Getting A Royal Flush
The crème de la crème of almost every poker game is getting a Royal Flush. It’s not only a rare occurrence that can make jaws drop, but hitting a Royal Flush is usually something that will boost a bankroll by a ton. This is certainly the case in Video Pokers, which are simple games with potentially massive rewards.
But how much will you actually make if you happen to hit a Royal Flush at a casino playing Video Poker and what is the likelihood of doing so? These are just two of the questions that we will be answering in the following article, along with explaining the optimal strategy of drawing to a Royal Flush.
Before we get to this, though, let us start with the basics to make sure that you know what a Royal Flush actually is. Many gamblers wrongly confuse the hand with a straight flush. Let’s not make that mistake.
A Royal Flush is the leader in portable restrooms and toilet trailer rentals for everything from Special Events, Concerts, Family Celebrations, and Weddings to Large Construction Sites and Municipal Projects, and Smaller Contracting jobs. At A Royal Flush, we do it all with just one call. Regardless of how many players are participating in a game of Hold'em, there are 36 hands that can make a straight flush (remember, we need to exclude the four hand that make a royal flush). Now, there are 2,598,960 different hand combinations in Hold'em.
The Difference Between a Straight Flush and a Royal Flush
As you may or may not already know, a straight in any 5-card poker game is made up of five cards that are sequentially connected to each other, while a flush is five cards that are all of the same suit (♥, ♠, ♦ or ♣). Logically, a straight flush is therefore five cards of the same suit that are sequentially connected to each other.
The same can actually be said about a Royal Flush, which is also a colored straight. However, this hand is only created if the colored straight is made up of the five highest cards in the deck. In other words, the 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. Thus, it is much more difficult to hit a Royal Flush in Video Poker than it is hitting just a straight flush.
These are some of the straight flushes in Video Poker:
- 2♥, 3♥, 4♥, 5♥, 6♥
- 9♠, 10♠, J♠, Q♠, K♠
- 5♦, 6♦, 7♦, 8♦, 9♦
- 7♣, 8♣, 9♣, 10♣, J♣
These are the only four Royal Flushes in Video Poker:
- 10♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥, A♥
- 10♠, J♠, Q♠, K♠, A♠
- 10♦, J♦, Q♦, K♦, A♦
- 10♣, J♣, Q♣, K♣, A♣
How Much Does a Royal Flush Payout in Video Pokers Online?
This depends on two things; the version of the game that you’re playing and the coin level that you’re playing with. Many of the best Video Poker casinos in the UK have several different variants that can be enjoyed, such as Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Joker Poker, Jackpot Poker, All Aces and All American.
All of these games also have five different coin levels, which is a betting option. No matter the Video Poker you’re playing, you’re betting coins and the coin level decides how many you’re betting (1, 2, 3, 4 or 5). To get the right stake, you can also adjust a coin value that sets the amount of real cash that each coin should be worth.
What’s important to know and what is illustrated in the below table, is that you must play with the highest coin level to be able to get the highest payout from a Royal Flush in Video Poker.
Please note that the above payouts are all listed as a multiplier to the stake that you’re playing with. So if you’re playing with a stake of £1 and get a 250x win from a Royal Flush, you would win £250.
As you can see, the payouts from a Royal Flush are very similar between the different Video Poker versions. The only one that stands out is Jackpot Poker which has the potential to pay a lot more. This game comes with a progressive jackpot that can pay tens of thousands of pounds if it’s been built up nicely. It also never pays any less than £5,000 as this is the jackpot’s starting value.
In Jackpot Poker the stake is only adjusted by the coin level and when this is set to the maximum one, you’re betting £5. This means that winning the jackpot will pay 1,000 times your stake at the very least and could potentially pay up to 10,000x.
These Are the Odds of Getting a Royal Flush in Video Poker
Like most gamblers, you’re probably wise enough to know that getting a Royal Flush while playing video poker is really difficult. Though, you may also think that it wouldn’t be too hard should you be spending a couple of hours on a session trying to achieve it. If you do believe this, you’re actually terribly wrong.
Let us assume that a hand of video poker takes 5 seconds to play. You would then be able to go through 12 hands every minute and 720 hands every hour. If you keep this up you would be expected to get your Royal Flush after playing straight for two days and 7 hours as the chance of hitting one is approximately 1 in 40,000 hands. This is probably way more than you thought, right?
While it may not be much of a comfort, we can tell you that you will come close to hitting one much more often. To illustrate this, let’s have a look at the chance of being dealt 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 cards to a Royal Flush on the initial deal.
As you can see, playing for just an hour would yield you as many as 7 game rounds where you get teased by getting dealt three cards to a Royal Flush. And if you make your session a really long one and play for about four hours, you will even be dealt a hand where only a single card is missing from the big hand.
This might make you wonder what the chances are to hit the cards that you need after the initial deal. Well, let us answer this by taking a look at it!
| v2.1% | ||
The most interesting part is the 1 in 47 chance that you have whenever you’re initially dealt four cards to a Royal Flush. While this only happens once every four hours or so (on average), when it does you can actually feel the big hit coming. However, 1 in 47 is still only 1 in 47 so 46 out of 47 times you’re going to miss. No matter how we twist and turn the probabilities, the fact won’t change that a Royal Flush only happens once on every 40,000th hand.
Do note that all of the above probabilities are based on the game Jacks or Better. If you’re playing with wild cards such as in Joker Poker (this has an extra wild joker) and Deuces Wilds (in this all 2’s are wilds) your chances will obviously be increased.
When Is the Right Time to Draw to a Royal Flush? Here’s the Perfect Strategy!
Playing Video Poker, you will encounter a ton of hands where you get two or more cards to a Royal Flush. For instance, checking the tables that we have listed above, you can see that two cards to a Royal is dealt as often 1 in 13 hands. While you may be tempted to go for the big prize, only a few of these hands should actually be used to go for the Royal if you want to play optimally. To maximize your long-term chances of winning in the game, it is usually much better to break the Royal draw and go for another hand.
To help you out making the right decisions, we have listed all of the possible Royal draw scenarios and mentioned when you should and should not go for the draw. This Royal Flush strategy applies to Jacks and Better only and not to Deuces Wild or Joker Poker.
Please also note that whenever we use the term ‘high pair’ or ‘high cards’, this means a pair of jacks or better or cards that are either jacks or better. Similarly, the term ‘low pair’ or ‘low card’ means a pair of 10’s or worse or cards that are either 10 or lower.
These Are the Hands That You Should Draw to a Royal Flush
- Flush with one card from a Royal (2♥, 10♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥)
- Straight with one card from a Royal (10♥, J♥, Q♠, K♥, A♥)
- High Pair with one card from a Royal (10♥, J♥, Q♥, Q♠, K♥)
- Low Pair with three cards from a Royal (4♠, 10♠, 10♥, Q♥, K♥)
- One card from a flush with two cards from a Royal (2♠, 5♥, 10♥, Q♥, K♥)
- One card from a straight with two cards from a Royal (2♠, 10♠, J♥, Q♥, K♥)
- One card from an inside straight with two high cards to a Royal (2♥, 10♣, J♣, Q♥, A♥)
- Three high cards and two high cards to a Royal (2♠, 4♠, J♣, Q♥, K♥)
- Two cards from a straight flush and two high cards to a Royal (5♠, 6♠, 8♠, K♥, A♥)
Probability Of Getting A Royal Flush In Poker
These Are the Hands You Should NOT Draw to a Royal Flush
- Straight flush that is already made (9♥, 10♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥)
(keep the straight flush) - Three of a kind with three cards to a Royal (J♥, Q♥, Q♠, Q♣, K♥)
(keep the three of a kind) - Flush with two cards from a Royal (2♥, 6♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥)
(keep the flush) - Straight with two cards from a Royal (10♥, J♥, Q♥, K♠, A♠)
(keep the straight) - Two Pair with two cards from a Royal (10♥, 10♠, J♥, J♠, Q♥)
(keep the two pair) - High Pair with two cards from a Royal (3♠, 10♥, J♥, Q♥, Q♠)
(keep the pair) - One card from a flush with three cards from a royal (2♠, 7♥, 8♥, Q♥, K♥)
(go for the flush) - Low pair with three cards from a royal (3♥, 6♠, 6♣, J♥, Q♥)
(keep the pair) - One card from an outside straight with three cards from a royal (2♣, 9♣, 10♠, J♥, Q♥)
(go for the straight) - Two cards from a straight flush with three cards from a royal (4♣, 5♣, 6♣, J♥, Q♥)
(go for the straight flush) - One card from a high inside straight with three cards from a Royal (7♣, 10♠, J♣, K♥, A♥)
(go for the straight) - Two cards from a straight flush and two cards to a Royal with a 10 included (2♠, 4♠, 7♥, 10♥, J♥)
(go for the straight flush) - Two high cards and two cards to a Royal with a 10 included (4♣, 6♣, 10♥, J♥, Q♠)
(keep the QJ)
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the probability of being dealt a Royal Flush?
What is the probability of getting a Royal Flush in 5-card poker?
Which Video Poker game pays the most for a Royal Flush?
Playing online, Jackpot Poker by Play’n GO pays the most for a Royal Flush. It either pays 1,000 times your stake or a minimum progressive jackpot of £5,000 if playing at the highest coin level.
Is there anything I should know about chasing a Royal Flush in Video Pokers?
Always play with the highest coin level (level 5). This makes a huge difference if you would hit the Royal Flush as you would get paid more than three times as much. Playing with this coin level you usually have to bet a minimum of £1 or £1.25 per hand.
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The ins and outs of that most elusive of hands
By Henry Tamburin
I get many questions about a royal flush in video poker. That’s not too surprising since the royal flush is the premier hand that all video poker players dream (and hope) of getting. Here’s a sample of questions and my responses.
Q: I’ve been playing video poker several times a week for over a year. You keep saying that a royal flush occurs once in every 40,000 hands yet I still haven’t gotten a royal. What gives?
Firstly, I never wrote that you could expect one royal flush after playing 40,000 hands (or one cycle). What I wrote was, “On average, you will hit a royal flush once in every 40,000 hands.” The word “average” means a whole bunch of sets of 40,000 hands. In other words, in any given set of 40,000 hands, you could hit more than one royal flush or, heaven forbid, possibly no royals. In fact, you have a 36.8% chance that you won’t get a royal in one cycle (40,000 hands), and a 13.5% chance after two cycles (80,000 hands). Ouch! Therefore, the fact that you went over a year without a royal is statistically possible.
Q: How come every time I need one card for a royal flush, it never shows up, but that exact card that I needed always seems to show up on the very next hand?
That’s because you have “selective memory.” The computer program in the video poker machine that randomly selects the cards for each hand doesn’t use the information from previous hands to determine which cards it will deal. Every hand is a random deal regardless of what cards appeared (or didn’t appear) on the previous hand.
Q: Over three years, I hit seven royal flushes in the same casino and none in two other casinos that I play regularly. I’m beginning to believe those casinos somehow tighten their video poker machines so players can’t get a royal.
You will average one royal flush per roughly every 40,000 hands at any casino. Casinos can’t change the odds of hitting a royal flush. (What they can do is change the payout … some casinos will pay less than 4,000 coins for a royal flush; therefore, always check to be sure that the payout for a five-coin royal flush is 4000 coins.) The bottom line is as long as the pay schedule is the same for a particular video poker game, the odds of getting a royal flush will be the same no matter where the machine is located (assuming a random deal).
Q: I’ve been dealt many three- and four-card royal flushes lately. What are the odds of this happening?
Playing Jacks or Better, you’ll experience the thrill of being dealt a four-card royal flush once in every 2,777 hands (roughly once every four hours on average). Once in every 92 hands, on average, you’ll be dealt a three-card royal flush (about 7-8 per hour). This is what makes video poker exciting; namely, that you’ll have several opportunities to draw for a royal flush even if the odds are somewhat long (see next question).
Q: When you hold three cards to the royal flush, what is the chance of getting the two cards that you need on the draw for a royal flush?
You have a one in 1,081 chance of getting the two cards you need for the royal flush. The following table shows the chance of hitting the royal flush on the draw when you hold x cards to the royal flush.
| RF Cards in Initial Five-Card Hand | Chance of Hitting the Royal Flush |
0 | 1 in 383,484 |
1 | 1 in 178,365 |
2 | 1 in 16,215 |
3 | 1 in 1,081 |
4 | 1 in 47 |
Q: If I’m dealt a three-card royal flush and a high pair in the same hand, why does the strategy say to hold the high pair when the royal flush pays so much more?
Getting A Royal Flush In Las Vegas
You need to analyze all the possible winning hands that you could get when you hold a three-card royal flush vs. when you hold a high pair in the same hand. These calculations have already been done for you. For example, suppose your initial hand contains 10-J-Q of diamonds along with a queen of clubs. The expected return (ER) for holding the pair of queens is 7.6827 vs. 7.4098 for holding the three-card royal flush (this is for 9/6 Jacks or Better). In dollars and cents, you’d earn 27 cents more on average for a max coin wager on a dollar denomination machine by holding the high pair vs. the three-card royal flush in this example.
Q: My wife plays Jacks or Better. The other day she was a dealt a hand that contained a four-card straight flush with a gap and a three-card royal flush. She held the three-card royal flush. Was that the correct play?
I’m sorry to say it wasn’t. The correct play was to hold the four-card straight flush—even with a gap—over the three-card royal flush. (Tip: If your wife had a strategy card with her, she would have made the right play.)
Q: What are the odds of being dealt a royal flush in the initial hand?
The odds are one in 649,740 hands. You might think that’s close to impossible but it could happen. (This happened to me once while I was showing my father-in-law how to play a Triple Line video poker game in a Las Vegas casino, resulting in a royal flush on each line. How’s that for luck?)
Q: How much does the royal flush contribute to the 99.54% return for 9/6 Jacks or Better?
The royal flush contributes 1.9807% toward the overall 99.64% return. The following table summarizes the contribution of each winning hand toward the overall 99.54% return (for 9/6 Jacks or Better). When you don’t hit the royal or straight flush, the best return you can expect, even playing perfectly, is about 97%.
| Hand | Contribution to Return |
| Royal Flush | 1.9807% |
| Straight Flush | 0.5465% |
| Four of a Kind | 5.9064% |
| Full House | 10.3610% |
| Flush | 6.6087% |
| Straight | 4.4917% |
| Three of a Kind | 22.3346% |
| Two Pair | 25.8558% |
| High Pair | 21.4585% |
| Total | 99.5439% |
Got a video poker question? Send it to HTamburin@aol.com.
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You are playing NSU Deuces Wild. How would you play these hands that don’t contain a deuce?
Odds Of Getting A Royal Flush In Texas Hold'em
In the top hand, your best play is to hold the consecutive three-card straight flush 6-7-8 (2.77 ER) over the four card straight 5-6-7-8 (2.55 ER). In the bottom hand, because the three-card straight flush has a gap (2.47 ER) your best play is to hold the consecutive four-card straight 4-5-6-7. When you play NSU Deuces Wild and your initial hand doesn’t contain a deuce, you should hold a consecutive three-card straight flush (5-6-7 through 9-10-J) over a consecutive four-card straight (from 4-5-6-7 to 10-J-Q-K), but the latter over a three-card straight flush with one or two gaps.
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Henry Tamburin is a blackjack and video poker expert. He is the host of the smartgaming.com website and the editor of the Blackjack Insider newsletter (for a free three-month subscription, visit www.bjinsider.com/freetrial). For a free copy of his Casino Gambling Catalog, which contains books, strategy cards, and software for video poker players, call toll free 1-888-353-3234, or visit the web store at smartgaming.com.