Jacks or Better

The object of Jacks or Better is to obtain a five-card poker hand that contains a winning combination (see the paytable on the machine). The better your hand, the bigger the payout. You choose how many and which of your cards are to be replaced. You may replace your cards only once.

To play the game:

Choose the value of the coins you wish to wager each round, by clicking on the + and – buttons on the right of the screen.

Click Bet One or Bet Max to select the number of coins you wish to wager. Each click on the Bet One button adds another coin to the bet. Clicking Bet Max increases your bet to the maximum – that is, five coins – and deals the cards automatically.
You can also click the appropriate column on the winnings table to specify your bet size.

Click Deal. Choose which cards you wish to keep by pressing the Hold button underneath the card, or by clicking on the card itself.

Click Deal to replace the cards that you did not choose to hold. If you did not get a winning combination, the round is over and you can start again. If you did get a winning combination, see the next section.

The lowest winning combination is a pair of Jacks: a pair of any lower cards (for example, Tens) is not a winning combination; a pair of any higher cards (for example, Queens) is a winning combination.

Doubling:

If you end up with a winning hand, you can accept the win (click Collect), or Double it. Should you choose to Double, the dealer draws a face up card and you are given 4 face-down cards to choose from. If you choose a card that turns out to be lower than the dealer's, you lose your original win. If the cards are equal, it is a tie, and you have the option to collect your original winnings (click Collect) or Double again. If your card is higher, you win double your original win amount. You then have the option to collect your winnings or Double again.

You can also choose to Half Double, which means you only double using half of your winning amount, and deposit the
rest into your balance.

You can move the Double window (if enabled in the Options) by dragging it with the mouse. Doubling is a separate game round, and can be viewed as such in the Game History. During doubling the Bet screen displays the amount wagered for doubling. The Win screen displays the win amount for the current round.

Buttons:

Chat
You cannot use the chat feature in a single player game. However, you can answer a casino administrator if they initiate a chat with you.

The lower edge of the game window holds the casino toolbar. It contains the following:

Current balance
Your account balance. This is the money you can use to play the casino games.

Chat
Clicking this button will activate the black strip to the left of it, turning it into a text box. Enter a message and click Chat again. A separate chat window will open.

Menu
Three popular functions are united under the Menu. Clicking History (unavailable in Offline mode) will open the game history window, where you can see the details of recent game rounds. Options allows you to change audio quality and various gameplay settings, and Help opens the help article that you are reading right now.
Online Support lets you contact a customer support specialist, if one is online.

Close/Lobby
Clicking this button closes the game window and takes you back to the Lobby. If you have Multiwindow support enabled (games are opened in new windows), the button will say Close. If Multiwindow support is disabled (games are opened in the same window as the Lobby), the button will say Lobby. You can enable or disable this feature in the Options window.

Paytable
The paytable shows the win amounts if using $1 coins. Multiply the number in the paytable with your coin value. Number of coins increases from left to right: if you are betting one coin, use the leftmost column, if you are betting two coins use the second column from the left, etc. The rightmost column shows win amounts for Max Bet (five coins).

Shortcut keys

If you wish, you can press the following keys on your keyboard instead of clicking on the buttons on the screen.

Press this key To do this

Note on large wins: Winning amounts of $10,000 or more are considered large wins. Large wins need to be verified by a live operator.

Note on disconnections: If you are disconnected from the Internet in the middle of a game while playing for Real Money, please re-establish your Internet connection and log back into the casino. You will be automatically directed to the game that was interrupted so you can continue playing.

In the event that there is no autoplay and your game has been interrupted, cut off, cancelled or stopped due to power failure, mechanical malfunction of your computer or equipment, or loss of network connection or  telecommunication, you have twenty-four (24) hours [or forty-eight (48) hours] counted from the nearest 12:00 noon when your game was stopped to reconnect, log in and resume.  Any unfinished game will be deleted and removed from the system and any funds remaining shall be settled (credited or debited) into your account.

Video Poker Hands

Here is an explanation of Poker combinations used in all our Video Poker Games. In Video Poker card values in increasing order are: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A

Jacks or Better - a pair of Jacks or cards of higher value. The cards have to be of equal value, e.g. Q, Q.

Tens or Better - same as Jacks or Better, but the cards have to be at least Ten in value.

Kings or Better - same as Jacks or Better, but the cards have to be at least King in value.

Two Pair - two separate pairs of equal value cards, e.g. 10, 10, K, K

Three of a Kind - three cards of the same value, e.g. 8, 8, 8.

Straight - Five cards consecutive in value, but not in the same suit, e.g. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. If the cards are in the same suit as well, it is a Straight Flush (see below).

Flush - Any five cards in the same suit, but not consecutive in value, e.g. 4 of Diamonds, 8 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds, J of Diamonds, K of Diamonds.

Full House - a combination of a Three of a Kind and a pair, e.g. 8, 8, 8, J, J.

Four of a Kind - four cards equal in value, e.g. 5, 5, 5, 5.

Four 2's Through 10's - same as Four of a Kind, but the cards have to be 10 or lower in value.

Four Jacks, Queens or Kings - same as Four of a Kind, but the cards have to be J or higher in value, but no higher than K.

Four Aces - a Four of a Kind consisting of Aces.

4 Deuces - a Four of a Kind consisting of 2's.

Straight Flush - five cards consecutive in value and in the same suit, e.g. 5 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs, 7 of Clubs,
8 of Clubs, 9 of Clubs.

Five of a Kind - five cards of the same value. Since there are only four suits, this combination can only occur
in games with a wild card, such as Deuces Wild and Joker Poker.

Royal Flush - Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 all in the same suit.

Wild Royal Flush / Joker Royal Flush - same as Royal Flush, with one or more cards substituted by a wild card.

Natural Royal Flush - same as Royal Flush, with no wild cards.