The Frequency of Video Poker Hand Rankings

Playing the video poker game will involve playing for varying hand ranks similar to the typical game of table poker. It is empirical for a video poker player to understand the various hand rankings in poker as this will implicate playing hands that can be superior or inferior with the rest of the poker hand types.

Each hand rank will have a corresponding video poker hand frequency that will indicate how many hands a player will need to play for a specific hand rank to occur. For the sake of comprehension a player should be able to identify poker hands their specific ranks in order to identify which hand can be superior over the rest.

The royal flush is the most superior hand consisting of five cards from 10 to Ace which should belong to the same suit. A player wins the highest payout from a video poker machine at 250 coins when the player bets with a single coin and a whooping 4,000 coins when they bet for the maximum coins.

The hand frequency for a royal flush however is 40,000 hands which indicate a 0.002% probability to occur. One gets an expected return of 1.98% from a royal flush.

The straight flush ranks next to the royal flush consisting of five cards that belong to the same suit that are in numerical and consecutive order. The probability of the straight flush to occur is once in every 9,148 hands with an expected return of 0.55%.

The four of a kind consist of 4 cards having the same denomination. This occurs at a hand frequency of once in every 423 while giving a probability of 0.236% and an expected return of 5.91%.

Winning a full house will consist of three cards of the same denomination of varying suits with a pair of any card value. This hand occurs once in every 86 hands giving a probability of 1.15% to occur.

The flush consists of any cards that belong to the same suit. This occurs at a frequency of once in every 90 hands with a probability of 1.10%. Winning a straight is made possible by playing any cards with consecutive order from a mixed suit. This occurs once in every 89 hands with a probability of 1.23%.

Playing three of a kind will win a player who has three cards of the same denomination and any 2 cards with a hand frequency to occur once in every 13 hands. The probability for it to occur will be at 7.4%.

The two pair poker hand consists of one pair of card of the same suit and another pair of card of another suit which gives a player an improved hand frequency of occurring once in every 7 hands with a higher probability of 12.9%.

The jack or better has the highest number of hand frequency occurring once in every 4 hands with the highest probability of 21.45%. However the winner of this type of hand gets the lowest payout.

Obtaining the knowledge about the varying hand ranking and the number of frequency of drawing each hand can help a player determine the expected outcome of playing each hand on a video poker machine.