Double Joker Poker uses a 54-card deck — the standard 52 cards plus two Jokers that act as wild cards. Each Joker substitutes for any other card to complete the best possible hand, and a special Two Jokers hand pays a flat 100-for-1 (500 coins on a 5-coin max bet) when both Jokers are dealt together. The minimum winning hand is Kings or Better (a pair of Kings or Aces) — a stricter threshold than Jacks or Better that compensates for the higher hand frequency wild cards produce. On the Full Pay schedule, optimal strategy yields a near-break-even 99.97% RTP.
This guide covers the basic mechanics, the Joker-count strategy framework, the head-to-head comparison with Jacks or Better, the paytable variants you'll encounter on real casino floors and online cabinets, the most common rookie mistakes, and the bankroll plan that works for medium-variance wild card games. Drill the strategy here at Pure Video Poker with 1,000 free practice credits before risking real money — Double Joker is forgiving once you stop holding Jacks and Queens reflexively.
1. Two wild cards: Both Jokers substitute for any card of any suit to make the best hand.
2. 54-card deck: Standard 52 cards plus two Jokers — more wild card opportunities than single-Joker games.
3. Minimum winning hand: Kings or Better (pair of Kings or Aces). Two Pair also pays.
4. Two Jokers hand: Drawing both Jokers guarantees at least a 100-coin payout (BET 1), even if the remaining cards don't form a higher hand.
5. Always bet max (BET 5) for the Natural Royal Flush bonus (4000 vs. 1250 at BET 5 rate).
With two wild cards in a 54-card deck, at least one Joker appears in roughly 18% of dealt hands. Both Jokers appear together in about 0.7% of hands. Strategy changes significantly depending on how many Jokers are present.
| Hand | Payout (BET 1) | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush | 250 | 1 in ~45,000 |
| Two Jokers | 100 | 1 in ~140 |
| Wild Royal Flush | 50 | 1 in ~6,500 |
| Five of a Kind | 50 | 1 in ~7,200 |
| Straight Flush | 25 | 1 in ~1,200 |
| Four of a Kind | 10 | 1 in ~70 |
| Full House | 6 | 1 in ~45 |
| Flush | 5 | 1 in ~55 |
| Straight | 3 | 1 in ~40 |
| Three of a Kind | 2 | 1 in ~6 |
| Two Pair | 1 | 1 in ~9 |
| Kings or Better | 1 | 1 in ~5 |
Always hold both Jokers: Never discard a Joker under any circumstances. They are the most valuable cards in the deck.
With two Jokers: You're guaranteed at least 100 coins (Two Jokers). Look for higher hands like Wild Royal Flush or Five of a Kind before settling.
With one Joker: Look for 4-card Royal Flush draws first, then made hands. With the Joker, Three of a Kind is guaranteed — aim higher.
Without Jokers: Play similar to Jacks or Better but with Kings or Better as the minimum pair. Hold any paying hand or strong draw.
Natural Royal priority: With 4 cards to a Natural Royal Flush, always break any made hand to draw — the 250x payout justifies it.
Two Jokers strategy: With both Jokers, you need only one more matching natural card for Five of a Kind, or suited cards for a Wild Royal. The guaranteed Two Jokers floor of 100 coins makes aggressive play safe.
Kings or Better: Without Jokers, hold a pair of Kings or Aces over a 4-card flush or open-ended straight draw.
Searchers comparing "double joker poker vs jacks or better" want to know whether two wild cards and a 100-for-1 Two Jokers bonus are worth the loss of the Jacks-or-Better minimum. The two games share almost nothing strategically: JoB uses no wild cards and rewards holding any high pair, while Double Joker Poker leans on two wild Jokers, requires Kings or Better to pay anything from a single pair, and adds two bonus payouts that don't exist on JoB.
| Feature | Double Joker Poker (Full Pay) | Jacks or Better (9/6) |
|---|---|---|
| Wild cards | 2 Jokers (54-card deck) | None (52-card deck) |
| Minimum paying single pair | Pair of Kings | Pair of Jacks |
| Royal Flush (max bet) | 4,000 (Natural) | 4,000 |
| Bonus jackpot | Two Jokers 500, Wild Royal 250 | None |
| Five of a Kind | 50-for-1 | Not possible |
| Optimal RTP | 99.97% | 99.54% |
| House edge | 0.03% | 0.46% |
| Variance index | ≈22 | ≈19.5 |
| Best for | Wild-card players wanting near-zero edge | Strategy purists |
Compared to 9/6 Jacks or Better's 99.54% RTP, Full Pay Double Joker Poker actually returns 0.43% more to the player. On $100 of coin-in that's a 43-cent expected-loss reduction — a meaningful long-run edge for players who want wild-card variety without sacrificing economics. The trade-off is the harder minimum (Kings or Better) and the new Joker-count decision tree, both of which take a few hundred practice hands to internalise.
Double Joker paytables are referenced by the Five of a Kind, Wild Royal, and Full House rows. The Full Pay schedule pays 50/50/6 — Five of a Kind 50, Wild Royal 50, Full House 6. Adjacent cabinets can drop those numbers significantly with no visible signage, so always read the paytable before depositing.
| Hand | Full Pay (99.97%) | Short Pay A (99.10%) | Short Pay B (97.90%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush (max bet) | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
| Two Jokers | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Wild Royal Flush | 50 | 50 | 40 |
| Five of a Kind | 50 | 45 | 40 |
| Straight Flush | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Four of a Kind | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| Full House | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Flush | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Straight | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Three of a Kind | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Two Pair | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kings or Better | 1 | 1 | 1 |
The Full Pay schedule is the only version that approaches break-even RTP. The Short Pay A schedule trims the Five of a Kind, Four of a Kind, and Full House rows by one coin each, dropping RTP by roughly 0.87%. The Short Pay B schedule additionally cuts Wild Royal and Flush, dropping RTP by another 1.20%. The Natural Royal, Two Jokers, Straight Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, and Kings-or-Better rows stay constant — Five of a Kind, Wild Royal, and Full House are the canaries you check first.
Most Double Joker leaks come from JoB instincts that don't account for the Kings-or-Better minimum and the wild-card decision tree. The five most expensive errors:
1. Holding Jacks or Queens. A pair of Jacks or Queens pays nothing in Double Joker Poker. JoB-trained players reflexively hold these and lose money every time. Discard them in favour of a fresh draw unless they're part of a Royal-draw or straight-draw.
2. Discarding a Joker. Each Joker is worth roughly 4-5 coins of expected value on its own. Holding any Joker is correct under nearly every circumstance — never discard one to chase an unsuited 4-card straight or similar low-EV draw.
3. Settling for the 100-coin Two Jokers floor. When dealt both Jokers, players often hold them and stop thinking. With both Jokers plus a high or suited card, you have a strong draw to Five of a Kind, Wild Royal, or Straight Flush — all of which beat the 100-coin baseline.
4. Playing short pay schedules. Short Pay A and B sit next to Full Pay machines on many floors. The 0.87% to 2.07% RTP gap is brutal — bigger than the entire house edge on Full Pay.
5. Not betting max coins. A 1-coin bet caps the Royal at 250 coins; 5 coins pays 4,000. Sub-max betting forfeits the bonus and quietly costs about 1.6% of total RTP — the single biggest leak any Double Joker player can plug.
Double Joker's medium variance (index ≈22) puts it between JoB and Deuces Wild, so the recommended bankroll is similarly moderate. A practical rule of thumb is 200-250 max bets per session — at $1.25 per spin (5 quarters), that's a $250-$312 buy-in for around 90 minutes of play. The 4,000-coin Natural Royal hits roughly once per 45,000 hands, but the 500-coin Two Jokers fires once per 140 hands, which keeps sessions emotionally smooth. Set a stop-loss at 50% of buy-in and a stop-win at +100%, and never raise the bet to chase losses.
Double Joker Poker is widely distributed across IGT, Microgaming, and Net Entertainment online lobbies, though the Full Pay schedule is rarer than Jacks or Better. Pure Video Poker hosts the Full Pay version free with 1,000 practice credits and no download required — the right place to drill the Kings-or-Better threshold and the Joker-count decision tree before risking real money. When you graduate to a real-money venue, prefer regulated jurisdictions and confirm the in-game paytable matches the lobby description. Related variants worth practising on the same engine include Joker Poker (Kings or Better), Joker Poker (Two Pair or Better), and Joker Poker (Aces or Better).
| Hand | BET 1 | BET 2 | BET 3 | BET 4 | BET 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1000 | 4000 |
| Two Jokers | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
| Wild Royal Flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Five of a Kind | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Straight Flush | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Four of a Kind | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 |
| Full House | 6 | 12 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Three of a Kind | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Two Pair | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Kings or Better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Double Joker Poker returns 99.97% to the player (RTP) on the standard Full Pay paytable with optimal strategy — a near-break-even game with a house edge of just 0.03%. Short pay variants drop RTP to roughly 99.10% and 97.90% depending on the Five of a Kind and Wild Royal payouts. Over 100,000 hands at $5 max bet, the expected return on Full Pay is roughly $49,985 against $50,000 wagered.
Place your bet (1-5 coins), then press Deal to receive 5 cards from a 54-card deck (52 standard cards plus 2 Jokers). The Jokers serve as wild cards, substituting for any other card to form the best possible hand. Select which cards to hold, then press Draw to replace the rest. The minimum winning hand is Kings or Better. Always bet max coins (5) to qualify for the enhanced Natural Royal Flush jackpot of 4,000 coins and the 500-coin Two Jokers bonus.
Double Joker Poker uses a 54-card deck that includes two Joker cards as wild cards. Each Joker substitutes for any card to make the best possible hand, enabling hands like Five of a Kind, Wild Royal Flush, and the special Two Jokers payout. At least one Joker appears in roughly 18% of dealt hands and both Jokers appear together in about 0.7% of hands — the latter pays a flat 100-for-1 bonus.
Double Joker Poker has medium variance with an index of approximately 22 — between Jacks or Better (≈19.5) and Deuces Wild (≈25). The 100-for-1 Two Jokers bonus and 4,000-coin Natural Royal jackpot drive moderate swings. A balanced mix of frequent small wins and occasional larger payouts makes it a good middle ground for players who want wild-card excitement without the extreme volatility of bonus games.
Yes. Double Joker Poker is completely free to play on Pure Video Poker. No download, no registration, and no real money required. You get 1,000 practice credits to play with. It works in any modern web browser on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones. Use it to drill the Joker-count strategy and rehearse the Kings-or-Better minimum threshold before playing at a real casino.
The best schedule is the Full Pay version at 99.97% RTP. The maximum single-hand payout is 4,000 coins for a Natural Royal Flush on a 5-coin max bet, followed by 500 coins for Two Jokers, 250 coins for a Wild Royal Flush, 250 coins for Five of a Kind, and 125 coins for a Straight Flush. Verify the Five of a Kind (50) and Full House (6) rows before playing — those are the typical short-pay tells.
Yes, slightly harder. Wild cards introduce a Joker-count decision tree (no Jokers / one Joker / two Jokers) and the Kings-or-Better minimum changes which low pairs are worth holding. JoB players instinctively hold pairs of Jacks or Queens — in Double Joker Poker, those return nothing. Once you internalise the Joker-count strategy and the new pair threshold, optimal play comes naturally.
On a max 5-coin bet the top single-hand wins are: Natural Royal Flush 4,000 coins, Two Jokers 500, Wild Royal Flush 250, Five of a Kind 250, Straight Flush 125, Four of a Kind 50. The Natural Royal hits about once per 45,000 hands, Two Jokers about once per 140 hands, and Five of a Kind about once per 7,200 hands.