Five Aces Poker This game uses one 52-card deck, plus one extra ace slipped into the deck to really spice up the hand. The fifth ace means more chances for four aces, four aces with that juicy kicker, and a BIG jackpot for all five aces! Five Aces Poker means more thrills and winning opportunities. Double Double Bonus Video Poker. Double Double Bonus, also known as 10/6 video poker, is another popular variant based on Jacks or Better. This game also uses the standard 52-card deck and offers all the same video poker fun and more. What makes this variant special is that it pays a premium for all hands containing Four of a Kind. You play Aces & Faces the same way you play Jacks or Better or any other video poker game. You first insert your money, and the machine displays the available credits. You then decide how much you want to bet per hand (1 to 5 credits). Then you press the “deal” button.

1. What Beats 5 Aces In Poker
2. 5 Aces In Poker Hand
3. 5 Aces In Poker

Five Aces video poker lives up to its name by including a special fifth ace in the deck to create potential winning hands that are different from many other video poker games. If you like the idea of possibly getting a hand with a five of a kind made up entirely of aces, this game is certainly for you. In addition, it plays very similarly to other video poker variations, meaning that it won’t be a hard game to learn.

If aces are not low, simply rotate the hand descriptions so that 6-high replaces 5-high for the best hand and ace-high replaces king-high as the worst hand. Frequency of 7-card lowball poker hands edit. 5 card poker probabilities if there are no wild cards (Computer program and data by Bill Butler) Poker Hand Nbr. 5 Aces 1 0.00000035 Royal straight flush 24 0.00000836 Other straight flush 180 0.00006272 4 of a kind 828 0.00028853.

New variations of video poker are always popping up, both online and in casinos. The reason for this is that many players want something different than the basic Jacks or Better game that has become the standard for video poker. By switching up the way the game is played or how certain hands are played, gamblers can enjoy a new and exciting experience.

Pay tables are often adjusted to achieve this effect. In some cases, wild cards are introduced into the mix so that players have the opportunity to make hands that they might have little chance to make if they were playing a normal game. And there are even variations of video poker which allow players to get bonus spins or even multipliers for their potential winnings.

Five Aces video poker achieves a bit of novelty by doing just what its name implies. Instead of having four aces in a 52-card deck, as is normally the case, this game is played with a simulated 53-card deck, with the extra card being a fifth ace. This fifth ace, when it shows up on the screen, has its own special suit: a star, which separates it from the hearts, spades, clubs, and diamonds in the deck.

Keep in mind that this fifth ace is not a wild card, as would be the case in Joker Poker, another video poker game with 53 cards in the mix. But Five Aces video poker does put the possibility of five aces in a single hand in play, while also increasing your chances for two, three, or even four aces. For those who get excited about the possibility of seeing a lot of aces in their hand, this is a real bonus.

Five Aces video poker does not significantly alter your odds of winning compared to other video poker games. In addition, while the game is popular online, you might have a hard time finding the most advantageous pay tables in brick-and-mortar casinos. As a result, you might end up playing a version that doesn’t quite match up to other, more commonly-found video poker games.

In the following article, we’ll examine Five Aces video poker and compare it to other forms of video poker. Along those lines, we’ll take a close look at the pay tables and payback percentages to show how the game stacks up to others of its kind. And we’ll examine how you can learn strategy so that you can maximize your winnings while playing this game.

Playing Video Poker

The basic gameplay for Five Aces video poker is no different than most other forms of video poker, including Jacks or Better, which is the most common version of the game. You’re basically playing a simulated version of Five-Card Draw, which is often played by people recreationally at home with a standard 52-card deck. Video poker takes this game and translates it into the casino, or website experience.

Let’s walk you through how you might play Five Aces video poker if you came upon it online or in an actual casino. That way we can then start to show how it separates itself from other games like it. Here is the step-by-step process:

Step 1: Creating Your Bankroll

If you want to win money playing Five Aces video poker, you’ll have to risk some money as well. This money is known as your bankroll. To create your bankroll, simply insert money into the machine or, if playing at a website, fund your account.

Keep in mind that most machines will only allow you to play at a certain denomination, such as a dollar or a quarter. Each unit of denomination is equal to one credit, or coin, in the machine. For example, if you put in a $10 bill to play a $1 machine, you will have ten credits with which to play.

You should try to judge your bankroll by how long you want to play and whether or not the game is volatile or not (more on that when we get to pay tables).

Step 2: Making a Bet

When playing Five Aces video poker, you’ll have the chance to bet between one and five credits. In most cases, we would recommend that you bet the maximum amount per hand. That is because the payoff for a royal flush at five coins is at a much higher proportion than it is for one through coins played.

That is not the case, however, with Five Aces video poker. As a matter of fact, there is even a hand that outdoes the royal flush on the pay table for this game, as you’ll see.

Still, it’s a good idea to get into the habit of playing the max bet per hand, or else you might make the mistake of betting less on a machine where that practice could hurt your chances of winning.

Step 3: Playing the Hand

As we said above, Five Aces video poker mimics other video poker in terms of its gameplay. And video poker, in turn, mimics Five-Card Draw Poker. If you know that game, the actual gameplay of Five Aces video poker will be a snap for you.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, here’s how it works. Five cards will be dealt to you and will appear on the machine or computer screen.

This is your hand. Ideally, your hand will be something that either is close to or actually makes one of the following winning hands:

• Pair
• Two pair
• Three of a kind
• Straight (five consecutive cards)
• Flush (five cards of the same suit)
• Full house (three of a kind of one card and a pair of another)
• Straight flush (five consecutive cards of the same suit)
• Royal flush (ten through ace of the same suit)
• Five aces

If your hand is already a winner, you might want to keep it as is. But, more than likely, it will either fall short of a winning hand, or it might be able to be improved. That’s where the draw round comes into play.

Let’s take a look at how this might work. Imagine that you received the following five cards on the deal.

There are a number of possible winning hands here, even though the deal, as it is, does not provide you with a winning hand. There are a pair of sixes, four cards to a straight, and three cards to a flush. It’s your task to decide how to proceed.

This is one of the reasons that people prefer video poker to slot machines. Real money slot machines don’t give you any chance to employ any strategy. But video poker actually gives you the opportunity to influence whether or not you win by the choices you make.

On top of that, you have probabilities to lean on when you make these choices. Playing a slot machine, you have no idea what your chances are of getting a winning spin. You just have to hope that you get a little bit of luck at your machine.

But with Five Aces video poker and other forms of video poker, probabilities come into play. For example, you know that you have a one in 24 chance of drawing another six with your next card. After all, there are two remaining in the deck, which still has 48 cards in it after the deal (remember it had 53 to start with the extra ace).

If you’re thinking about making the straight flush, you know that you’ll need to draw either the two and five of hearts or the five and seven of hearts. The draw for the straight requires you to hit one of the four fives in the deck, which gives you a one in twelve chance.

You then have to measure those probabilities against how much you would make for each of those potential winning hands. That is how you make the decision about which cards to discard and which to hold. The cards that you discard will be replaced with cards from the remainder of the deck.

Let’s assume you decide to keep the pair of sixes. That means that you’ll be discarding the three of spades, four of hearts, and seven of hearts. You would then hit the “Hold” button below the sixes and wait to see what the draw brings you.

Here is an example of what might come up:

You really lucked out on the draw, making a full house. Of course, on another draw, you might come up empty and end up a loser. The best you can do is to measure all of your possibilities and make the best mathematical play (more on that when we get to strategy).

In any case, that’s basically the way that you play a hand of Five Aces video poker. You can keep playing as long as you have the credits remaining. Alternatively, you can cash out and take the redemption ticket if you’re playing in a casino.

The Fifth Ace

The big difference in Five Aces video poker is the presence of a fifth ace in the deck, which includes 53 cards instead of the standard 52. Obviously, the big change is that brings into play the possibility of your coming up with five aces in a single hand. Normally, five of a kind is only a possibility in games that include a wild card.

It’s important to note that the fifth ace here is not a wild card. Instead, it can only act in the role of an ace, either as part of a set, a straight, or as a kicker. And, because it’s its own suit, it can’t be part of any flush, straight flush, or royal flush.

Still, the presence of that fifth ace creates an interesting dynamic in gameplay. Knowing that there is an extra ace out there should also play into your strategy. Having that fifth ace gives Five Aces video poker an extra sense of excitement for players.

What Beats 5 Aces In Poker

Pay Tables for Five Aces Video Poker

A pay table is a crucial piece of information for any video poker player. Those who play slot machines might be familiar with the concept, as there are pay tables attached to the slots as well. But the problem there is that you have no way of knowing the probability of getting a spin that pays off the listed amount.

But probabilities are a part of the deal with Five Aces video poker. There are only 53 cards in the deck, meaning that winning hands will come up in somewhat predictable fashion. That information should be the basis for your strategy for the game.

The pay table, on the surface, shows you how much each winning hand pays compared to how much you bet. Let’s take a look at a pay table for Five Aces video poker.

This is for the version known as Double Double Bonus, and it’s also the highest-paying version of this game. That means that it’s the game that will pay the gambler back at the highest level, on average.

First, you have to learn how to read this pay table. You just have to follow the hand row over to where it meets up with the bet column. Using our example above where you drew a full house, and assuming that you played the maximum bet of five coins, you would end up with a payout of 45 credits, which is a 40-credit profit once you take away your original bet.

You might also notice that there are specific payouts for four of a kind payouts with certain “kicker” cards. A kicker is the fifth card in the hand that is not included in the four of a kind. For example, take the following hand:

In that hand, the seven of diamonds is the kicker. You can see from the pay table above that the most valuable kickers to have are the ace, two, three, or four.

The one thing that veteran video poker players will notice is that Five Aces video poker is one of the few games that has a hand that pays out more than the royal flush. Naturally, that hand is the five aces hand, which is just as hard to achieve during gameplay as the royal flush. Yet the royal flush still pays out at the level to which most are accustomed if they’re familiar with games like Jacks or Better.

What you also might notice is that this game, on the whole, aggressively rewards four of a kind hands. This is common in Bonus-type pay tables. It gives people more chances at high payouts on a single hand, which plays to gamblers who want the chance to walk away with big winnings in a hurry.

Of course, the machine makes up for that by reducing payouts on the low end of the pay table. For example, on a Jacks or Better pay table, a three of a kind pays off 3 to 1, and two pair pays off at 2 to 1. You’ll also note that this pay table only awards even money for a pair of aces, as opposed to most games which allow that payback for a pair of jacks or better.

What all that means is that relatively common hands won’t get you as much in this version of Five Aces video poker. You will have a hard time sustaining your bankroll for a long period of time if you don’t come up with one of the high-paying hands. As a result, you will either have to come with a bigger bankroll or run the risk of losing your entire stake.

That is why this game is known as a volatile one among video poker machines. Volatile machines give you the chance for high payouts but also increase your so-called “risk or ruin.” Your temperament and bankroll will likely help you decide if you can make that trade-off.

Keep in mind that there are other pay tables that you might come upon for this game that dial down the aggressive nature of the pay table. The following are the full-pay versions of Double Bonus and Jacks or Better with the five aces twist added on:

Double Bonus Five Aces Pay Table

Jacks or Better Five Aces Pay Table

You’ll notice that the bottoms of these pay tables are a little more forgiving than the one for Double Double Bonus. And you can also see that kickers are eliminated and the payouts for four of a kind hands are tempered. Finally, you’ll notice that the Jacks or Better version lives up to its name by paying out starting with a pair of jacks instead of a pair of aces.

Because of these differences, these two games are less volatile than the Double Double Bonus. As a result, they are more preferable for people who like to grind it out. But keep in mind that they are still a bit more volatile than typical Jacks or Better games (without the fifth ace included) that pay out at 2 to 1 for a two pair hand.

Payback Percentages for Five Aces Video Poker

Whenever the payout for a certain hand is altered on a pay table, that change will also alter the payback percentage. The payback percentage is a measurement for how much a gambler can expect to win (or lose) from a machine over a long period of time. It’s an important measurement for serious gamblers, as it will ultimately say how lucrative a certain game or machine is expected to be.

The payback percentage is gleaned by taking the probabilities for making each winning hand and multiplying them by the payback. Once you add up all those totals, you will come up with a number close to 100%. Any percentage above 100% means that the player can expect to profit from a machine.

Such machines are rare, or else casinos would go out of business. But if you can find a percentage of over 99%, which means that you’d be losing just a dollar for every 100 put in a machine, you should feel comfortable playing there. That is because even though you’re facing an expected loss over the long haul of playing, you can easily make that up through the rewards offered by casinos for loyalty.

These percentages really can only be trusted as accurate once the game has been played many, many times. In a short session, luck will determine winning and losing more than anything else. But the more you play, the more your results will start to dovetail with the quoted percentage.

The good news is that you don’t necessarily have to do the math to figure all this out. You just need to see the pay table and look it up online. There you will find the corresponding payback percentage for that machine.

In the case of the pay tables listed above, here is what you can expect from Five Aces video poker:

• Double Double Bonus full-pay version: 100%
• Double Bonus full-pay version: 99%
• Jacks or Better full-pay version: 98%

In this case, the more volatile the game, the better the expected payout. That isn’t always the case with other video poker games, but it is here.

What you should also know is that you might also come upon versions of Five Aces video poker that offer you less than full-pay. You’ll notice this when you see the payouts for hands like the full house or flush have been lowered from where they are on the full-pay. As a result, you can expect your payback percentage to drop when you encounter those games.

Strategy for Five Aces Video Poker

The only way that you can possibly reach the payback percentages listed above is to either get lucky in the short haul or learn perfect strategy over the long haul. Those players who can play perfectly will increase their chances of winning if they play Five Aces video poker for a long period of time. But it’s important to understand what that means.

Playing perfectly means making the choices about what to hold and what to discard that will bring the highest expected value from that hand. And, just like with payback percentages, this means playing the hand many, many times. When you play it once or twice, luck can become involved.

For example, take the hand that we listed above. If you recall, the deal went like this:

For that hand, the correct mathematical play was to hold the pair of sixes. In our hypothetical example, it worked out, and you ended up with a full house.

But what if you held those cards and drew the following:

Those first two cards were the ones that you needed to make the royal flush, which would have been a huge payout. Even though you played the right cards, you got the wrong result. But that’s what luck can do with a small sample size.

If you played this hand over and over into infinity, you would make the most money by holding the pair. And that’s what you need to learn for every possible combination of cards that you can be dealt if you want to achieve perfect play at Five Aces video poker.

How can you do that? Here are two ways:

• Video Poker Training Software: This software can be purchased and then customized to mimic the play of Five Aces video poker. You would then play out hands as if you were actually playing at a machine. Whenever you make a hold and discard that is less than optimal, the machine will stop and let you know what you should have done.
• Strategy Charts: By looking online, you can find a strategy chart that corresponds to Five Aces video poker and all the different versions. Memorizing this chart will get you to perfect play since it will show every possible combination of cards you might receive. By ranking these combinations, the chart lets you know what your best play is and which cards you can discard.

Five Aces Video Poker Pros and Cons

• The fifth ace gives you the opportunity to make a lucrative five of a kind hand
• Several different pay tables available to conform to your style of play
• Gameplay is extremely easy to learn since it’s the same as basic video poker

• No matter the version, the low pay for two pair means it’s a volatile game
• Strategy can be tough to learn because of the addition of the fifth ace
• You might get frustrated that the fifth ace can’t help you with flush hands

Conclusion on Five Aces Video Poker

Five Aces video poker, whether you play it at a casino or on the top gambling website of your choice, holds a lot of thrills for folks who like to see those aces come out on the deal and the draw. You’ve even got the chance for a mammoth payout with five aces, higher even than the royal flush. Just be prepared for a somewhat bumpy road due to the game’s volatile nature.

Most video poker games are just variations of Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild, and Aces & Faces video poker is no different—it’s based largely on Jacks or Better. What distinguishes Aces and Faces from other video poker games are the bonus payouts on the 4 of a kind hands. These bonus payouts apply to any 4 of a kind made up of aces or of face cards (the jack, queen, or king).

On this page we’ve explained the basics of how to play this video poker game. We’ve also provided some information on the payouts this game returns, along with the average payback percentages you can expect. In order to help you get the best possible return, we’ve got some advice on the optimal strategies too.

How to Play Aces and Faces Video Poker

You play Aces & Faces the same way you play Jacks or Better or any other video poker game. You first insert your money, and the machine displays the available credits. You then decide how much you want to bet per hand (1 to 5 credits). Then you press the “deal” button.

The game deals you a 5 card hand from a virtual 52 card deck with no jokers. You can then decide which cards to keep and which ones to throw away. You can keep (or discard) any number of cards from 1 to 5.

After you’ve discarded the cards you don’t want, you get replacement cards. You then are awarded a payout based on the strength of the poker hand you’re left with. There are no wild cards in this game.

One strategic insight we can offer you up front is this—always play for 5 coins per hand. The payout for the best possible hand in the game (the royal flush) is 500 to 1 if you play for less than 5 coins, but it’s 800 to 1 if you place the max bet. That hand only comes up rarely, but it makes up a big part of your payback percentage.

Aces & Faces Pay Tables

Like all other video poker games, different versions of Aces & Faces are available with different pay tables. Some hands have a consistent payout from game to game, while others vary. Being able to recognize the best possible pay table will help you achieve the best payback percentage possible.

The 8/5 refers to the payouts for the full house and the flush. As with Jacks or Better, when the video poker manufacturers want to adjust the payback percentage for this game, those are the 2 hands where they change the payouts.

Here are the paybacks you can look for based on the various hand rankings:

Royal Flush

This is the best possible hand in most video poker variations, and Aces & Faces is no exception. The hand pays out at 500 to 1 if you bet less than the max coin, but it has an 800 to 1 payout if you’re playing for 5 coins per hand. As we mentioned earlier, you should ALWAYS bet max coin.

Straight Flush

This hand pays 50 to 1.

4 of a Kind (Aces)

Here’s the best of the hands with the bonus payouts. Four aces pays off at 80 to 1.

4 of a Kind (Face Cards)

This is the 2nd kind of bonus payout hand. If you get a 4 of a kind consisting of any of the face cards, the jack, queen, or king, the payoff is 40 to 1.

4 of a Kind

Any other 4 of a kind, deuces through 10s, pays off at 25 to 1.

Full House

This is one of the 2 hands that determines which pay table you’re playing. On the best possible version of this game, it pays off at 8 to 1. On lower payback versions of the game, you might see 7 to 1 or 6 to 1 payouts on a full house.

Flush

This is the other hand in the 8/5 descriptor. It pays off at 5 to 1 most of the time, although there is a version of the game, 7/6, in which it pays off at 6 to 1. It’s important to realize that even though a flush is more common than a full house, the 6 to 1 payout isn’t good enough to make the 7/6 version of the game superior to the 8/5 version. (There’s also a 7/5 version.)

Straight

Pays off at 4 to 1.

3 of a Kind

Pays off at 3 to 1. You should notice that you don’t get a bonus payout for face cards or aces with a 3 of a kind. You only get the bonus payout if you hit the 4 of a kind.

2 Pairs

Pays off at 2 to 1.

A Pair of Jacks or Better

Pays off at even money.

Here’s what a full pay table for the 8/5 Aces & Faces video poker game looks like:

The 2 lines to look at when deciding which game to play are the lines for the full house and the flush. 8/5 is the full pay version of the game. Anything less than that is a lower paying version of the game. In either case, the payout for Aces & Faces video poker is almost always way better than the payouts on any of the slot machine games in the casino.

The payback percentage is based on which version of the game you’re playing. You should keep in mind that this figure is a theoretical payback percentage based on the assumption that you’re making the correct decision (mathematically) on every hand that you play.

Based on the various pay tables you’ll see, here are the theoretical payback percentages:

• 8/5 Aces & Faces – 99.26%
• 7/6 Aces & Faces – 99.2%
• 7/5 Aces & Faces – 98.1%
• 6/5 Aces & Faces – 97%

Notice that the worst potential pay table still has a payback percentage of 97%. That makes it one of the best games in the casino, even though you should try to find a better pay table if you possibly can.

If you want to figure out the house edge for the game, that’s easily done, too. Simply subtract the payback percentage from 100%.

In the full pay version of the game (8/5), the house edge is less than 1%. It’s only 0.74%, making it comparable or even superior to many versions of blackjack.

A video poker cheat sheet or strategy chart consists of just a list of potential hands in order of their desirability. To use the Aces & Faces strategy chart below, just start at the top. When you get to a hand that matches yours, stop, and keep the cards indicated, discarding the rest.

The strategy for Aces & Faces is pretty simple compared to some other more complicated games. It has much in common with the correct strategy for Jacks or Better.

• Royal Flush
• 4 of a Kind
• Straight Flush
• 4 card draw to a Royal Flush
• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• 3 of a Kind
• 4 card draw to a Straight Flush
• 2 Pairs
• A pair of Jacks or Better
• 3 card draw to a Royal Flush
• 4 card draw to a Flush

• Unsuited 10JQK.
• Any low pair.
• 4 cards to a Straight draw.
• 3 cards to a Straight Flush.
• AKQJ unsuited
• 2 card draw to a Royal Flush
• 3 cards to a Straight draw
• KQJ, QJ, KQ, or KJ (unsuited)
• 3 cards to a Straight Flush
• JT or QT suited
• Unsuited hi cards
• 1 high card.
• Discard everything

You’ll notice that you’ll almost always hold onto a winning hand. One of the only exceptions are when you have 4 cards to a Royal Flush. You’ll always go for the Royal Flush in that situation.

The other exception is 4 cards to a Straight Flush. You’ll keep that hand rather than going for any hand less than 3 of a Kind.

If you’ve mastered the strategy for Jacks or Better, Aces & Faces should be a breeze to play.

Also, even if you’re not interested in mastering the strategy above, you’re still playing one of the best games in the casino. You’re not giving up more than probably 2% by just using good card sense. That makes this game much better odds for the player than almost any slot machine on the floor.

Playtech casinos offer 2 different versions of Aces & Faces that you can play for online for free or real money. The single hand version is the standard full pay version of the game, but the 25 hand version has a sub-optimal pay table.

Unless you’re playing for free, we recommend that you stick with the single hand version of Aces & Faces when playing online at a Playtech casino.

5 Aces In Poker Hand

Summary

5 Aces In Poker

Aces & Faces video poker is a fun and easy variation of Jacks or Better video poker. The payback percentage on the full pay (8/5) version is excellent, and the correct strategy for playing is easy to learn, too. Aces & Faces is a big improvement, odds-wise, over almost any slot machine on the casino floor.