All American Poker And Jacks Or Better Compared

• Published: June 11, 2015
• Comments
• 

All American Poker is a video poker variant available at many online casinos. It has similarities and differences with another online video poker variant titled Jacks or Better. Using the payout tables offered by Microgaming powered online casinos for a wager of five coins, this article analyses these similarities and differences and what these mean to the video poker player.

Different online video poker variants usually differ in the hand rankings offered in the payout table. But All American and Jacks or Better have identical poker hand rankings. Both start with a pair of jacks or better at the lowest and move to a royal flush at the highest. But some of the hand rankings pay out differently in All American and Jacks or Better. The hand rankings for which the payouts are the same are royal flush, three of a kind and jacks or better.

We now look at the hand rankings that pay out more in All American Poker. Straight flush pays out 1000 coins in All American Poker and 250 coins in Jacks or Better. Four of a kind pays out 170 coins in All American Poker and 125 coins in Jacks or Better. Flush pays out 40 coins in All American Poker and 30 coins in Jacks or Better. Straight pays out 40 coins in All American Poker and 20 coins in Jacks or Better. The hand rankings that pay out less in All American Poker are as follows. Full house pays out 40 coins in All American Poker and 45 coins in Jacks or Better. Two pairs pays out 5 coins in All American Poker and 10 coins in Jacks or Better.

Two hands are being singled out for analysis. One of them is straight flush. Though the payout is significantly greater in All American Poker, straight flush occurs only 0.01% of the time. Therefore online video poker players will reap the rewards of the larger payout very rarely. The payout is greater by 5 coins for Jacks or Better in the two pairs hand ranking. This occurs 12.9% of the time. So Jacks or Better players will get advantage of this small benefit rather frequently.

Another important aspect is that despite the difference in payouts, the average return to the player is almost the same for both online video poker variants. All American Poker has an average payout ratio of 99.3% and Jacks or Better has an average payout ratio of 99.5%. These payout ratios assume that players will be engaging in optimal play. This means that All American Poker is more volatile. Players will not win very often in this game, but when they do it will be usually big amounts. This video poker variant is suitable for risk taking players. In Jacks or Better you will not lose very often but neither will you win big amounts. This game is meant for conservative online casino players.