A Video Poker Strategy for Frugal Players A video poker strategy that let’s you enjoy the excitement of the game without worrying about depleting your bankroll. I love the challenge of video poker, but all too often in my early days of playing, I left way too much money in those machines. I was determined to find a better way and I came up with a video poker strategy for the frugal player.
A royal flush pays 250 coins for each coin inserted. Except when you bet the maximum of 5 coins, then the payout skyrockets to 4,000 coins. Have you ever stopped to consider why the casinos dangle this carrot? Could it be because their profits increase substantially if players risk five coins on every hand?

Is it really wise to consistently wager maximum coins in pursuit of a jackpot that’s only going to materialize once every 40,000 hands, on average. One-coin play stretches your bankroll and playing time, while five coin play can eat up your money really fast, but it gives you a crack at the biggest possible payoff.

I can hear you saying, what if I hit the Royal when I’ve got less than five coins inserted? True, you won’t collect the 4,000 coin prize, but now think of the thousands of losing hands you played, on which you spent only one coin instead of five!

With the Frugal Video Poker Strategy you achieve both objectives – longer play and a chance at the biggest possible payout. It all started in 1995, I experimented with and tested this method countless times, first in live casinos and then on the Internet. Overall, money-wise I’m about even with this method of play. And I’ve been at it for a total of well over 1,000 hours during the last few years.

Playing the Video Poker Strategy for Frugal Gamblers

Pick the casino and the game you like. Buy 200 coins ($50 worth of quarters or $10 worth of nickels – or 200 $1 coins).
Why a stake of 200 coins? Because machines go through hot and cold cycles. You could have a run of perhaps 100 hands without a significant payoff. We need to be able to last through such downturns. Eventually a string of decent hands comes along and the losses will be recovered.

Start by playing one coin only. The Frugal Video Poker Strategy demands that you never play more than one of your original 200 coins per hand. If you win, you play your winnings plus one additional coin from the 200 coins you started with. For example, if you get back one, you play two, if you win three coins, you bet four on the next hand. If you win four or more, you bet five coins, the maximum.

After every winning hand you bet the number of coins just won plus one more. Of course, if you win five coins or more, there is no need to add an extra one, since five is the maximum you can bet on each hand. As soon as you can no longer bet 5 coins from your winnings you revert back to betting less than maximum coins,

In a nutshell, with the Frugal Video Poker Strategy you never use more than one of your original 200 coins for each hand. Play multiple coins only if you can do so by betting back coins you have won. In other words, you play more than one coin per hand only if you have coins in excess of the 200 you started with.

Once you get ahead by 100 coins or more, I suggest you cash out your original stake. That way you assure that it’s not going to be a losing session. Then play your winnings at the next higher coin denomination. If you were playing nickels, switch to quarters, or change from quarters to dollars, and from dollars to $2 or $5 coins.. You’re now playing with money you’ve won from the casino, so have fun with it. Maybe you’ll hit that Royal on a five-coin hand.