RTP, or "return to player," is the number that tells you how good a video poker game is. You will see it quoted everywhere — 99.54%, 100.76%, 97.30% — but many players are not sure exactly what it means or how it affects their actual play. This guide explains RTP in plain language: what it is, how it is calculated, how it relates to house edge, and what it does and does not tell you about your results at the machine.
The Simple Definition
RTP is the percentage of all money wagered that a game returns to players over the long run, assuming perfect strategy. An RTP of 99.54% means that, across millions of hands played optimally, the game pays back 99.54 cents for every dollar wagered, keeping 0.46 cents as the house edge. The higher the RTP, the better the game for the player. A few rare video poker games even exceed 100%, meaning a perfect player has a theoretical edge.
RTP and House Edge Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
RTP and house edge always add up to 100%. If a game has an RTP of 99.54%, the house edge is 0.46%. If the RTP is 100.76% (full-pay Deuces Wild), the "house edge" is negative — meaning the player has a 0.76% edge. Whenever you read either number, you can instantly find the other by subtracting from 100%.
| Game | RTP | House Edge |
|---|---|---|
| Full-Pay Deuces Wild | 100.76% | -0.76% (player edge) |
| 9/6 Jacks or Better | 99.54% | 0.46% |
| 8/5 Bonus Poker | 99.17% | 0.83% |
| 8/5 Jacks or Better | 97.30% | 2.70% |
How RTP Is Calculated
RTP comes entirely from the paytable. Because video poker uses a standard, fair deck, the probability of making each hand is fixed and known. To calculate RTP, you multiply the probability of each hand by its payout, sum those products across every hand, and account for optimal hold decisions. The result is the game's theoretical return. This is why two machines with the same name but different paytables have different RTPs — the only variable is the payout amounts.
The Critical Condition: Perfect Strategy
Every published RTP assumes perfect strategy. The 99.54% return for 9/6 Jacks or Better is only achievable if you make the optimal hold decision on every single hand. A casual player who guesses or follows hunches typically gives up one to two percentage points, effectively turning a 99.54% game into a 98% or worse game through mistakes alone. RTP is the ceiling of what the game offers; your actual return depends on how close to perfect you play. Our basic strategy guide shows how to approach that ceiling.
The Other Condition: Max Coins
Published RTP figures also assume you bet five coins (max). This matters because the royal flush pays a disproportionate bonus on the fifth coin — 800 per coin instead of 250. Betting fewer than five coins removes that bonus and drops the RTP by over a full percentage point. If five coins at your chosen denomination is too expensive, the correct move is to drop to a lower denomination, not to bet fewer coins.
What RTP Does Not Tell You
RTP is a long-run average, not a prediction of any single session. Two games can share the same RTP but feel completely different because of variance. A high-variance game like Double Double Bonus delivers its return in rare, large payouts, so most sessions run below average punctuated by occasional big wins. A lower-variance game like Bonus Poker pays more smoothly. RTP tells you the destination over millions of hands; variance tells you how bumpy the ride is. Both matter when choosing a game and sizing your bankroll.
Using RTP to Choose Games
RTP is the single best number for comparing video poker games. When deciding what to play, compare the RTP of the available paytables rather than the game names — an 8/5 Jacks or Better at 97.30% is a far worse bet than a 9/6 version at 99.54%, despite the identical name. To find the best games in any casino, look for the highest-RTP full-pay schedules; our guide on the highest RTP video poker game ranks the top options.
What RTP Means in Real Money
Percentages can feel abstract, so it helps to translate RTP into dollars. The figure you actually feel is not the RTP itself but the house edge — the small slice the game keeps — applied to your total action (every coin you wager, including replays of winnings).
| Game (RTP) | Edge | Expected loss per $1,000 wagered |
|---|---|---|
| 9/6 Jacks or Better (99.54%) | 0.46% | $4.60 |
| 8/5 Bonus Poker (99.17%) | 0.83% | $8.30 |
| 8/5 Jacks or Better (97.30%) | 2.70% | $27.00 |
| 6/5 Jacks or Better (95.00%) | 5.00% | $50.00 |
Two things stand out. First, even a "small" RTP difference compounds dramatically: the gap between 9/6 and 8/5 Jacks or Better is nearly six times the expected loss for the same play. Second, "total wagered" is much larger than what you bring to the casino, because winnings get rebet. A $200 buy-in can easily generate $2,000 or more in total action over an hour, which is why a low edge applied to high volume still matters.
Why RTP Assumes the Long Run
RTP is a long-run average, and the phrase "long run" is doing a lot of work. It describes what happens across tens or hundreds of thousands of hands, not what happens in any single session. The reason is that video poker's return is unevenly distributed across hands. A large share of a game's payback is concentrated in rare jackpot hands — above all the royal flush, which contributes roughly 2% of total return but arrives only about once every 40,000 hands.
This means that until you hit your share of royals, your realized return will sit below the theoretical RTP. A player can play thousands of hands of a 99.54% game and observe a return well under 99% simply because no royal has landed yet. There is nothing wrong with the machine; the jackpots that complete the math are still pending. RTP is the destination after a very long journey, not a description of any single stretch of road.
RTP Versus Volatility
Because RTP says nothing about how a game's return is distributed, it must be paired with a second concept: volatility, also called variance. Two games can share an identical RTP yet feel utterly different to play. Consider Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus tuned to the same return. Bonus Poker pays you in frequent, modest amounts — a smooth, low-volatility ride. Double Double Bonus locks much of its return in rare four-Aces-with-a-kicker jackpots, producing long droughts punctuated by big hits — a high-volatility ride.
The practical upshot is that RTP tells you how good a game is, while volatility tells you how bumpy it will feel and how large a bankroll you need to survive the swings. A high-RTP, high-volatility game can still bust a small bankroll before its superior return ever materializes. Choosing a game wisely means looking at both numbers together, not RTP alone. Our bankroll management guide explains how to match bankroll to volatility.
How Mistakes Erode Your Real RTP
Perhaps the most important practical point about RTP is that the published figure is a ceiling you only reach through flawless play. Every suboptimal hold lowers your realized return below the theoretical number. The losses from common mistakes add up faster than most players expect.
| Mistake | Approx. cost |
|---|---|
| Betting fewer than 5 coins | ~1.4% of return |
| Holding a kicker with a pair | small per hand, frequent |
| Chasing inside straights | small per hand, frequent |
| Casual "by feel" play overall | 1%–2% of return |
A player who treats a 99.54% game casually may be effectively playing a 98% game or worse, having given back more than a full percentage point through avoidable errors. This is why strategy study matters so much: it is the difference between the RTP the machine offers and the RTP you actually receive. The published number is a promise the game makes only if you play your part correctly.
RTP in Video Poker vs Slots
It is worth contrasting video poker RTP with slot machine RTP, because the same term means something quite different in practice. A slot machine also has an RTP — often 88% to 96% — but that figure is fixed by the machine's internal program and is completely outside the player's control. Press the button and the outcome is determined; no decision you make affects the return. The slot's RTP is also frequently undisclosed, so you often cannot even know what you are playing.
Video poker is fundamentally different on both counts. First, the RTP is knowable: it is fully determined by the visible paytable, so a player who reads the paytable knows the return. Second, the RTP is achievable only through your decisions — the published figure assumes perfect play, and your skill determines how close you get. This combination of transparency and player agency is what makes video poker one of the few casino games where study genuinely pays off. A slot player cannot improve their odds by learning; a video poker player can move from 98% to 99.54% on the same machine purely by playing better.
How Video Poker RTP Is Verified
Players sometimes wonder whether the published RTP figures can be trusted. In video poker, they can be, because the math is fully open and independently verifiable. Since the game uses a standard 52-card (or 53-card, with a joker) deck dealt fairly, the probability of every hand and every draw outcome can be computed exactly. Strategy software and mathematicians have calculated the optimal play and resulting return for every common paytable, and these figures are widely published and cross-checked.
This is unlike a slot machine, whose return depends on a proprietary reel program you cannot inspect. With video poker, you do not have to take anyone's word for it: given the paytable, the RTP is a matter of arithmetic that any competent analyst arrives at independently. This verifiability is part of why serious players gravitate to video poker — the game's quality is transparent and provable, not hidden behind a sealed program. When you read that 9/6 Jacks or Better returns 99.54%, that number comes from exhaustive computation of the fair deck, not from a manufacturer's claim.
Using RTP Wisely
RTP is a powerful tool when used correctly and a misleading one when misunderstood. Use it to compare games and paytables before you play — it is the single best number for ranking your options, and it instantly exposes short-pay traps that share a name with full-pay games. Use it to set realistic expectations: a 99.5% game still has a house edge, and you should expect to lose slowly over time even with perfect play, with occasional winning sessions driven by variance.
Do not, however, treat RTP as a prediction of any session, a guarantee of winning, or a number you achieve automatically. It is a long-run average conditional on perfect strategy and max coins, and it tells you nothing about the volatility of the ride. Pair it always with an understanding of variance and with honest attention to your own strategy accuracy. A player who reads RTP this way — as a conditional, long-run ceiling rather than a promise — will choose better games, hold realistic expectations, and ultimately enjoy the lowest-cost entertainment the casino offers. To find the games with the best numbers, see our ranking of the highest RTP video poker games.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can RTP really be over 100%?
Yes, for a few rare full-pay games like Deuces Wild and Double Bonus, played with perfect strategy. It means the player has a small theoretical edge over the very long run.
Does a high RTP guarantee I will win?
No. RTP is a long-run average. Short-term results are dominated by variance, and even a 100%+ game can lose over a single session. RTP improves your odds, not any individual outcome.
How do I find a game's RTP?
RTP is determined by the paytable. Learn to read the key payout lines, or consult a strategy resource that lists the RTP for each paytable variant.
Bottom Line
RTP is the percentage of wagers a video poker game returns to players over the long run with perfect strategy. It is calculated from the paytable, equals 100% minus the house edge, and is the best single number for comparing games. Remember its conditions — perfect strategy and max coins — and treat it as a long-run average, not a session-by-session promise.