The short answer
The house edge on a standard 9/6 Jacks or Better machine is 0.46%, meaning the casino expects to keep 46 cents for every $100 you bet.
The full calculation
To find the house edge, we calculate the Expected Value (EV) by multiplying the probability of each hand by its respective payout.
$$EV = \sum_{i=1}^{n} (P_i imes W_i)$$
For a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine with 5 coins bet:
- Royal Flush: $P pprox 0.0000247 imes 800 = 0.01976$
- Straight Flush: $P pprox 0.000109 imes 50 = 0.00545$
- Four of a Kind: $P pprox 0.00236 imes 25 = 0.059$
- Full House: $P pprox 0.0115 imes 9 = 0.1035$
- Flush: $P pprox 0.0110 imes 6 = 0.066$
- …and so on.
Summing these probabilities and payouts gives an RTP (Return to Player) of 99.54%. The House Edge is $100% - 99.54% = 0.46%$.
What this means at the table
At a typical pace of 600 hands per hour on a $0.25 machine ($1.25 per hand), you are wagering $750 per hour. With a 0.46% edge, your theoretical hourly loss is only $3.45. Compare this to a standard slot machine with an 8% edge, where the same wagering volume would cost you $60 per hour.
Common mistakes around this number
Players often confuse “Return to Player” (RTP) with hit frequency. A game can have a high RTP but feel like you’re losing because the return is tied up in the Royal Flush, which only hits once every 40,000 hands. Another mistake is ignoring the paytable; if you play an 8/5 machine thinking it’s “basically the same” as a 9/6, you are quintupling the house edge without realizing it.
See also
- [/video-poker/strategy/](Optimal play to reach the theoretical edge)
- [/video-poker/paytables/](How to spot a good machine)
- [/video-poker/jacks-or-better/](The gold standard for low-edge gaming)