Video Poker House Edge by Game
House edge is just 100% minus the return with perfect play. Because video poker returns are computed exactly, so is the edge — and on the best full-pay games it is among the lowest in the building.
Short answer
On 9/6 Jacks or Better the house edge is 0.46% with perfect play — about 46 cents per $100 cycled. A few full-pay games actually cross into a small player edge. But every number assumes the full-pay table and correct strategy; miss either and your real edge is worse.
House edge, best game first
Return with perfect play, and the resulting edge (100% minus return). Negative means a theoretical player edge on the full-pay table.
| Game (full pay) | Return | House edge |
|---|---|---|
| Full-pay Deuces Wild | 100.76% | −0.76% (player edge) |
| Full-pay Joker Poker (Kings+) | 100.65% | −0.65% (player edge) |
| 10/7 Double Bonus | 100.17% | −0.17% (player edge) |
| Aces and Eights | 99.78% | 0.22% |
| Super Double Bonus | 99.69% | 0.31% |
| Bonus Poker Deluxe | 99.64% | 0.36% |
| All American | 99.60% | 0.40% |
| Triple Double Bonus | 99.58% | 0.42% |
| 9/6 Jacks or Better | 99.54% | 0.46% |
| 8/5 Bonus Poker | 99.17% | 0.83% |
| 9/6 Double Double Bonus | 98.98% | 1.02% |
| 9/5 Jacks or Better | 98.45% | 1.55% |
| 8/5 Jacks or Better | 97.30% | 2.70% |
Returns are computed by the engine across all 2,598,960 five-card hands; house edge is their exact arithmetic complement. Short-pay tables of the same game return less and raise the edge accordingly.
Why the pay table moves the edge so much
Two machines running the same game can carry very different edges depending on the payouts printed on the glass. A 6/5 Jacks or Better machine gives up several percent more than a 9/6 machine for the exact same strategy. Learning to read the pay table is the single most profitable habit in the game.
Common questions
How is house edge calculated?
It is simply 100% minus the game’s return with perfect play. If a game returns 99.54%, the house edge is 0.46%. The return itself is computed exactly by the engine across every possible hand.
Can the house edge really be negative?
On a few full-pay tables, yes — the return exceeds 100%, so the theoretical edge is in the player’s favor before comps. Those games are high variance and the full-pay versions are hard to find.
Does the house edge assume perfect play?
Every figure here assumes optimal strategy on the full-pay table. Play the same game badly, or on a short-pay table, and your real edge is worse — often by more than the pay-table difference alone.