Video Poker Guide How to Play, Best Variants & RTP

Starting a session of free games is instant — no sign-up, downloads, or deposits required. Always look beyond the size of the offer, check the playthrough terms and conditions. We ensure Australian players enjoy a safe, fair, and entertaining gaming experience on both desktop and mobile. Video poker’s unique blend of skill and chance helped it quickly gain popularity after it was first introduced in the mid-1970s.
A pokie with 96% RTP will theoretically return AU$96 for every AU$100 wagered in the long term, with the rest going to the house edge. Look for sites that show game RTPs, support fast payout methods, and have a clean record for processing withdrawals on time. We rewarded casinos that offer reality checks, deposit limits, and self-exclusion tools. The best sites keep terms short, clear, and easy to find — you shouldn’t feel like you’re cramming for an exam just to accept a bonus. Sites with long pending periods, surprise verification demands, or fuzzy “up to 7 business days” timelines slid down the rankings. We favoured sites that highlight high-RTP pokies and don’t bury payout info.
Spirit Casino has a stacked lobby of 6,000+ titles, including a variety of Australian online pokies. Banking is just as useful, with cards, MiFinity, CashtoCode, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Ripple available for deposits. The first deposit bonus gives you 100% up to AU$500 + 100 free spins with no code needed, followed by four more offers that add more bonus cash and spins as you keep playing. In plain English — less stalling, fewer tricks, and more of your wins actually making it to your account. Do these things consistently and you’ll be ahead of 90% of video poker players. The key is finding the right video poker site—one with competitive paytables, fair bonus terms, and reliable payouts.
Terms are more forgiving than typical “mass market” offers, but you should still check wagering rules and max bet limits before firing off large deposits. Every legit casino offers self-exclusion and limit tools — and the best time to use them is before things feel rough. Higher RTP doesn’t guarantee wins, but over time, it gives your bankroll a better chance than stingy “never hits” games. The casino pushes popular, high rtp roulette australia-volatility pokies right to the front — think big multipliers, bonus buy options, and Megaways titles with high bet limits and massive multipliers. It’s spread across your first four deposits, so you’ll always have something to look forward to the first few times you boost your account balance. It’s simple to learn, fun to play, and if you follow the optimal strategy, it offers some of the best long-term odds you’ll find in any Australian online casino game. Some video poker games allow you to play with up to 50 hands, and while it can be fun for a hand or two, I don’t recommend it in general.
They’re built so neither you nor the casino can predict or change results, which is what keeps games fair in the long run — even if short sessions still feel streaky or brutal. Legit Aussie-facing casinos use proper licensing, game testing, and banking safeguards to keep things above board. You’re handing over card details, ID, and your bankroll, so the site you choose needs to prove it can protect both your cash and your data. When you’re spinning online pokies for real money, security isn’t optional — it’s the whole game. Here’s how the most common banking methods stack up at legit Australian online casinos. If you’re bonus hunting, double-check which payment types qualify before you deposit.
However, due to this change, Bonus Poker variants typically use the 8/5 paytable, resulting in an overall RTP of around 99.2%. Because of the Joker, some hands are easier to hit, so the paytable is adjusted accordingly. Joker Poker adds one Joker into the deck, so it’s a 53-card game. However, 2s can represent ANY card in the deck, so full-pay Deuces Wild has the highest RTP of any casino game of 100.76% if played with the optimal strategy. Most guides, including this one, take Jacks or Better as the “reference point” for comparing all other variants because it’s the most beginner-friendly option. This is important because the paytable directly affects the RTP, and in some variants, even small changes in the paytable can drop the RTP.
There are 6 reload offers spread throughout the week, alternating between free spins and bonus cash, giving regulars fresh value and extra chances to keep the reels spinning. And as one of the highest paying online casino Australia sites, the bonuses don’t end there. New players can explore the pokies selection here with a hefty bankroll, thanks to the big AU$22,500 + 350 free spins welcome pack.
In most video poker games, you can play with multiple hands. In most video poker variants, the highest payout is 800x your wager for a Royal Flush (suited 10-J-Q-K-A). Note that you can fold all cards from the first dealing, or hold 1, 2, 3, 4, or all 5 cards, so it’s all your choice.
Out of the 10 hands, 9 didn’t draw an A or K, but one drew an A, so I had 9 Two Pairs wins and one Full House win for a total of A$27. This mode exists to speed up the game and the potential for bigger wins, but it also carries a higher risk. Now, we can choose to hold the Two Pairs and hope for a stronger hand like Full House, but even if we don’t get another J or 4, we know that we already have a winning hand from our first draw. Each hand draws its own replacement cards, and each hand is evaluated separately according to the paytable. For example, there are 5-hand, 10-hand, or even 50-hand video poker variants.