There are a number of video poker variants at online casinos that are played with wild cards. Since these cards substitute for any other card to make winning poker hand rankings, novice players think that such games offer an advantage. Actually this is not so. Software providers tweak the payout tables to counterbalance the advantage given by the wild cards. One of the popular wild cards based video poker variant that is offered by all software providers is Joker Poker. This game is played with a deck of 53 cards, the extra card being a joker. Microgaming has taken the popularity of Joker Poker one step further by creating another title called Double Joker Poker. Double Joker Poker is played with a deck of 54 cards that has two jokers. New players may assume that because Double Joker Poker has two jokers it will offer them higher returns. In fact the average return for player for Double Joker Poker is 98.1% as compared to the average return of 98.6% for Microgaming Joker Poker. This article explains how this happens.

The major difference between these two Microgaming online video poker variants is the lowest ranking poker hand that results in a payout. The Joker Poker payout table begins with Kings or Better. 44% of the hands dealt contribute to winning combinations. The Double Joker Poker payout table begins with Two Pairs. Only 36% of the cards dealt contribute to winning combinations despite there being two wild cards instead of one.

There are differences in the payouts for the various hand rankings as well in the two Microgaming online video poker variants. The discussion below refers to payouts per coin for five coins wagered. It is standard practice to wager five coins in online video poker games so as to take advantage of the jackpot payout for Natural Royal Flush. It is also pertinent that there are two additional hand rankings in these two games as compared to the normal Jacks Or Better variant. One is Joker Royal Flush, which is a royal flush hand made using jokers as wild cards. The other is five of a kind, which is a combination of equally ranked cards and wild cards.

In order to compensate for the ease of formation of winning the rankings because of the additional joker, the payouts in Microgaming Double Joker Poker are lower in comparison. The payout for Flush is 4 as compared to 5. The payout for Full House is 5 as compared to 7. The payout for Four Of A Kind is 8 as compared to 17. The payout for Straight Flush is 25 as compared to 50. The payout for Five Of A Kind is 50 instead of 200. The payout for Natural Royal Flush is 800 instead of 1000. These compensations actually over compensate for the advantage of the additional wild card and lead to a slightly lower average return. The game play in both these joker based Microgaming online video poker variants follows the standard procedure. Both games are available as single hand games and multi hand games at all Microgaming online casinos like River Belle, Mummy’s Gold, Platinum Play and Gaming Club.