Joker Poker Canada: Rules, Pay Tables, Hand Odds and Simple Strategy

The Joker Poker Canada players look for is a video poker game dealt from a 53-card deck, where one joker is wild and five of a kind becomes possible. It comes in two main forms, Kings or Better and Two Pair or Better, and the best pay tables return close to 100% with expert play. For licensed sites, see our list of online casinos for Canadian players.

Below we explain the rules and hands, compare real pay tables, show how often each hand lands, and set out the simple strategy that 888casino recommends for casual players.

Point	Joker Poker
Deck	53 cards: a standard 52 plus one wild joker
Versions	Kings or Better, Two Pair or Better
Top hand	Natural royal flush, then five of a kind
Best returns	Up to 100.64% (Kings or Better) and 99.92% (Two Pair), per Wizard of Odds
Weakest tables	As low as 95.46% and 92.66%

How does Joker Poker work as a video poker game?

Joker Poker is a form of video poker that adds one joker to a standard deck and makes it wild. You get five cards, hold the ones you want, and draw replacements. The Joker Poker Canada players use pays on a fixed table, not against other players.

Wikipedia lists it among the main video poker variants as Joker’s Wild.

The joker adds a new top-tier hand: five of a kind.

Each hand of the Joker Poker Canada sites deal starts from a freshly shuffled 53-card deck.

How does the joker work?

The joker can stand in for any card, in any suit or rank, to make the best possible hand. 888casino gives the example of a 4, 6, 7 and 8 of hearts with the joker, which becomes a straight flush. The wild card shapes every decision in the Joker Poker Canada players play.

Predictem notes that the joker makes a natural royal flush rarer, because the deck holds an extra card.

It also adds chances to complete lower hands, Predictem says.

Holding the joker is the starting point of every strategy.

The joker never counts against you, since it always takes the most useful value.

Which hands pay in Joker Poker?

From the top: natural royal, five of a kind, wild royal, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind and two pair. Kings or Better adds a pair of kings or aces. That ladder defines the Joker Poker Canada tables offer.

888casino defines each hand in its strategy article.

Straights and flushes do not need cards in order.

The joker can complete any of them.

What is five of a kind?

Five of a kind is four cards of one rank plus the joker. 888casino notes that a four of a kind with a joker becomes five of a kind. It only exists because of the wild card, and it pays well in the Joker Poker Canada players chase.

On the machine we reviewed, five of a kind pays 200 per coin.

In Wizard of Odds’ full-pay Two Pair table, it pays 100.

It ranks below only the natural royal flush.

What is the difference between a natural and a wild royal flush?

A natural royal flush is the ace, king, queen, jack and 10 of one suit with no joker. A wild royal, also called a joker royal, uses the joker for one of those cards. The natural royal pays far more in the Joker Poker Canada players use.

On the machine we reviewed, a natural royal pays 400 per coin and a wild royal 100.

At five coins, the natural royal jumps to 4,700 on that machine.

The full-pay Two Pair table pays 1,000 for a natural royal and 50 for a wild royal.

What are the two main versions?

Predictem and Wizard of Odds describe two: Kings or Better, where a pair of kings or aces is the lowest paying hand, and Two Pair or Better, where no single pair pays. Pick the version before you compare the Joker Poker Canada tables on offer.

Predictem says most people prefer Kings or Better.

Small even-money wins keep the Kings or Better game moving, Predictem notes.

Wizard of Odds also lists a Joker Poker Aces variant with a different pay table.

How does Kings or Better work?

A pair of kings or aces returns your bet, and every hand above that pays more. Wizard of Odds notes that with the joker, you only need one king or ace to make that pair. That makes Kings or Better the friendlier Joker Poker Canada version for most players.

A pair of queens or lower pays nothing.

The joker paired with a king or ace is a winning hand on its own.

Wizard of Odds lists Kings or Better returns from 95.46% to 100.64%.

How does Two Pair or Better work?

The lowest paying hand is two pair, so even a pair of aces loses. In return, the higher hands pay more. Predictem calls it a deal breaker for a large share of players, but the full-pay table is one of the best in the Joker Poker Canada players can find.

Wikipedia says the full-pay Two Pair game is one of the highest-return video poker versions.

It adds that the strategy is very complex, and only experts master it.

Wizard of Odds lists Two Pair returns from 92.66% to 99.92%.

What does the full-pay Two Pair table pay?

Wizard of Odds lists the best Two Pair table at 99.92%, with 1,000 per coin for a natural royal and 20 for four of a kind. The table below shows every payout and how often each hand lands. It is the benchmark Joker Poker Canada table.

Hand	Pays	Chance with best play
Natural royal flush	1,000	0.0023%
Five of a kind	100	0.0091%
Wild royal flush	50	0.0079%
Straight flush	50	0.0586%
Four of a kind	20	0.814%
Full house	10	1.50%
Flush	6	2.06%
Straight	5	2.89%
Three of a kind	2	12.40%
Two pair	1	10.48%

Pays are per coin, and the chances come from Wizard of Odds’ analysis.

How do weaker Two Pair tables compare?

Wizard of Odds lists other Two Pair tables at 98.59%, 97.19%, 94.67%, 94.17% and 92.66%. The gap between the best and worst is 7.26 points. Reading the table first matters more than any other Joker Poker Canada decision.

Weaker tables cut the payouts for four of a kind, full houses or straights.

The changes look small on screen but add up fast.

Always compare the full Joker Poker Canada table, not just the royal payout.

What does a weaker pay table cost?

On 1,000 wagered, the 99.92% table loses about 0.80 on average, while the 92.66% table loses about 73.40. Picking the wrong machine costs over 90 times more in the Joker Poker Canada players spin.

At five coins of 0.25, a hand costs 1.25.

800 hands at that stake wager 1,000.

Short sessions can land well above or below these figures.

What does a real Kings or Better machine pay?

A machine in a Not Another Slot Guy video pays 400 per coin for a natural royal, 4,700 at five coins, and 17 for four of a kind. The rest of its table is below. Check every line on the Joker Poker Canada machines you find.

Hand	Pays per coin
Natural royal flush	400 (4,700 at five coins)
Five of a kind	200
Wild royal flush	100
Straight flush	50
Four of a kind	17
Full house	7
Flush	5
Straight	3
Three of a kind	2
Two pair	1
Kings or better	1

Four of a kind pays 17 on that machine, below the 20 that Predictem lists for Kings or Better.

That single cut lowers the return of the whole table.

The five-coin column is highlighted in red on that machine.

How often does each hand land?

With best play on the full-pay Two Pair game, Wizard of Odds puts three of a kind at 12.40% of hands, two pair at 10.48%, a straight at 2.89% and a flush at 2.06%. Big hands are rare in the Joker Poker Canada players play.

Four of a kind lands on 0.814% of hands, about once in 123.

A full house lands on 1.50%, about once in 67.

A straight flush lands on 0.0586%, about once in 1,700.

How often does any win land?

In Wizard of Odds’ full-pay Two Pair analysis, 69.78% of hands pay nothing, so about 30.2% pay something. Losing hands outnumber wins more than two to one in the Joker Poker Canada version without a pair payout.

Kings or Better adds a pair payout, which raises the hit rate.

Most wins in Two Pair are three of a kind or two pair.

Two pair only returns your bet, so it is not a profit.

How rare is a natural royal flush?

Wizard of Odds puts it at 0.0023% of hands in the full-pay Two Pair game, about once in 43,500 hands. At 500 hands an hour, that is close to 87 hours of play. Royals are a long-run event in the Joker Poker Canada players spin.

Five of a kind is about four times as common, at 0.0091%.

The royal still adds 2.29 points to that table’s return.

That share is why the five-coin bet matters.

What does the game return without a royal?

On the full-pay Two Pair table, the natural royal supplies 2.29 points of the 99.92% return. Take it away and the rest of the hands return about 97.63%. That is the true pace of most Joker Poker Canada sessions, since royals are rare.

A royal can turn a losing week into a winning one.

Without one, expect to lose slowly even on a strong table.

Budget for the 97.6% pace, not the headline figure.

Is a 4,700 royal better than a 4,000 royal?

Only if the rest of the table holds up. The machine we reviewed pays 4,700 for a five-coin royal but cuts four of a kind to 17. 888casino’s reference table pays 4,000. Judge the whole Joker Poker Canada table, not the headline royal.

Four of a kind lands about once in 123 hands, far more often than a royal.

A cut on a common hand outweighs a raise on a rare one.

Weigh frequency and payout together.

What are the odds of being dealt the joker?

The joker appears in your first five cards 9.43% of the time, or 5 in 53. That is about once every 10.6 hands. Getting it on the deal is the best start in the Joker Poker Canada players use.

There are 2,869,685 possible five-card deals from a 53-card deck.

270,725 of them include the joker.

Draws give the joker another chance to arrive after the deal.

What are the odds of being dealt a big hand?

From 2,869,685 possible deals, only 4 are a natural royal (1 in 717,421), 13 are five of a kind (1 in 220,745) and 20 are a wild royal (1 in 143,484). Dealt monsters almost never happen in the Joker Poker Canada players spin.

That is why holds and draws drive the big hands.

Most big hands come from holds and draws, not from the deal.

These deal odds are exact counts, not estimates.

Why bet the maximum coins?

888casino says to always play five credits, because the royal flush then pays 800-for-1, or 4,000 for five, instead of 250-for-1. The jump only applies at maximum bet in most Joker Poker Canada games.

The machine we reviewed pays 400 per coin for a natural royal below max bet, then 4,700 at five coins.

If five coins strains your budget, choose a lower coin value instead of fewer coins.

Read the five-coin column before you start.

Lower coin values with five coins beat higher coin values with fewer coins on return.

What is 888casino’s simple strategy?

888casino’s Jerry “Stickman” offers a simple Joker Wild strategy in two parts, one for hands with a joker and one without. You work down the list and hold the first line that matches. It suits casual players of the Joker Poker Canada sites offer.

With a joker, the top line is to hold three of a kind or better, except to always hold a four-card royal flush.

Without a joker, the top line is to hold any paying hand, again keeping a four-card royal first.

If no line matches, draw five new cards.

Is the simple strategy as good as expert play?

No. 888casino says its simple strategy will not get the highest possible return, but it beats playing by gut feel and takes minutes to learn. That trade-off suits most Joker Poker Canada players who play for fun.

The author says a short review before each session is enough.

Expert strategies are far longer and harder to memorise.

Wikipedia calls full-pay Two Pair strategy very complex.

Is it ever right to throw away the joker?

No. The joker improves every hand it joins, so standard Joker Poker strategy always holds it. Throwing it back is one of the costliest errors in the Joker Poker Canada players play.

With the joker, even a weak hand has a shot at three of a kind or better.

The joker plus a king or ace already pays in Kings or Better.

Build every hold around it.

Why does the royal pay more at maximum bet?

Wikipedia explains that video poker pay tables pay proportionally more for certain hands, such as the royal flush, when the maximum number of credits is bet. Players who bet less give up that bonus. It is built into most Joker Poker Canada machines.

The bonus usually applies at five coins.

Every other hand pays the same per coin at any bet level.

Betting fewer coins throws that bonus away.

What do the video poker buttons do?

Wizard of Odds describes Bet One and Bet Max buttons for the stake, a Speed button for dealing pace, and Deal and Draw buttons to play each hand. You click cards to hold them. These controls are standard across Joker Poker Canada games.

The pay table stays on screen in the upper half.

Your current bet level is highlighted in the table.

Balance, bet and win figures sit in a strip at the bottom.

How do trainers help you learn?

Wizard of Odds offers free Joker Poker games with an advisor that warns about strategy errors and an analyzer that shows the return of each hold. Training this way speeds up learning for Joker Poker Canada players.

The free game starts with 10,000 credits.

You can bet from one to five coins.

A speed setting changes how fast the cards are dealt.

Where can you play Joker Poker for free?

Wizard of Odds hosts free Kings or Better and Two Pair versions, and casino demo libraries carry others. Free play lets you test the Joker Poker Canada rules without risking money.

Free credits have no cash value.

Practise until the hold decisions in Joker Poker Canada games feel automatic.

Our page on free video poker in Canada lists more free games.

Is it the same as the Joker Poker apps and console game?

No. Search results for Joker Poker Canada include a Nintendo Switch video poker game, an App Store app called Joker Poker 88, a game board and a pinball listing. These are separate products, not the casino game on licensed sites.

Console and app versions use play credits only.

Their pay tables can differ from casino machines.

Practise on them, but check the real table before betting money.

Which other joker games exist?

Wizard of Odds lists Joker Poker Aces, Double Joker and Deuces and Joker among its games. Casino.guru names an iSoftBet table game called Joker Poker Big Beer. The wider joker family goes beyond the classic Joker Poker Canada players know.

Double Joker adds a second joker to the deck.

Deuces and Joker makes all four twos and the joker wild.

Our page on iSoftBet casinos covers that studio’s catalogue.

How does it compare with Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild?

Wikipedia’s Jacks or Better example returns 99.54%, and Wizard of Odds lists full-pay Deuces Wild at 100.76% with optimal strategy. Full-pay Two Pair Joker Poker, at 99.92%, sits between them. The Joker Poker Canada choice depends on the table more than the game.

Jacks or Better has no wild card and the simplest strategy.

Deuces Wild has four wild cards.

Joker Poker has one, which keeps the strategy in the middle.

Which Canadian sites deal Joker Poker?

Ontario players can use sites registered with the AGCO under iGaming Ontario, and other provinces run their own online casinos. Alberta opened a regulated market on July 13. Search each licensed lobby for the Joker Poker Canada versions it carries.

Video poker is usually listed under table games or a video poker tab.

Check the pay table in the game before your first hand.

Offshore sites offer no provincial protection.

A licensed site also shows its pay table inside the game info.

Is online Joker Poker fair?

At licensed sites, yes. Each hand is dealt by a certified random number generator from a full 53-card deck, and Ontario requires games to be certified before launch. The Joker Poker Canada players use at licensed sites deals every hand fresh.

Past hands have no effect on the next deal.

The pay table, not the deal, sets the return.

Our page on casino random number generators explains the testing.

Which limits help you play safely?

Video poker is fast, so set a deposit cap, a loss cap and a time reminder before you start. A full-pay table still swings hard between royals. Limits keep the Joker Poker Canada players enjoy in budget.

Count hands per session, not just money.

Stop at your loss cap, even after a near miss on a royal.

Set-up help for each tool is on our gambling limits online page.

Is Joker Poker worth playing?

Yes, if you find a strong pay table and learn the basic holds. Full-pay tables return close to 100%, among the best odds in a casino. Weak tables and poor play turn the Joker Poker Canada players spin into an ordinary losing game.

Check the pay table first.

Bet five coins at a coin size you can afford.

Always hold the joker.

Practise free before you stake real money.