All games of video poker can be played with one to five coins and as a player you have to make that choice. If you want to play with one coin click the coin symbol once, if you want to play with two coins click the coin symbol twice and so on. Some machines have a separate symbol for 5 coins that can be activated by a single click, because all good players always play with five coins. If you look at the payout table for any video poker game you will see that it has five columns.

The first column gives the payout if the player has wagered one coin; the second column gives the payout if the player has wagered two coins and so on. Let us consider a payout table for a simple video poker game called jacks or better. The payout begins with jacks or better with one coin for one coin wagered and five coins for five coins wagered.

The second highest payout is for straight flush, which is fifty coins for one coin wagered and two hundred and fifty coins for five coins wagered. The question that arises is if the payout is in proportion to the number of coins wagered how does it matter whether you wager one coin or five coins. The answer lies in the payout for the royal flush. The payout for one coin is 250 coins. In the same proportion the payout for wagering five coins should be 1250 coins. Look at the number for five coins for a royal flush.

It is a whopping 4000 coins. What do casinos gain by offering such a high payout? To understand this you must realize that video poker machines make money for the casino. Whereas individual players will win, over the day, month and year the total amount lost by players exceeds the total amount won by players. This is the reason why casinos exist. If the casino makes a net income of $X when players are wagering with 1 coin they will make $5X when players wager with 5 coins.

Even after accounting for the occasional 4000 coin payouts the machine makes more money if players consistently wager with five coins. Hence the casino gives the attraction to players for always playing with 5 coins. But why should you play with 5 coins if that makes more money for the casinos. You have nothing to lose, but something to gain. It is this high payout for a royal flush with 5 coins that gives a close to 100% return for the player. Playing with five coins instead of one will mean that your bankroll will get depleted faster.

So play one-fifth the number of games and but play will five coins. Because if you hit a royal flush and you have wagered only one coin you will rue the day you were born.

Will Win is a professional gambler, ex casino dealer and author. For the best Online Casino Visit www.casino-magic.org