The word has been out for decades among video poker players: Look for "9-6" machines to enhance your chance to win.
That's fine as far as it goes. The 9 and 6 stand for 9-for-1 payoffs on full houses and 6-for-1 payoffs on flushes, and those often are desirable, and even lofty, markers for high-paying games.
But not all 9-6 machines are created equal. A 9-6 Jacks or Better game is a high payer, but a 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker game is not, and you'd be hard-pressed to ever find a 9-6 game in Bonus Poker.
Why the 9-6 Standard?
The first video poker game to achieve mass popularity among casino players was Jacks or Better, and its initial pay table included 9-for-1 payoffs on full houses and 6-for-1 on flushes. For a maximum five-coin wager, full houses paid 45 coins and flushes 30.
Per coin wagered, royal flushes paid 250, straight flushes 50, four of a kind 25, full houses 9, flushes 6, straights 4, three of a kind 3, two pairs 2, and high pairs of Jacks or better 1.
If you bet more than one coin, payoffs are multiplied, so with a maximum five-coin wager, a straight would pay 20 coins or four of a kind 125. Royals were, and are, the exception. Incentive for betting the max is built in so that 250-for-1 payoff on a royal soars to 4,000 for a five-coin bet.
That remains the basic Jacks or Better pay table today. A 9-6 Jacks or Better game has an average payback of 99.5% to those who learn expert strategy. That's a much higher return than players get on most electronic games, including slot machines
Naturally enough, casinos with an eye on the bottom line asked for versions that didn't teeter so close to the profit/loss line. International Game Technology obliged, and 8-5 Jacks or Better machines started popping up in casinos.
With 8-for-1 payoffs on full houses and 5-for-1 on flushes and the rest of the pay table unchanged, Jacks or Better returns an average of 97.3% with expert play.
Sharp players made it a point to look for the higher payers, and "9-6" soon was in the common parlance for video poker fans.
The Effect of Full House/Flush Changes
In nearly all Jacks or Better-based video poker casino games, each change of a unit in payback on full houses or flushes changes the overall payback percentage by a little more than 1 %.
In Jacks or Better, the average return with expert play drops to 98.4% if flush returns are reduced to 5-for-1, leaving a 9-5 machine.
Reduce the full house a unit, too, for an 8-5 game, and that drops the return another 1.1% to 97.3%. There also are 7-5 (96.2%) and 6-5 (95.1%) Jacks or Better games.
Increasing or reducing full house and flush paybacks is by far the most common way of changing payback percentages on non-wild card video poker games.
Video poker regulars refer to the games by their full house-flush pays: 9-6 Jacks or Better or 8-5 Jacks or Better; 9-6 Double Double Bonus Poker or 8-5 Double Double Bonus Poker.
Let's look at the 9-6 situation in various video poker families.
Jacks or Better
We've seen how the full house and flush payoffs change your average payback percentage. Changes can work in your favor in rare cases when returns increase beyond the 9-6 level.
You may never encounter them, but there have been times when a few casinos offered 10-6 and 9-7 Jacks or Better games. The 9-7 game, with an enhanced flush return, pays 100.8% with expert play, with the 10-6 version pays 100.7%.
They are profit-making opportunities for player in the know. Casinos that have offered them used them as a drawing card to increase business while knowing that most players don't play at expert level and will leave the casino with a slim profit level.
Such games are very rare. Even the 9-6 game can be hard to find. Online players should do some comparison shopping before they play and look for the 9-6 game. If it's not available in your jurisdiction, look for the games with the highest full house-flush paybacks.
Bonus Poker
This is the game that started the trend toward increased four-of-a-kind paybacks that we see in most non-wild card video poker games today.
The pay table looks much like Jacks or Better, except there's a bonus for drawing four Aces or four 2s, 3s or 4s. Instead of the 25-for-1 pays on most quads, for Aces pay 80-for-1. That's 400 for a five-coin bet. On a quarter game, it's a $100 payback, a nice secondary jackpot. Four 2s, 3s or 4s pay half that at 40-for-1.
Funding those bigger quad paybacks required reductions elsewhere on the pay table. That elsewhere was on full house and flush paybacks. There are no 9-6 Bonus Poker machines.
Instead, the full-pay version has an 8-5 pay table with an average return of 99.2% with expert play. At 7-5, that drops to 98%, and at 6-5 it drops to 96.9%.
Beware. IGT has played with the pay table more on Bonus Poker than most games. Some versions pay 35-for-1 on a four of a kinds – higher than the 25-for-1 on Jacks or Better, but no Aces bonus. That increases the payoff to 99.7% with an 8-5 table.
On the downside, a minor share of Bonus Poker games pay only 1-for1 instead of the standard 2-for-1 on two pairs. Avoid them. Leave the 1-for-1 two-pair payoffs for games with bigger quad bonuses, such as Double Bonus Poker.
Double Bonus Poker
A 9-6 pay table signals a reduced return in Double Bonus Poker, which doubles all the four of a kind returns from Bonus Poker. Four Aces pay 160-for-1, four 2s, 3s or 4s pay 80-for-1 and other quads pay 50-for-1.
In the original full-pay version, full houses are bumped up to 10-for-1, flushes 7-for-1 and straights 5-for-1 instead of the usual 4-for-1. Average return with expert play is 100.2%.
Because of that straight payoff, Double Bonus is usually referred to by three numbers: 10-7-5 Double Bonus Poker.
With the big quad bonuses and extra pays on full houses, flushes and straights, there needed to be a reduction somewhere. That comes on two pairs, which pay 1-for-1 instead of 2-for-1.
The 10-7-5 version of Double Bonus has become a rare game, even online. If you can find a 9-7-5 game, it's a strong play at 99.1%.
At 9-6, you have to make a judgment call whether to play. A 9-6-5 game returns 97.8%, a little better than 8-5 Jacks or Better and just a tad below 7-5 Bonus Poker. But watch out when the straight pay is reduced. At 9-6-4 Double Bonus returns 96.4%.
Either way, a 9-6 game is nothing to get excited about.
Double Double Bonus Poker
With Double Double Bonus, it's back to 9-6 being a game to seek with its 99% return.
The key identifier on Double Double Bonus is its bonanzas on four Aces with a 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth card, and on four 2s, 3s or 4s with an Ace, 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth. Four Aces with a kicker pays 400-for-1, a 2,000-coin jackpot with five coins wagered. That's half the royal flush payoff. Quads in 2s, 3s or 4s with a kicker pay 160-for-1.
Other four of a kind pays are the same as in Double Bonus. Straights are back to 4-for-1 instead of the 5-for-1 in the best Double Bonus games.
There are a number of full houses-flush variants available, with returns at 97.9% at 9-5, 96.8% at 8-5, 95.7% at 7-5 and 94.7% at 6-5. There is an enhanced 10-6 Double Double Bonus game with a 100.1% average return with expert play, but it's very rare, seen mostly at Las Vegas casinos that cater to local players.
Bonus Poker Deluxe
For the last in our journey through common games, 9-6 pay tables again are the gold standard.
In Bonus Poker Deluxe, all four of a kind hands pay 80-for-1, or 400 for a five-coin wager. The rest of the pay table is the same as on Double Double Bonus Poker. In fact, other than the quads, it's the same as Jacks or Better except that two pairs pay only 1-for-1.
With expert play, the average return is 99.6% with a 9-6 pay table, 98.6% at 9-5, 98.5% at 8-6, 97.4% at 8-5, 96.3% at 7-5 and 95.4% at 6-5.
The 9-6 pay table is no longer common, but do compare different sites or casinos and find the best deal you can get.
As for other games, just be aware that 9-6 does not automatically signal a good game. One way to check is to visit vpfree2.com. There you can find listings of pay tables, including uncommon variations, and their payback percentages for dozens of game types. Check them out, and shop for the best available versions of the games you like.
