If you walk through any casino, past the flashing modern video slots, you will inevitably find rows of old, blocky Video Poker machines.

Playing Video Poker strictly on gut feeling or intuition is a guaranteed way to destroy this massive mathematical advantage and lose your bankroll.

Finding the Full Pay Machines

Before you ever insert a single dollar, you must intensely study the brightly lit paytable printed directly on the glass of the machine.

If played perfectly, a 9/6 machine returns a staggering 99.54%, meaning the casino's mathematical edge is a microscopic, nearly invisible 0.46%.

• Progressive Video Poker machines often feature weaker base paytables to compensate
• Online casinos usually offer the absolute best, highly favorable Video Poker paytables
• Never play a machine where a Flush pays only 5 coins if better options exist

Chasing the Royal Flush Premium

Almost every machine accepts between 1 and 5 coins per hand, and the payouts for most hands scale linearly based on your bet.

If you bet 1 coin, a Royal Flush might pay a disappointing 250 coins.

Using Math to Make the Right Hold

You must completely eliminate human emotion; never hold a "lucky" card or chase an inside straight if the math dictates otherwise.

You can legally print a strategy card from the internet and hold it right in front of the machine while you play in the casino.

By finding the correct paytable, betting the absolute maximum, and playing flawlessly like a robot, you can nearly eliminate the house edge.