The royal flush is a glamorous hand in online video poker. Not only is it grand in appearance but it also awards the highest payouts. The first thing you should be aware of is that the royal flush pays more than in proportion when five coins are wagered. Take the Jacks or Better payout table. The payout with one coin is 250 coins. The payout with four coins is 1000 coins, which is again 250 to 1. But the payout with five coins is 4000 coins, which is 800 to 1. The situation is the same for all other online video poker variants as well. So you always play with five coins wagered. In Jacks or Better the second highest payout with five coins is 250 coins for a straight flush. So it will make sense to take some risk in trying for a royal flush. This article explains how much of a risk should be taken.

If you are dealt a royal flush, you simply take hold all cards and take home the jackpot. You hold four cards to a royal flush with the fifth card not resulting in a paying ranking. It is a no brainer that you let go of only the fifth card and draw. But what if the fifth card gives you a straight flush as with KH, QH, JH, 10H and 9H? You are already getting a payout of 250 to 1. The optimum online video poker strategy is to let go of 9H and try for a royal flush even though it means forsaking the won payout. You obviously do the same thing if the fifth card gives you a flush.

If you hold three cards to a royal flush with the remaining two cards not giving a paying hand, then you keep only the cards to a royal flush and draw again. But if you hold three cards to a royal flush with the remaining two cards resulting in a paying combination, then you should hold on to the paying combination. For example if the dealt hand is 3H, 10H, JH, QH and QS, you should hold the queen pair and discard the remaining cards.

These decisions are based on mathematics that includes calculating expected value of each option from the payout and probability. Working out the probability for different situations is fairly advanced and will not be possible for most online video poker players. So you remember the thumb rules. Simply stated, the probability of getting two cards to make a royal flush is too low to be worthwhile. However, the probability of getting one card to make a royal flush is high enough for the chance to be taken.