How Often Do You Get A Royal Flush In Video Poker?
When playing video poker, many players dream of landing a royal flush to get that 4000-coin jackpot. But what are the odds of that happening, and when can you expect it?
Typically, your odds of hitting a five-card royal flush is 1 in 649 740, but the chances of a four-card flush are once in every 2777 hands. These statistics also vary between video poker types and depend on some other factors that we’ll get into below.
Odds of a Royal Flush
Let’s face it, we all want that jackpot and will do our best to win it by choosing “hot machines” with better odds. Payouts depend on low cards (1-10) and high cards (Ace, Jack, Queen, King) making up your five-card hand.
Every video poker game uses a standard 52-card deck that is shuffled by a random number generator. Each card is dealt out by the program and will not be influenced by any previous hands.
All poker games begin with a deck, shuffle, and deal of your cards onto the table. In video poker, this is done by a machine, but the odds are much easier to predict.
According to some experts (not video poker players), these are your odds if you’re dealt out cards that make up a flush:
| Initial Hand | Chance in % | Which is | Est. Frequency | Chance of Hitting Royal Flush |
| 5 | 0.00015% | 1 in 649 740 | 1 per 1083 hours | – |
| 4 | 0.036% | 1 in 2 777 | 1 per 46 hours | One in 47 |
| 3 | 1.09% | 1 in 92 | 13 in 2 hours | One in 1 081 |
| 2 | 7.7% | 1 in 13 | 46 per hour | One in 16 125 |
| 1 | 16.7% | 1 in 6 | 100 per hour | One in 178 365 |
Standard Video Poker Pay Tables
For this explainer, we’ll focus on 9/6 Jacks or Better because it’s the most popular game on casino floors. In the chart below, we’ve listed the winning hands for the video poker machine, including a straight flush and full house.
As you can see, a royal flush has the best payout, but that’s because it’s so rare to land. If you already hold three cards for this hand, your chances are fairly good.
However, your chances of landing one high card are 100 times per hour, but landing the next four you need is much less frequent. So, aim for a well-paying hand, even if it’s not a royal flush, as part of your perfect strategy.
Bet on Royal Flush
So, should you anticipate a royal flush every few hours if you play video poker on a Las Vegas casino floor or at an online casino? In our humble opinion: no, you should never expect the best possible hand as often as these odds suggest.
Just like slot machines, this is a game of chance that regularly gets tested for fairness. So, banking on any ideal will only make you more susceptible to losses.
Instead, we recommend using a barebones poker strategy and common sense so you can enjoy your gaming session.
