Video poker players talk in shorthand. Here's what the common terms mean.
Pay tables
- Pay table: the list on the glass or screen showing what each hand pays
- 9/6, 8/5 and so on: what the full house and flush pay for one coin. 9/6 Jacks or Better pays 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush
- Full pay: the best common version of a game's pay table
- Short pay: a cut-down version of the same game that pays back less
- Return: what a machine pays back on average with perfect play, as a percentage of everything bet
- NSUD: Not So Ugly Deuces, a common near-full-pay version of Deuces Wild
Betting
- Max coins: the largest bet, usually five coins. It unlocks the big royal flush payout
- Short-coining: playing fewer than max coins, which costs you the royal bonus
- Denomination: the value of one coin: 5¢, 25¢, $1 and so on
- Coin-in: the total amount you put through a machine, win or lose
Hands and holds
- Kicker: an extra card held alongside a pair or trips. Usually a mistake; in some bonus games specific kickers pay extra
- Four to a royal: four of the five cards needed for a royal flush
- Inside straight: a straight draw missing a card in the middle, like 5-6-8-9
- Quads: four of a kind
On the floor
- Hand pay: a jackpot paid by an attendant instead of the machine
- TITO: ticket in, ticket out, the paper vouchers machines print and accept
- Cashback and free play: rewards the players club pays on your coin-in
- Multi-play: machines that play three, five, ten or more hands from one deal
