Suited 10-Q or just the queen?
Hold 10♠ Q♠ · draw 3
Average payout per unit betHold 10♠ Q♠0.4971
Hold Q♠0.4692
The bigger royal makes the suited two-card draw worth more than the high-card choice.
Max coin.
What does the
fifth credit buy?
On a conventional five-credit pay table, it buys a much bigger royal flush payout, and that raises the return. It doesn’t make a bigger bet the better choice on its own.
First check the royal row. Then compare the whole pay table and the amount you’ll actually bet. Five nickels and one quarter both cost 25¢, but they can buy very different returns.
Worked examples · 20 pay tables · no bet-size shortcuts
More credits scale the payouts.
The royal can break the pattern.
“Max coin” means the most credits a pay table rewards: five on every game here. A credit is whatever the game sets it to be worth, not necessarily a dollar. At 5¢ a credit, five credits cost 25¢.
9/6 Jacks or Better · total awards in credits
| Credits bet | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Full house | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
| Royal per credit bet | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 800 |
The bonus raises the theoretical return because the same winning hand pays more for what you bet. It doesn’t make the game deal better cards. Every award on this page is a gross payout, the bet returned included.
Check the payout per credit.
Copy the total credit awards from your game. This spots a royal bonus; it doesn’t work out the return of the whole game.
Use credit awards, not a jackpot shown in dollars. This compares only the two columns you enter. A progressive meter, a bonus at another credit level or changes elsewhere in the pay table need checking on their own.
Put a dollar amount
on the difference.
Five nickels and one quarter both cost 25¢. Five quarters cost $1.25. Compare the actual pay table and the total bet before you decide what “max coin” means for your money.
Try an example
The same number of hands for both options.
Total bet a hand$0.251 credit × $0.25
- Natural royal payout Gross award, the bet included
- $62.50
- Return with the best play Theoretical return
- 98.3735%
- Total bet Across 1,000 hands
- $250.00
Expected net result−$4.07An average loss of $4.07 across 1,000 hands.
Check option A’s pay table
Awards for every $1 of the total bet. Every row must match; the short table name alone isn’t enough.
| Final hand | Award |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 250× |
| Straight flush | 50× |
| Four of a kind | 25× |
| Full house | 9× |
| Flush | 6× |
| Straight | 4× |
| Three of a kind | 3× |
| Two pair | 2× |
| Pair of jacks, queens, kings or aces | 1× |
| No payout | 0× |
Total bet a hand$0.255 credits × $0.05
- Natural royal payout Gross award, the bet included
- $200.00
- Return with the best play Theoretical return
- 99.5439%
- Total bet Across 1,000 hands
- $250.00
Expected net result−$1.14An average loss of $1.14 across 1,000 hands.
Check option B’s pay table
Awards for every $1 of the total bet. Every row must match; the short table name alone isn’t enough.
| Final hand | Award |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800× |
| Straight flush | 50× |
| Four of a kind | 25× |
| Full house | 9× |
| Flush | 6× |
| Straight | 4× |
| Three of a kind | 3× |
| Two pair | 2× |
| Pair of jacks, queens, kings or aces | 1× |
| No payout | 0× |
Same stake. Option B has the higher return.
Both bets cost $0.25 a hand. Option B has the higher return (99.5439%). Over 1,000 hands, the expected net results are −$4.07 for A and −$1.14 for B. The larger royal award improves the return without raising the bet.
The credit value is the price of one credit. Multiply it by the credits to get the full cost of each hand. “Total bet” includes winnings you play again; it isn’t the cash you need to start.
Match the payout rule on your game. The 250×/800× setting models one particular royal bonus; it isn’t a claim that every game uses it. Choose the flat 800× setting only if the awards really scale that way. Other royal awards, such as 500×, are outside this tool.
Returns assume the whole pay table shown and the best strategy for the royal award chosen. Expected net result = hands × total bet × (return ÷ 100 − 1): a long-run average, not a forecast of your next session. Stopping rules, bankroll limits, progressives, paid features and multi-hand play aren’t modelled.
The same trade-off.
A different price in each game.
These returns set an 800-for-1 natural royal against 250 for 1. Every other award stays the same, and the strategy is worked out again for each royal. They aren’t universal “max bet” and “minimum bet” returns.
The best play’s return · difference in percentage points
| Game and pay table | Royal 800 | Royal 250 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9/6 Jacks or Better | 99.5439% | 98.3735% | 1.1704 pts |
| 9/5 Jacks or Better | 98.4498% | 97.2156% | 1.2342 pts |
| 8/6 Jacks or Better | 98.3927% | 97.2233% | 1.1694 pts |
| 8/5 Jacks or Better | 97.2984% | 96.0635% | 1.2349 pts |
| 7/5 Jacks or Better | 96.1472% | 94.9117% | 1.2355 pts |
| 6/5 Jacks or Better | 94.9961% | 93.7600% | 1.2361 pts |
| 8/5 Bonus Poker | 99.1660% | 97.9315% | 1.2345 pts |
| 7/5 Bonus Poker | 98.0147% | 96.7795% | 1.2352 pts |
| 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe | 99.6417% | 98.5159% | 1.1258 pts |
| 10/7 Double Bonus (straight pays 5) | 100.1725% | 99.1079% | 1.0646 pts |
| 9/6 Double Bonus | 97.8062% | 96.6635% | 1.1427 pts |
| 10/6 Double Double Bonus | 100.0670% | 98.9154% | 1.1516 pts |
| 9/6 Double Double Bonus | 98.9808% | 97.8316% | 1.1492 pts |
| 8/5 Double Double Bonus | 96.7861% | 95.5539% | 1.2322 pts |
| 9/7 Triple Double Bonus | 99.5778% | 98.4828% | 1.0950 pts |
| Full-pay Deuces Wild | 100.7620% | 99.5734% | 1.1886 pts |
| Not So Ugly Ducks Deuces Wild | 99.7283% | 98.5018% | 1.2265 pts |
| Illinois Deuces Wild | 98.9131% | 97.6864% | 1.2267 pts |
| 20/7/5 Joker Poker (kings or better) | 100.6463% | 99.5166% | 1.1297 pts |
| 17/7/5 Joker Poker (kings or better) | 98.0854% | 96.9447% | 1.1407 pts |
A difference of 1.1704 percentage points is about $11.70 for every $1,000 bet. It isn’t a 1.1704% relative change. A return above 100% is a long-run average with perfect strategy; it doesn’t guarantee a winning session.
Match the whole pay table
A name like “9/6” gives only part of a pay table. Match every award before you use a return from the table or the comparison.
| Final hand | Royal 800 | Royal 250 |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 250 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 50 |
| Four of a kind | 25 | 25 |
| Full house | 9 | 9 |
| Flush | 6 | 6 |
| Straight | 4 | 4 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 3 |
| Two pair | 2 | 2 |
| Pair of jacks, queens, kings or aces | 1 | 1 |
| No payout | 0 | 0 |
Only the natural royal changes here. Wild royals, four deuces, kicker awards and every other payout stay as shown.
Same five cards.
A different best decision.
A smaller royal makes some long-shot royal draws worth less than keeping high cards. On 9/6 Jacks or Better the best hold changes on 3.40% of deals, every one of them a royal draw, so a chart built for an 800-for-1 royal isn’t automatically right at 250.
Suited 10-J or two high cards?
Hold 10♥ J♥ · draw 3
Average payout per unit betHold 10♥ J♥0.5008
Hold K♠ J♥0.4862
The bigger royal makes the suited two-card draw worth more than the high-card choice.
9/6 Jacks or Better. Values are the average gross payout for every 1 bet, with all five dealt cards accounted for. A value below 1 can still be the best hold. Switch the royal’s payout to see the cards change.
Does betting more improve your royal odds?
For the same deal and hold, no. Each suited two-card hold above has one royal among 16,215 possible three-card draws, whether the royal pays 250 or 800. But if the bigger award changes which cards you hold, it changes how often your strategy as a whole makes a royal.
With the best 9/6 Jacks or Better play, the royal cycle is about 40,391 hands at 800 for 1, against 51,481 at 250 for 1. These are long-run averages, not countdowns to the next royal.
The button can mean
more than five credits.
Start with the amount you’re comfortable risking on each deal. Then find the best pay table you can get at that stake. A bonus is a reason to compare options, not a reason to raise your budget.
If every payout scales, extra credits add no value.
A royal row of 800 / 1,600 / 2,400 / 3,200 / 4,000 pays the same for each credit at every level. If every other award scales evenly too, more credits change the dollar stake and the prizes, but not the return or the best strategy.
Five nickels work only if the rest of the game holds up.
On 9/6 Jacks or Better, five nickels with the full royal return 99.5439%, more than one quarter at 98.3735%. Move those nickels to an 8/5 table and the return falls to 97.2984%. “A smaller credit, max credits” isn’t an upgrade everywhere.
Check what qualifies and what the round costs.
A progressive can need a particular number of credits to qualify, and its meter and the qualifying bet change the maths. Feature games can add a separate bet, and multi-hand play multiplies the stake across hands. Read the game’s help screen before assuming “Max Bet” means five credits on one hand.
For an ordinary game without feature bets: credit value × credits a hand × hands played = the cost of one deal. Five 25¢ credits on ten hands is $12.50, not $1.25.
Keep the stake affordable.
One-credit play can have a worse return and still lose fewer dollars on average than a much bigger max-credit bet. Compare the actual options, use a strategy matched to the royal’s payout, and set a spending limit before you play. Free practice games let you learn without paying for it.
What the rule of thumb leaves out.
Should I always bet five coins in video poker?
Only when the fifth credit buys better payouts for each unit bet. On the conventional royal-bonus pay table, five credits raise the return of the same pay table: 99.54% against 98.37% on 9/6 Jacks or Better. Weigh that against the total stake and any change of pay table. There’s no reason to raise your budget just to get the bonus.
Is four credits better value than one?
Not on the conventional pay table shown here. The royal pays 250 per credit at one, two, three and four credits, and the other awards scale evenly. All four bets have the same return and the same best strategy; four credits just make the stake and the dollar payouts four times as big.
Why not play one credit until a royal is due, then raise the bet?
A royal is never due because of earlier results. Every fresh deal has the same starting chances in the same game. Raising your stake after a dry spell doesn’t improve the next deal.
Does “max coin” mean the biggest credit value?
No. The credit value is what one credit costs; the credit count is how many of them you bet. Five 5¢ credits cost 25¢, and five 25¢ credits cost $1.25. A game can offer other credit values or feature controls, so check the total bet it shows before you deal.
Does the five-credit rule apply to online video poker?
Read the pay table of the game in front of you. Some online games use the conventional royal bonus; others scale every award evenly or pay a different royal. The 250-against-800 comparison on this page doesn’t model other royal awards.
Is a smaller royal payout less volatile?
On 9/6 Jacks or Better, yes: one hand’s standard deviation falls from 4.42 bets with the 800-for-1 royal to 2.22 with 250 for 1. The return falls too. Your dollar swings depend on the amount bet, so a smaller swing per unit bet doesn’t by itself make a bet cheaper or more affordable. The variance guide explains the difference.
What the fifth credit buys, and what it costs.
Three things to check before you press Max Bet.
01
The royal gets a bonus
On a conventional pay table the royal pays 250 for 1 at one to four credits and 800 at five: 3.2 times as much per credit. On 9/6 Jacks or Better that lifts the return from 98.3735% to 99.5439%.
02
Same stake, different returns
Five 5¢ credits and one 25¢ credit both cost 25¢ a hand. Over 1,000 hands of 9/6 Jacks or Better, the nickels lose $1.14 on average and the quarter $4.07.
03
A bigger bet costs more
Five 25¢ credits get the bonus, but at $1.25 a hand they lose $5.70 over 1,000 hands on average, more than one quarter’s $4.07. Choose the stake first, then the best table at it.