How to Choose What to Hold in Joker Poker

There is no universal Joker Poker hold chart: strategy depends on the exact variant, rules and paytable. This guide covers five-card draw video poker, not table poker against other players. To decide what to hold, first verify your game's settings, then use a calculation model with matching inputs.

How to identify your variant and paytable

Open the help and paytable in the game itself; the name “Joker Poker” alone is not enough. You need to confirm the lowest paying hand, how the joker works and the payout for every qualifying hand.

Kings or Better pays for a pair of kings or aces. In Two Pair or Better, the lowest paying hand is two pair. Holding cards to pursue a high pair can therefore have a different expected value in these variants. Do not transfer hold recommendations between them simply because both use a joker.

In the model used here, the joker is a wild card, with its substitution behavior defined by the selected game's rules. Confirm that your own game uses the same rules rather than assuming the joker works identically.

Before using an analyzer, check that:

• The game is five-card draw video poker.
• The selected variant matches, including the lowest paying hand.
• The help explains how the joker can be used.
• The paytable distinguishes a natural royal flush from a wild royal flush.
• Every payout matches the model, not just a few major payouts.
• You know which wager the displayed payouts apply to. Absolute payout amounts cannot be compared directly with payouts per unit wager.

If the in-game help does not let you confirm these details, the analyzer result is not a verified recommendation for your game.

Which paytable the 20/7/5 example uses

This example uses a specific Kings or Better paytable that pays 20 for four of a kind, 7 for a full house and 5 for a flush. It is one named 20/7/5 schedule, not a universal Joker Poker paytable.

The complete payout schedule appears in the Wizard of Odds Kings or Better paytable:

How to generate a strategy and check an individual hand

Start with the Wizard of Odds Strategy Maker after checking the game's rules and payouts. It is a third-party mathematical model; it does not automatically verify your game's settings.

1. Click Begin.
2. In Category, select 5-Card Draw Poker, then click Continue.
3. In Game, select Joker Poker (Kings), then click Continue.
4. Verify all 11 editable payout values and change them if necessary. For the 20/7/5 paytable above, they must be: Natural Royal Flush 800; Five of a Kind 200; Wild Royal Flush 100; Straight Flush 50; Four of a Kind 20; Full House 7; Flush 5; Straight 3; Three of a Kind 2; Two Pair 1; Kings or Better 1.
5. Click Continue to generate the results.

The Perfect Strategy Analysis results provide the aggregate perfect-strategy calculation and a full strategy chart covering basic strategy and all exceptions. The total Return is 1.006463, or 100.6463%, for this exact paytable and model. This is the theoretical overall return, not the value of an individual hand. It does not validate a casino's settings or predict the outcome of a short session.

Strategy Maker results for the 20/7/5 paytable, showing a total perfect-strategy return of 1.006463

Wizard of Odds Strategy Maker's English-language results screen: perfect-strategy analysis for the selected paytable.

For the narrower task of deciding which cards to hold in a specific hand, use the separate Wizard of Odds Hand Analyzer.

1. Select Joker Poker (Kings) and copy your paytable's payouts into the corresponding fields. Verify every row, including both royal flush categories and the lowest paying hand.
2. Enter all five starting cards using the card selectors. Check each rank and suit, and confirm that the joker is included.
3. Click Analyze.
4. Read the ranked hold options. Their values apply to the entered hand, not to the game's overall return. Compare options only for the same starting hand, rules and paytable.

If your game differs from the selected model, matching a few payouts is not enough. Do not treat a result for another variant as a ready-to-use instruction. Neither the strategy generator nor the hand analyzer certifies an operator's implementation or guarantees a real session result.

The ToolsGambling video poker calculator is not suitable here: it currently supports only standard 52-card Jacks or Better, without a joker.

The following worked example shows a verified Hand Analyzer result for a specific hand on this paytable.

What to hold in the worked joker hand

For Joker, 2♣, 7♣, 4♦, 9♥, the highest listed option in the captured analyzer result for the specified 20/7/5 table is to hold Joker alone.

The exact input is Joker, two of clubs, seven of clubs, four of diamonds and nine of hearts. Check all five cards: changing a rank or suit changes the input.

Analyzer result for Joker, 2♣, 7♣, 4♦, 9♥ showing Joker alone at 1.473173 and Joker with 7♣ at 1.455423

For this hand and paytable, the model ranks holding Joker alone above holding Joker with the seven of clubs.

These scores assume the exact hand, the listed payouts and the selected Joker Poker (Kings) rules, including the model's wild-card behavior. The values 1.473173 and 1.455423 are reproduced exactly as displayed, with no additional rounding.

The scores express the modeled expected value of each hold by accounting for possible draw outcomes and their payouts. They are not money won, a guaranteed return on this hand or a prediction of the next cards. They also are not the game's overall theoretical return.

Under these matching inputs, the higher score makes holding Joker alone the preferred option by the model's criterion. To follow that option in the game, hold Joker and discard the other four cards. The second option holds Joker and 7♣ and discards the other three cards.

What theoretical return means

Theoretical return is the long-run gross ratio of payouts to wagers under a model for a specific paytable, set of rules and strategy. It does not describe the result of one hand or a short session.

Keep it separate from these measures:

• Hit frequency describes how often a paying hand occurs, not the total size of payouts relative to wagers.
• The chance of finishing ahead concerns the result of a limited session, not the long-run payout ratio.
• Net profit is payouts minus the amount wagered. Receiving a payout does not necessarily mean making a profit.

In this context, optimal strategy means choosing the action with the highest modeled expected value for the exact hand and game settings. It does not guarantee profit or remove the possibility of losing.

When an analyzer result does not apply

An analyzer result applies only when the starting hand, rules and entire paytable match. A change to any of those inputs requires a fresh check.

The practical sequence is straightforward: verify the game help, configure the model, then compare holds. If the joker rules are unclear, the payouts use a different wager basis or the analyzer does not offer the required variant, resolve that mismatch before using its recommendation. Even a correctly matched calculation helps choose an action under the model; it does not predict the draw.