen for five different lines of video poker. The access you’ll get to those lines depends on how much you wager. For example, a max bet of 25 coins would put all five lines in play. By contrast, a 15-coin wager of five coins per three hands would let you move as high as the third line.

The incentives for playing more lines in Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker is that the multipliers keep doubling with every line. Let’s assume for our example that you made the 25-coin wager to play the game to its fullest.

You start at the bottom with your first hand. If you should lose that first hand, you’ll stay at the bottom for your next hand. But if you form one of the winning hands on the pay table you’re playing, you’ll end up moving up to the next level.

When you get to the second level, you’ll have a multiplier of 2x attached to that hand. What does that mean? It means that, if you win on that line, you’ll win twice the normal amount listed on the pay table for the hand that you’ve made.

Also, by winning on that second line, you get to move up to the third line. And that line will have a 4x multiplier attached to it. Win on the third line and you get to move up to the fourth line. The fourth line includes an 8x multiplier.

Finally, a win on the fourth line puts you on the fifth line. And that’s where the 16x multiplier included in the name of the game will be. Keep in mind, you don’t have to keep making wagers as you move up to each line in Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. That will have been covered by your original wager.

At any time that you lose a hand, you go back to the bottom line. At that point, you’ll have to make a bet and start the process over again if you want to keep playing. You will also go back to the bottom line regardless of what happens on the fifth line. Win or lose, you can go no higher. 16x is as high as the multipliers get in Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker.

One other note, there’s one other way to move up to the different levels of Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker without a winning hand. Occasionally, as the cards are revealed for the deal, one of the cards will show the words “Free Ride” on it before eventually revealing the rank and suit of the card.

With a “Free Ride” card, you get to automatically move up to the next level of the game. The game plays out the same way otherwise. If you win on the level where you received the “Free Ride,” the applicable multiplier will be added to your winnings.

You can probably tell that a big winning streak will be lucrative when you play Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. For example, let’s look at what some winning hands of video poker on a Jacks or Better pay table with the maximum wager of five coins would be worth during a five-hand winning streak:

  • Two Pair = 10 coins
  • Three of a Kind = 15 coins
  • Flush = 30 coins
  • Pair of Jacks or Better = 5 coins
  • Four of a Kind = 125 coins

Your total winnings for those hands would be 185 coins. Minus the 25 coins wagered to play those five hands, you’d have a 160-coin profit.

But now, imagine the same conditions and the same winning hands in the same order on a Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker machine where you made the initial 25-coin wager. Here are the winnings:

  • Two Pair = 10 coins
  • Three of a Kind = 15 coins times 2 = 30 coins
  • Flush = 30 coins times 4 = 120 coins
  • Pair of Jacks or Better = 5 coins times 8 = 40 coins
  • Four of a Kind = 125 coins times 16 = 2000 coins

Your total winnings now come out to 2200 coins. Minus the 25-coin wager, your profits are 2,175 coins. That’s a massive payoff for a short stretch.

The other side of the coin is that a losing streak in Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker will hurt that much more. You’ll be losing 25 coins at a time instead of five.

Ultimately, the special feature of the multipliers does add a little bit to the game’s overall payback percentage and lowers the house edge. But you have to come ready with a solid bankroll if you want to take advantage of that boost. Betting 25 coins for each round of Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker isn’t for everybody.

Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker Pay Tables

The following list shows the full-pay tables available to you on Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker machines. By full-pay, we mean these are the tables that maximize your payback. It’s possible that you could encounter other tables where the payback for certain hands is discounted, so you should always try to strive to as close to full-pay as possible.

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 – 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

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 3 6 9 12 15
Flush 2 4 6 8 10
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 Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker

When we talk about video poker strategy, we’re talking primarily about making the mathematically correct choices for each possible deal in terms of what to hold and discard. Each deal contains an expected value based on the cards included. Your goal is to choose the specific set of holds and discards that maximizes that expected value.

Normally, you could learn strategy by choosing a pay table then using either strategy charts or video poker training software to teach you the right plays for each deal. But Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker renders these methods somewhat ineffective.

Why? Because of the multipliers. Your goal at times when playing Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker is not so much to go for the winning hand that pays the most but instead to go for the hand that is easiest to achieve.

Getting a winning hand of any kind ensures that you move up to another level and get the increased multipliers. Your basic thought process should be to go at the game as conservatively as possible.Unless the odds are really in your favor to draw to a high-paying, rare hand, you’re mostly better off looking for lower-paying hands like pairs or two pair just to keep on moving up.

Because of the inexact science of this strategy, you have to expect that your payback percentage might fall short of the quoted level for each pay table. It’s likely that there will be some strategic errors made by even sharp video poker players when playing Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker. Hopefully, if you play the game enough, you’ll be able to minimize these errors and win as much as is within your reach.

Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker Pros and Cons

Pros of Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker

  • Winning streaks really pay off in a major way
  • Has some of the highest multipliers in all of video poker
  • More pay tables available than on most video poker machines

Cons of Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker

  • Extremely expensive to play the game with maximum wager
  • Losing streaks will knock your bankroll for a loop in a hurry
  • Strategy will take a lot of guesswork rather than factual information

Conclusion on Multi-Strike Poker 16x Video Poker

Multi-Strike Poker 16x video poker lets you shoot for some incredible multipliers as you move up from line to line. Your winning streaks will be more valuable to you here than in most other video poker variations. But you’ll have to endure high wagers and some iffy strategy to take the most advantage of what the game has to offer.