GQbet Poker UK

Jacks or Better

Jacks or Better is the variant GQbet recommends to newcomers. The lowest winning hand is a pair of jacks, so you win often enough to learn the game without bleeding your deposit. The paytable sits at the standard 9/6 (a full house pays nine times your stake, a flush pays six), and that gets you a return close to 99.5% assuming you hold the right cards each round.

I found the strategy prompts useful here. GQbet highlights which cards to hold before you discard, so even a first-timer can avoid the classic mistake of breaking a made pair to chase a flush.

Deuces Wild

Every two in the deck acts as a wild card in this variant, which sounds generous until you check the paytable. GQbet's version pays out on three of a kind as the lowest hand rather than a pair, because the wilds inflate your odds of winning something on most deals.

Four deuces pays 200 to 1 on my £1 stake, second only to a natural royal flush. Smaller hands pay less than they do in Jacks or Better though, so the swings feel sharper over a long session.

Joker Poker

Add a joker to the standard 52 cards and you get Joker Poker, GQbet's most forgiving variant for anyone chasing frequent small wins. Kings or better counts as a winning hand, so you get paid more often than in Jacks or Better, though GQbet lowers the top-end payouts to compensate.

I preferred the 7/5 pay table GQbet runs here over the 6/5 version some sites still offer. A five-of-a-kind hand, possible only with the joker in play, ranks one place below a natural royal flush.

Bonus Poker

Bonus Poker keeps the Jacks or Better hand rankings but pays extra for four of a kind. Land four aces on GQbet's Bonus Poker machine and you're looking at 80 times your stake rather than the 25 times you'd get in the standard game.

The full-pay version here runs 8/5, meaning a full house pays eight times your stake and a flush pays five. Check this before you sit down, since the 7/5 version pays less on both.

Aces and Faces

This one rewards you for landing four aces or four face cards (jacks, queens, kings) over any other four of a kind. On GQbet's 8/5 table, four aces pay 80 to 1 compared to a straight flush's 50 to 1, which flips the usual hand hierarchy on its head.

A set of four face cards pays 40 to 1. It's a more calculated game than Jacks or Better, and one I'd only recommend once you've learned basic hold strategy elsewhere.

Tens or Better

Tens or Better shares Jacks or Better's deck and hand order, except the lowest paying hand drops to a pair of tens. You win more often, but each payout is smaller, so you're playing for a return of about 99% instead of Jacks or Better's 99.5%.

GQbet's version also includes a double-up bonus round after a win, letting you gamble your payout on a single card draw if you fancy the risk.

Read the Paytable Before You Sit Down

The same game name can carry a different paytable from one machine to the next. I found two versions of Bonus Poker in GQbet's lobby with different full house and flush payouts; checking first saved me from settling for the weaker one.

Set a Time and Deposit Limit Before You Start

Video poker plays fast, and a solo game with no dealer pacing you can eat an hour without you noticing. GQbet lets you set deposit and session limits through your account settings, and GamStop remains available if you need to step away from gambling sites altogether.

Move to Live Poker Once You Know the Odds

Video poker taught me the hand rankings and payout logic before I sat down at a live Texas Hold'em table. Live poker involves other players and a dealer, so the pace and pressure differ. Learn the game first, then bring that knowledge to a live table.