Video poker is definitely one of the best casino games to play because of its low house edge. Most people like to play Jacks or Better, which offers 99.54% payback when perfect strategy is used. There are even Deuces Wild versions that offer 100.8% payback when people play flawlessly!

Of course, before you're able to survive long enough to realize this extremely high payback, you need a bankroll that'll sustain your play. Video poker payout percentages aren't realized until tens or even hundreds of thousands of spins. This being said, it's extremely important to build a good bankroll before you start playing.

Factoring in Expected Losses

The main thing to understand when working on your video poker bankroll is expected losses. Using full pay Jacks or Better as an example, the 99.54% payback deems that the average player will lose 0.46% of their long-term bets. Obviously this isn't ideal and some players will actually earn profits, but it is important to be realistic.

So the average player who bets $100 is going to lose $0.46 over this span. Thankfully this isn't much money at all; however, you also have to consider how video poker wins and losses come in streaks. For example, you might lose $20 or $30 after wagering $100 during a bad streak, or you could win $20 or $30 during a good streak. In any case, it takes quite a while to go through the average video poker payout cycle, so your bankroll should be set up accordingly.

Covering Variance

As just discussed, video poker can be a really streaky game. So you need to have sufficient funds to cover downswings, which can sometimes last for a while depending on how your luck goes. But if you're able to survive the rough variance periods (short-term results fluctuations), you will eventually start winning again.

Assuming you were going to bet $1 per hand in online video poker and were playing Jacks or Better, you'd probably want to have at least $500-$1,000 available. Now this by no means guarantees that you won't have to reload someday, but it should be plenty to help you last for quite a while in video poker.