Key points
- You are dealt five cards, keep the ones you want, replace the rest once, and are paid for the final hand by the paytable.
- A pair pays only from jacks up (a high pair); a pair of 2s through 10s pays 0.
- The numbers in the table include your bet, and the top pay of 800 per coin is paid only when you bet 5 coins.
- On a 9/6 machine (full house 9, flush 6), the house edge with best play is 0.46% (a 99.54% return).
- The lower the full house and flush pays, the higher the house edge (1.61% for 8/6, 2.70% for 8/5).
How a hand runs
- Bet 1 to 5 coins
- You are dealt five cards
- Choose which cards to keep (hold). Anywhere from none to all five
- The cards you did not keep are replaced, once (the draw)
- You are paid for the final hand according to the paytable
The 52-card deck is reshuffled every hand. Replacement cards come from the 47 cards left after your first five.
Example. You are dealt K♠ K♦ 8♣ 5♥ 2♠. Keep the two kings and draw three. Even if you end with just the pair of kings, it pays.
Hands and pays
A Jacks or Better 9/6 machine. The table runs from the strongest hand down.
| Hand | 1 coin | 5 coins |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 800 | 4,000 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 250 |
| Four of a Kind | 25 | 125 |
| Full House | 9 | 45 |
| Flush | 6 | 30 |
| Straight | 4 | 20 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 | 15 |
| Two Pair | 2 | 10 |
| Pair of jacks or better | 1 | 5 |
The hands are the same as in poker (see “Hand rankings” in “NLHE rules”). The ace works in both the A-K-Q-J-T (T is 10) and the A-2-3-4-5 straight.
What “Jacks or Better” means
A single pair pays only if it is jacks, queens, kings or aces (a high pair). A pair of 2s through 10s (a low pair) pays 0.
Example. Q♥ Q♣ 9♠ 6♦ 3♥ returns 5 on a 5-coin bet. T♥ T♣ 9♠ 6♦ 3♥ returns 0.
Pays include your bet
The numbers in the table are what comes back, including your bet.
Example. Bet 5 coins and make a pair of jacks or better: 5 comes back. That is just your bet back, a net of 0. Two pair returns 10, a net of +5. No hand returns 0, a net of −5.
Payouts with five coins
The royal flush pays 800 per coin only with 5 coins (the max bet). With 1 to 4 coins, many machines drop it to 250.
Example. A royal on 1 coin pays 250. On 5 coins it pays 4,000, which is 800 per coin.
What “9/6” means
“9/6” means a machine that pays 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush per coin. Those two lines are almost the only thing that differs between machines.
Example. A full house of 8 and a flush of 5 make an 8/5 machine. Even played perfectly, it returns less than a 9/6 machine.
Double Double Bonus pays
Double Double Bonus is a second machine. Play is the same; only the pay table differs.
Full rules: Double Double Bonus rules.
