Flush Fever Video Poker: Understanding the Rules and Payouts

Flush Fever is video poker with an additional game feature, and Oregon Lottery lists a game called Flush Fever Poker. However, the name alone does not establish its exact rules or RTP: the official listing provides a payout range, while the detailed Wizard of Odds calculations apply to specific examples.

To understand a particular machine, check its own paytable and help screen. This guide separates official information, independent source models, and arithmetic based on those models. None guarantees a win or confirms that the game is available in your region.

What does the official listing confirm?

Oregon Lottery's official listing confirms Flush Fever Poker is in its catalog and displays a 95.39–95.7% payout range, a $0.25 denomination**, a **$0.25 minimum wager, and a top single-spin award of up to $600. These figures appear on the official game page, checked on October 7, 2026.

The page briefly describes the feature and the usual sequence of play: wager and deal, choose which cards to hold or replace, then draw. It does not provide a complete paytable, state the exact feature trigger, or map the payout range's endpoints to specific rule sets. You therefore cannot assign exactly 95.39% or 95.7% RTP to every machine carrying this name.

English Oregon Lottery listing showing Flush Fever Poker payout metrics

Screenshot of the official Oregon Lottery page in its original English. It shows a 95.39–95.7% payout range, a $0.25 denomination and minimum wager, and a top single-spin award of up to$600. It does not identify the rule set corresponding to either endpoint of the range.

How do the two rule examples differ?

Wizard of Odds analyzes two different Flush Fever examples, not one universal set of rules for every machine. These are specialist calculations, not Oregon Lottery's official rules.

Both Wizard of Odds pages were updated on August 3, 2026, and checked on October 7, 2026. They describe two analyzed examples; they do not establish that no other variants exist.

For the Oregon model, the source also reports a feature trigger probability of .025231 and .201580 expected Fever games per initial hand. The latter is a model average, not the number of games you will receive after a particular deal. Neither figure is the probability of winning a hand or finishing a session ahead.

The Fever games in this Oregon example are not free: each requires a wager equal to the wager that triggered the feature. Its retriggering rules also apply only to the implementation described by the source. Oregon Lottery's published range does not independently verify the precise RTP calculated by Wizard of Odds.

In the distinct Nevada example, the optional sixth credit purchases the feature. In this Nevada model, the sixth credit activates the feature; when drawing to four suited cards, losing cards are burned until a winning card is found. That mechanic belongs to this particular analysis; it is not the Oregon feature, and it should not be presented as a rule for all Nevada games.

What paytable does the Oregon analysis use?

The Wizard of Odds Oregon analysis uses the values below. They are the entries from that source's analyzed pay schedule, not an official Oregon Lottery paytable or a universal schedule for Flush Fever machines.

The same source explains that the player may wager up to 8 machine credits. Because of the $600 award cap, credits 7 and 8 receive no additional royal flush award. This is a source-specific limitation, not evidence that an eight-credit wager universally activates Flush Fever.

Machine credits are wager units, not dollar amounts. Any conversion to money must use the denomination and wager rules for the particular machine; the table above should not be read as a list of dollar awards.

English Wizard of Odds paytable crop for its analyzed Oregon Flush Fever example

Original English screenshot from Wizard of Odds showing the paytable for its analyzed Oregon example. This is a specialist source's example, not Oregon Lottery's own rule screen.

How can you check a particular machine's rules?

Inspect the machine's displayed help and paytable before play. Do not deposit money or place a test wager just to identify the rules. Available controls and their locations vary by device, and no universal button name has been verified for all implementations.

1. Open the available help or paytable screen. Record the exact game name shown. Matching the name Flush Fever is not enough to establish that the machine matches a source model.
2. Separate the wagers. Identify the base wager, any optional feature wager, and the total wager per hand. A machine credit is a wager unit; you need the stated denomination to convert it to dollars.
3. Find the feature trigger. Check which hand or other condition activates it, how many Fever games it awards, and whether each subsequent game requires another wager.
4. Check the limits. Record the retriggering conditions, maximum number of Fever games, award cap, and any information about an accumulated-award meter.
5. Compare the paytable entries. Match the payouts, feature conditions and wager basis—not just the game name. If they differ, use the on-screen rules rather than another implementation's modeled figures.

Calculate the money at risk on the initial hand as the base wager plus any optional feature wager. If subsequent Fever games require separate wagers, include those separately when assessing the cost of the whole sequence.

In the Wizard of Odds Oregon example, each Fever game requires a wager equal to the initial wager. Triggering the feature therefore creates a need for further wagers rather than simply adding free deals. To assess those costs, you need the machine's actual rules and your chosen wager amount. If the help screen does not establish these conditions clearly, there is not enough information to apply the model.

What do the RTP percentages mean in money?

RTP is the long-run gross expected payout divided by total wager turnover under specified rules and assumptions. It is not the probability of winning a hand, triggering the feature, or ending a session with a net profit.

The following is independent arithmetic using the Wizard of Odds model returns, not additional information published by Oregon Lottery. It assumes $100 of total modeled wager turnover, including the feature and Fever-game wagers accounted for by each model.

The exact calculations are:

• Oregon: $100 × 0.956962 =$95.6962 gross expected payout; $95.6962 −$100 = −$4.3038 expected net result.
• Nevada: $100 × 0.978780 =$97.878 gross expected payout; $97.878 −$100 = −$2.122 expected net result.

The table rounds money to the nearest cent. The negative expected net results represent expected losses of about $4.30 or$2.12 per $100 of total wager turnover in the respective models. Gross expected payout is returned money, not profit; net expected value (EV) here subtracts the full$100 of modeled wagers.

$100 of turnover is not the same as a$100 starting bankroll. Turnover is the sum of all wagers counted by the model, including applicable feature and Fever-game wagers. If returned money is wagered again, it contributes to turnover again.

These figures describe long-run mathematical expectation, not a likely result for one short session. Individual results can differ substantially, and RTP alone does not describe the distribution of session outcomes. The higher RTP in the Nevada example does not make it profitable or justify recommending it: the paytable, wagers and feature rules must first match the analyzed example.

Can a standard video poker strategy solve Flush Fever?

A standard video poker hold strategy cannot establish the correct decisions or feature RTP for Flush Fever. Those calculations require a model of the exact paytable, wagers, feature states and applicable limits.

The ToolsGambling trainer solves standard hold decisions for the 9/6 Jacks or Better paytable. In that named schedule, 9 and 6 refer to the full house and flush payouts per base credit. Those two numbers do not establish a complete paytable match, and that game's return must not be transferred to Flush Fever.

The trainer does not model the Flush Fever feature, so it cannot calculate its feature RTP or strategy. There is no suitable Flush Fever calculator in the project. Likewise, the Nevada source's 117-9-6 Jacks or Better example should not be treated as ordinary 9/6 Jacks or Better.

For a particular Flush Fever machine, first verify its paytable and help screen. Unless its rules match a fully specified analysis, neither the quoted RTP nor unsupported advice about which cards to hold should be presented as established for that machine.