Video poker money management

Although you can play just a single hand of video poker and walk away with a five figure progressive bonus, the likelihood is that you will have to play for some considerable time if you want to stand any chance of walking away a winner.

As such, you need to be able to be sure that you have a sufficient bankroll to ride out the periods in the game where you go on a long losing streak – something that is almost inevitable at some point.

You’ll also have to take into account your budget – remember that all money you gamble is money that you should be prepared to lose – and how long you want to play for. Going for game versions with a lower coin value will increase your likely game time, but reduce the size of any potential winnings, it’s a trade off.

As a rule, you should probably look to have a bankroll big enough to play 50 consecutive losing games. This is almost certain not to happen, but should let you play for long enough to have just a chance of that big, big win. So if you’re playing a game that is for 25p coins, then you will need 50 x £1.25 50 (since you should always bet the maximum number of coins in each game) or £62.

Finally, you will not come out a winner every time you play video poker and you should therefore not continue to pour in money if you are on a long losing streak. Sometimes it just isn’t your day and knowing when to quit is an essential part of your long-term strategy. You should operate a system of stop losses, and cash outs to ensure that neither do you go bankrupt nor fail to walk away when you are actually up.