Joker Poker is a variant of the popular Jacks or Better poker. However, instead of a deck of 52 cards, this poker introduces joker as a wild to make 54 cards. It is a simple game to play. The dealer deals you five cards, and you choose which to drop and which to keep to make the best five-card hand. The joker, which is wild, replaces the cards you miss.
Like with any other video poker, if you want huge winnings, bet the maximum coins. You get better payouts when you bet on maximum coins as the video poker boosts your payouts for royal flush.
Top Online Casinos for Joker Poker
Joker Poker is an ideal game when you need to have fun at a casino online. You, therefore, need to choose the best casino site to ensure you have fun. Most casinos offer game customization features such as game speed control and special effects optimization. While these features are great, we consider the quality of the games and the safety of the playing environment first.
Once we are sure you and your money are safe, we can check other features of a casino before recommending it. In our list of recommended casinos, all sites have a license from a recognized gambling licensing authority. We verify all the licenses to guarantee that a casino is safe to play on. There are many more factors we consider as seen below. Check out our list of recommended casinos.
History of Joker Poker
The Joker has been part of poker since 1875 when it joined as a wild. Being wild means that the joker can stand in for any card you want in a hand. Most casinos around the world adopted the wild joker in the 1940s. The term also refers to a pair of jacks. The history of Poker Joker dates as old as the joker.
However, it was not until the advent of online casinos that this game became so popular. Today most casinos offer this game as a video poker or live dealer poker.
How to Play Joker Poker
In this poker, you are dealt five cards. Hold the cards you want to make the best winning hand and discard the ones you do not need. Once you discard a card, the dealer will replace it. The winning hands are as follows:
- Natural royal flush
- 5 of a kind
- Joker royal flush
- Straight flush
- 4 of a kind
- Full house
- Flush
- Straight
- 3 of a kind
- 2 pairs
- Kings or Better
Our Top Tips to Maximize Your Joker Poker Strategy
Joker Poker is still a game of chance to some extent. As such, you need to manage your bankroll well if you do not want a string of bad luck. Your strategy should depend on the hand you’re dealt. Your hand can have a joker or no joker.
If your hand has a joker
- Keep three of a kind or higher
- Hold four cards to royal flush
- Keep three cards to a royal flush
- Hold pairs of kings or aces
- Keep three cards to a straight flush
- If you do not get any of the combinations above, discard all cards except the joker and start over
If your hand has no joker
- Keep four cards to royal flush
- Keep three cards to royal flush and four cards to straight flush
- Keep four cards to any of the flush hands
- Keep three cards of any kind to a straight flush
- Hold unsuited King and Ace
- Keep King and Ace alone
Joker Poker FAQ
How is Joker Poker a game of chance?
Although you choose the cards to hold and the cards to discard, you still do not have control over the cards that replace the ones you discard. You may discard all the cards the dealer deals you only to replace them with a worse hand. This is why you need to manage your bank roll so that you enjoy the game more even if you get on a string of loses.
How does the Joker Wild game pay?
A natural royal flush (one where a joker doesn’t replace any cards) pays the highest. For 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 units of the currency of the game, you get 250, 500, 750, 1,200, and 1,250 respectively. However, this hand rarely comes by. The second highest paying hand is 5 of a kind, which pays 200, 400, 600, 800, or 1,000 respectively. The lowest paying hand is two pairs (kings or higher), which pays 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 respectively.