Video Poker Quiz: Test Your Strategy Knowledge
In video poker, every new hand comes with a set of questions that you need to answer. Which winning hand is closest to your cards? Which cards do you replace to get there? If you’re new to the game or just want to test your knowledge, then you can practice your strategy using quizzes like this
Basic Video Poker Strategy
Video poker follows the basic mechanics of five-card draw poker using a 52-card deck. Every round of video poker plays as follows:
- You make your wager, then press ‘Deal’.
- You receive five randomized cards.
- You must choose to discard some or all of them.
- Press the ‘Draw’ button to replace selected cards.
The hand you’re left with is then scored against the game’s paytable, with better payouts for the rarest hands. This is the basic gameplay loop of video poker and playing through it is one of the best ways to hone your video poker strategy. Through experience, you can get a feel for the game and for how often hand combinations, or near-miss combinations, pop up. Then you can perfect your strategy for holding certain cards and replacing others.
Video Poker Strategy Quiz
In this quiz, we’ll give you five different hands. All you need to do is decide, in your head, which cards you’d hold and which ones you’d discard to get a new, random card. You should do this with knowledge of the valid poker hands and which moves will put you in the best possible situation.
You can find the answers at the bottom of this page.
1. Hand One
| 3ofClubs | AceofSpades | Jackof Hearts | QueenofDiamonds | 5 of Spades |
2. Hand Two
| 4ofHearts | JackofHearts | AceofSpades | QueenofSpades | 8ofHearts |
3. Hand Three
| Queenof Diamonds | QueenofClubs | 7ofDiamonds | 3 of Diamonds | 8ofDiamonds |
4. Hand Four
| 8OfDiamonds | 7 of Hearts | Jackof Clubs | QueenofClubs | King of Clubs |
5. Hand Five
| Ace ofSpades | 7ofSpades | KingofSpades | JackofSpades | QueenofSpades |
Quiz Answers
Here are the best ways to play the above hands, per mainstream video poker guidance.
Hand One Answer
For this one, you’ll want to hold the two face cards – the jack and the queen. It nudges you toward the potential of making a pair, a two pair or three of a kind if more face cards drop. It also has straight potential, if more face cards drop alongside an ace and a ten.
Hand Two Answer
In this situation, the best play is to hold the two spades suit cards – the ace and the queen. This is because they are two to a royal flush, which could be achieved if you land the king, jack, and ten of spades.
Hand Three Answer
Here, keeping two queens is your best bet. Though this hand is tantalizingly close to a flush, it’s better to keep the pair of queens and guarantee a win with one pair. Then you can redraw and potentially get a better hand, but now you don’t need to worry about losing the round completely.
Hand Four Answer
In this hand, you’ll want to once again hold those esteemed face cards. Since they all belong to the same suit, they’re three cards to a royal flush.
Hand Five Answer
At a glance, this looks like another great flush setup. However, the most solid option is to hold the ace, jack, queen, and king cards. That leaves you with four to a royal, and a lucky draw could make it a royal flush.