Quick Quads Video Poker

Quick Quads video poker makes for an interesting spin on both regular video poker games and Bonus pay tables. Bonus poker tables encourage you to go for four of a kind hands, since those hands pay off at a premium. But this game really stresses the quads by giving you another way to make them if you do a little simple addition.

Video poker, like the most popular version of the game Jacks or Better, is based on the card game known as five card draw. It is a video simulation of that game, where you try to make the best possible hand out of a deal and a draw. The only difference is that you are simply squaring off against the machine instead of trying to top other players with your hand.

While video poker has always been known for its easy gameplay and competitive pay rates, some people bemoaned the small chance of hitting a big payoff. With Jacks or Better pay tables, the rare royal flush hand was the only way for you to hit something that resembled a jackpot.

To compensate for this, Bonus pay tables were created. These games, which come in many different variations such as Double Bonus or Triple Double Bonus, raised the payoff for four of a kind hands which are much more achievable than a royal flush. It gave those searching for a big score in a short time something else to shoot for when playing.

Quick Quads video poker resembles Bonus Poker, but it also adds an extra feature to gameplay. Like most games with an extra feature, you can only activate the twist if you make an extra bet. But that extra bet opens up something in the game that can really boost your chances of a big payoff.

By betting an extra coin on top of the normal five-coin maximum bet, Quick Quads video poker allows you to add two cards in your hand together if the sum matches with three of a kind already existing in your hand. This gives you an extra chance of making four of a kind. To make this even more enviable, the pay tables enhance the four of a kind payoffs compared to the regular versions.

Knowing all of this, you can imagine how important it is to rack up those four of a kind hands when playing Quick Quads video poker. Betting six coins per hand can really bring down your bankroll and make it tough to grind out winnings. That’s why you need to be prepared to go all in to make those quads happen.

In the following article, we’ll explain how to play Quick Quads video poker by first telling you about basic video poker and then explaining the Quick Quads twist. We’ll show you how the pay tables differ from normal video poker games and how that affects payback percentage. We’ll also explain how to adjust your strategy to play this unique twist on video poker.

Basic Video Poker Gameplay

Why are video poker games like Quick Quads video poker so popular in casinos and on gambling websites? Well, there are a multitude of reasons, the most important of which being that video poker essentially combines the best elements of two popular casino attractions. When you play video poker, you are essentially playing a mash-up of slot machines and table games.

Like slot machines, video poker is a solitary game. It’s you versus the machine, playing at your own pace without any hassles from other casino patrons or employees. For those who like to enjoy their gambling without any worries of dealing with others, this makes video poker ideal.

But that is the end of its similarities with slot machines. Slot machines are random. You don’t know how often winning spins are slated to come up or if the machine you’re playing pays out well. With pay tables and probabilities involved, video poker takes that guesswork out of the equation.

In addition, it incorporates strategy a la table games like blackjack or roulette. When you’re playing a slot machine, you basically spin and hope. But your strategy will have an impact on your outcome when playing video poker.

As if that wasn’t enough, you’ll be happy to know that video poker features payback levels that are close to or even better than the best table games. And they’re generally much higher than the levels for slot machines. When you add all that up, it’s easy to understand why video poker is so popular.

That’s why you should learn to play this game if you haven’t already. The good news is that it’s an easy game to learn, whether or not you’ve had any previous experience with poker. And once you know video poker at its basic level, it’s an easy leap to learning variations such as Quick Quads video poker.

Let’s take you through the process step-by-step:

Step 1: Establishing a Bankroll

Your first step when playing a video poker machine is to insert cash to create a bankroll. If you have a redemption ticket from elsewhere in the casino with money remaining on it, you can also use this as your bankroll. If you’re playing online, you’ll need to create an account with the website offering the game and fund that account before you can get started.

The money that you put into the machine will be registered as credits or coins. Each credit will be equal to the denomination that you’re playing. Some machines allow you to choose between denomination options, while others have the denomination set in stone.

Imagine that you’re playing at a machine with a denomination of a quarter. You put $20 into the machine. That will give you 80 credits, which is 20 divided by .25.

You’ll want to judge the size of the bankroll by how long you want to play at the machine. Keep in mind that video poker hands can sometimes go by fast and furious, especially once you learn how to play. If you want to play for a long time, you’ll have to put in enough to account for this kind of rapid play.

Step 2: Deciding on the Size of Your Bet

Most video poker games allow you the chance to bet between one and five credits per hand. The five-credit bet is what’s known as the max bet, and it is the recommended bet you should make every time. That’s because there is a big jump in payouts for the royal flush hand from one through four credits to five credits.

As we’ll explain more clearly in a bit, Quick Quads video poker is a game which gives you the option of betting a sixth coin or one more than the maximum bet. That extra coin is what initiates the game’s extra feature. And, as we’ll also explain, this extra feature actually slightly improves your expected payback from the game, so we would recommend that as your bet if you play Quick Quads.

Betting six coins per hand can seem a bit expensive. If you plan to play Quick Quads video poker at the highest possible level and make the game a regular in your video poker rotation, you should be betting six coins per hand. Otherwise, you’ll essentially be hampering your chances.

If you find betting six coins is too much, consider switching to a lower denomination. In that way, you can get the best return on your gambling investment. But you always have the option of playing one through five coins should you choose to do so.

Step 3: Playing a Video Poker Hand

Once you have your bet made, the machine will “deal” you five cards. These cards will appear on the display on your screen. The cards are a simulated version of ones you might receive from a standard 52-card deck.

Your chances of receiving any one of these 52 cards, either on the deal or a subsequent “draw,” always remain at 1 in 52. Don’t fall for the misconception that you are due to receive certain cards based on what has happened in previous hands at the machine. A random number generator inside the software of the machine will assure that your chances remain the same whether you’re playing your first hand or your thousandth.

The initial five cards that you receive are just your starting point. You’ll compare them to the winning hands that are dictated by the pay table on the machine. Some pay tables may differ in terms of their winning hands, but most of them stick with the following:

• Pair of jacks or better
• Two pair
• Three of a kind
• Straight (five cards in consecutive order)
• Flush (five cards of the same suit)
• Full house (three of a kind and a pair in one hand)
• Four of a kind
• Straight flush (straight with cards of the same suit)
• Royal flush (ten through ace of the same suit)

In some cases, you might have a winning hand even on the deal. But, more often than not, you’ll need to use the draw round to try and improve on it. In the draw round, you can discard any cards in your hand that you don’t feel are helping and have them replaced by others from the deck you were dealt from.

This is where your decision-making comes into play. You have to judge your chances of making certain winning hands, while also checking out the pay table to see how those hands pay. For example, let’s say that you receive the following hand:

Experienced video pokers will be able to diagnose which cards should be held and which should be discarded in an instant. But those learning to play for the first time will likely have to do some thinking on a hand like this. There are three different possibilities which stand out with this hand.

On the one hand, you have a pair of kings, which is a winning hand on its own and can easily be improved into better hands like two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind. There are also four hearts in this hand, which is just one shy of a flush. And the three, four, and five of hearts leave the possibility of a straight flush in play.

Do you go for the sure thing in the two kings, which doesn’t pay off a lot but can be improved into a lucrative hand? Should you play for the flush, which is a nice payoff but requires you to get a little lucky on the draw? Or should you go for broke and keep the three through five of hearts, in which case you’d have to get really lucky to draw into a straight flush but pays off in a big way?

Those kinds of decisions will come up time and again when playing video poker. To learn how to make the right ones, read our section on strategy below. Once you have made your decision, simply press the “Hold” buttons underneath whichever cards you want to keep.

Once you do this, you can press the “Draw” button. The machine will draw you new cards from the ones you’ve discarded and your hand will be over. Any winnings will be added to your credits and you’ll be ready to play the next hand if you choose.

Step 4: Playing Again or Quitting

You can keep playing video poker as long as you have credits remaining to make a bet. Simply repeat steps two and three for as long as you wish. Or you can cash out and get one of those redemption tickets that we mentioned earlier.

If you run out of credits, you will need to replenish your bankroll before continuing. That’s video poker in a nutshell! Now that you have all that down pat, let’s talk about the twist to Quick Quads video poker that makes it such an interesting variation.

Playing Quick Quads Video Poker

First of all, it’s important to note that Quick Quads video poker can be played in both single or multiple play mode. If in single play mode, the game would progress as we described above, albeit with the Quick Quads twist (which we’ll explain in a bit) laid on top if you choose. In multiple play, you can usually play three, five, or ten hands at once.

Keep in mind that you’ll have to make bets for each of the hands you want to play. When in multiple play mode, you will get one deal to govern all of the hands you are playing. The decisions you make about what to hold and discard would then hold for all the different hands, and the draws would come from separate decks that include whatever 47 cards are left after the five cards that were dealt.

To activate the Quick Quads video poker special feature, you need to bet a sixth coin per hand. If you bet one through five coins, the game will play out as normal without the extra feature. And the pay tables used will be without the extra boost for four of a kind hands.

If you do use the sixth coin, you will have the opportunity to add to the rank of two cards in your hand if the sum of those two ranks would give you four of a kind. As an example, let’s say that you drew the following hand:

In a normal game of video poker, this would be a three of a kind hand and you would be paid accordingly. But with the Quick Quads video poker twist, you can add the rank of the two cards not included in the three of a kind. The rank of a card is essentially the number on the card (in this hand, the ranks are 2-4-6-6).

Adding two from the two of clubs and four from the four of clubs gives you six. Since you already have three sixes, this hand becomes four of a kind in Quick Quads video poker. Here is another example of how that might work:

Again, this is normally a three of a kind hand. But here, you can add the three and the four, which gives you seven. That makes four sevens and allows you to get paid for four of a kind.

Here is one more example that might answer your question about what happens with an Ace. Take a look at this hand:

Most people know that, in poker, aces can be ranked a few different ways. For example, you can make a straight with ten, jack, queen, king, and ace. Or you can make one with ace, two, three, four, and five.

In the case of Quick Quads video poker, it is the latter rank of ace that holds. In other words, you can consider it having a rank of one. Which means, in our example above, you can add one and eight for nine, giving you four nines in that hand.

Keep in mind that there are a few restrictions to the Quick Quads video poker twist. First of all, you can only make the four of a kind with ranks from two through ten.

Because the rank of jack-queen-king-ace in video poker is technically 11-12-13-14, you might think that this hand would qualify for Quick Quads:

But the restriction keeps you from making a Quick Quads four of a kind with anything higher than 10. So, this is just a normal three of a kind. Also, keep in mind that adding only works if it makes four of a kind. Take a look at this hand:

Even though two and six make eight, you can’t add them to give you a third eight for three of a kind. Sadly, this is a losing hand even with the Quick Quads video poker twist. But look at this hand:

In normal video poker, this is a full house. But with the Quick Quads video poker twist, you can add the two fours and give you the four eights. The good news: A hand like this will pay for both the full house and the four of a kind, giving you a rare double winning hand in video poker.

Those examples should give you an idea of how the twist for Quick Quads video poker works. Now, it’s time to talk about how it affects the pay tables and payback percentages.

Pay Tables for Quick Quads Video Poker

Quick Quads video poker is a game that allows you to choose from a variety of pay tables that are already pre-loaded onto the game. This helps you to choose the style of play that you would like. Some pay tables are set up for more of a grinding style of gameplay, while others give you a chance at higher payoffs at the risk of possibly blowing through your bankroll faster.

Here are the types of games that are available on a typical Quick Quads video poker machine:

• Jacks or Better
• Bonus Poker
• Double Bonus
• Triple Bonus
• Double Double Bonus
• Triple Double Bonus
• Triple Bonus Poker Plus

For each of these games, there will be two pay tables available. First, there will be the basic pay table that will apply to you if you wager from one through five coins. Then, there will be a table that will govern the game if you bet the sixth coin and play the game with the Quick Quads video poker feature.

As an example, we’ll use Jacks or Better. Here is what the pay table for Jacks or Better on a Quick Quads video poker machine looks like if you bet one through five coins:

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	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 Pairs	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks of Better	1	2	3	4	5

This is known as the 9/5 version of Jacks or Better. The numbers refer to the payouts for the full house and flush hands. Payoffs can sometimes be slightly lower on other pay tables. Because this pays at 9/5, the highest level you can find online or in a casino, it is known as the full-pay version of the game.

Now, let’s take a look at how the pay table changes when you add in the Quick Quads feature:

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	47.2	94.4	141.6	188.8	236
Full House	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	36
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a Kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two Pairs	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks of Better	1	2	3	4	5

Technically, this pay table only needs to be shown at the five-coin level, since you are already playing the max bet (then, adding one) just to activate the feature. But we wanted to show you the whole thing so you could compare it to the other.

What you’ll see is that the pay tables are exactly the same except when it comes to the four of a kind hand, which gets a big boost in the Quick Quads video poker version. This gives you even more incentive to go for those four of a kind hands, which pay off the same whether they are achieved naturally or achieved by adding two cards to complete the Quad. You really want to keep that in mind as you play the game (more on that when we get to strategy).

But it also means that this game will be more of an up-and-down experience. First of all, you are only getting paid for five coins when you win, even though you are betting a sixth. That will hurt your bankroll in the long run if you can’t make up for it with some four of a kind hands.

In addition, even with the ability to add the two ranks, four of a kind hands are still going to be relatively rare in Quick Quads video poker. As a result, you might have to deal with some long slumps waiting for that four of a kind to replenish your bankroll again. And those with small bankrolls might not get one of those hands before their credits run out.

In the long run, the payback percentage for the Quick Quads video poker version of the game is just a hair better than the normal pay table without the twist. Take a look:

• Jacks or Better Normal: 99.54%
• Jacks of Better with Quick Quads twist: 99.6%

It’s not much of a difference. And you won’t be able to notice it much if you are only playing a small session. Those playing thousands upon thousands of hands will enjoy a small advantage by betting the sixth coin each time out.

That goes for all of the variations that we listed above. The bottom line is that you are better off going for the Quick Quads video poker extra feature if you plan on making it the regular game in your video poker rotation. For those who only plan on playing video poker a few times, whether you like it or not will come down to how bad you want a big jackpot compared to how bad you want to keep your bankroll alive.

Strategy for Quick Quads Video Poker

Playing with perfect strategy is the only way that you can possibly reach the maximum expected payback percentages for each game within the Quick Quads video poker family. You might get lucky now and again making the wrong mathematical decision based on what you draw. But over the long haul, continually making incorrect decisions based on the probabilities and the pay tables will hurt your winnings.

That is why learning strategy is so important. And Quick Quads video poker adds a twist to normal strategy with the extra feature. You’ll have to adjust your game plan when dealing with it.

For example, take a look at the following hand you might receive on a deal:

On that hand playing normal Jacks or Better video poker, you might be tempted to try and play the nine through jack of clubs to go for a straight flush. But with Quick Quads video poker, you have to think about the adding portion of the game. In this case, remember that ace has a rank of one and you can add one and nine to make ten.

If you keep the ace, nine, two tens, and discard the jack, you would need another ten on the draw to make four of a kind. Since four of a kind pays only a tiny bit below the straight flush on the Quick Quads video poker pay table, that changes the math as well. It would be better here to hope to draw one card for the Quad then hoping to get lucky on a two-card draw for the straight flush.

How can you learn strategy for a game like this? Well, here are two excellent ways:

1. Strategy Charts: These charts can be found online and printed out. By memorizing them, you can easily achieve perfect play. They rank the possible deals you can get in terms of expected value, thus allowing you to compare them to your hand and making clear what you should discard to get the most value out of the hand.
2. Video Poker Trainers: These trainers are pieces of software that can be downloaded. They allow you to play simulated versions of video poker games like Quick Quads video poker. As you play, you will be alerted each time you make a mistake.

Pros and Cons of Quick Quads Video Poker

Conclusion on Quick Quads Video Poker

Quick Quads video poker, whether you’re playing online or at a top gambling website, might put you to the test to do some quick addition during gameplay. But those sums can add up to big winnings along the way. As long as you don’t mind the extra bet, this can be a really nice variation on traditional video poker play.