CuppaWins Poker UK

Jacks or Better

Jacks or Better is where I started, and it's where most beginners land too. The game uses a standard 52-card deck, and the lowest hand that pays is a pair of Jacks, hence the name. Everything above that, two pairs, three of a kind, straights, follows the familiar poker hand rankings.

The paytable at CuppaWins runs the full 9/6 version on most tables I tested, meaning a full house pays nine times your stake and a flush pays six times. That's the version worth chasing, since 6/5 tables cut into your return without changing how the game plays.

Deuces Wild

Deuces Wild swaps the low-hand strategy for wild cards. All four twos work as wilds, so you can slot a deuce into almost any hand missing one card. Four deuces ranks second only to a royal flush, and three of a kind sits at the bottom of the pay chart.

Because the wilds push your odds of hitting something up, the paytable compensates with lower base payouts than Jacks or Better. I noticed the difference within twenty hands. More wins, smaller wins.

Tens or Better

Tens or Better plays almost identically to Jacks or Better, same deck, same hand rankings, but the pay line drops to a pair of tens. That one change makes wins land more often, though each win pays less.

CuppaWins runs this as a 6/5 game, so a full house returns six times your stake and a flush returns five. The double-up bonus round works the same way it does on Jacks or Better tables, letting you gamble a win for a bigger payout if you fancy the risk.

Joker Poker

Joker Poker adds a 53rd card, the Joker, which acts as a wild across the whole deck. CuppaWins runs the Kings or Better version, so the winning threshold sits higher than standard Jacks or Better, but the extra wild balances that out.

A five-of-a-kind hand ranks just under a natural royal flush, since the Joker makes that combination possible. I found the 7/5 paytable at CuppaWins gave better odds than the 6/5 version I'd played elsewhere, so it's worth checking which paytable a table runs before you commit your stake.

Aces and Faces

Aces and Faces builds on Jacks or Better with one change: four of a kind hands made up of Aces, Jacks, Queens, or Kings pay a lot more. On the 8/5 version, four Aces pays 80 times your stake, beating even a straight flush, while four face cards pay 40 times.

CuppaWins also runs a 7/6 table alongside the standard version, and I'd stick with the 8/5 game if you have the choice. The gap in return between the two adds up over a long session.

Bonus Poker

Bonus Poker follows the same Jacks or Better base but boosts the four of a kind payouts. Four Aces returns 80 times your stake, the same as Aces and Faces, while other quads pay according to the standard chart.

The full-pay 8/5 version is the one to look for on CuppaWins. A 7/5 table exists too, and it plays fine, but the return is lower across a long session.

Learn the Strategy Chart Before You Play

Every video poker variant has an optimal strategy for which cards to hold and which to discard. Free strategy charts exist for Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild, and running through one before you play real money on CuppaWins closes most of the gap between guesswork and an informed decision. No chart guarantees a win. It narrows the house edge.

Check the Paytable Before You Commit

The same game name can hide two different paytables, as I found switching between the 9/6 and 6/5 Jacks or Better tables on CuppaWins. Tap the paytable button before you stake anything, and if the full house and flush payouts look thin compared to what I've listed above, move to a different table.

Set a Limit and Use CuppaWins' Tools to Hold It

Video poker plays fast, one hand every few seconds if you let it, and that speed makes it easy to lose track of both time and stake. I set a session budget before logging into CuppaWins and used the deposit limit tool to hold myself to it. If your BeGambleAware or GamStop settings need adjusting, you'll find both in the CuppaWins account menu, a few taps and you're sorted.