A good Video Poker Strategy is as simple as 1-2-3:

1) play the best paying games, preferably a "Full Pay" game;
2) play MAX coins in order to get the Bonus payout scheule;
3) keep the cards that will help you make the best PAYING hand.

Of course it's the details in (3) that can complicate our lives a little. In fact at first it looks real complicated ... but it's not.

What we want here is a Jacks-or-Better Strategy that will tell us what to do given the five cards that are dealt to us. In decreasing order of potential value, here are the cards you should keep. Special thanks to the Wizard of Odds (check out his newly located site at www.wizardofodds.com) and WinPoker software in compiling this strategy.

31: Royal Flush
30: Straight Flush
29: Four of a Kind
28: Full House
27: Royal Flush missing 1 card
26: Straight
25: Three of a Kind
24: Flush
23: Straight Flush missing 1
22: Two Pair
21: High-card Pair
20: Royal Flush missing 2
19: Flush missing 1
18: Low Pair
17: Outside Straight, missing 1
16: Outside Straight Flush missing 2
15: Two High-cards, same suit
14: Inside Straight, missing 1
13: Inside/Outside Straight Flush, missing 2
12: unsuited K-Q-J
11: unsuited Q-J
10: J-10, suited
9: unsuited K-Q
8: unsuited K-J
7: Q-10, suited
6: unsuited A-K
5: unsuited A-Q
4: unsuited A-J
3: K-10, suited
2: single High-card
1: Inside Straight Flush, missing 2
0: none of the above, discard them all.

So to put the Strategy into action you look at your cards, determine the best "value" to be had from the hand and discard accordingly. Here's an example:

Let's assume you're dealt Ks, Qs, 9s, 8d, 7d.

Ok, we have an Inside Straight Flush with the K-Q-9 but we're missing two inside cards; valued at 1 on our scale.

The same hand has an Outside Straight (9-8-7) missing 2; valued at ... 0! Easy to assume value here where there isn't any.

We also have a suited K-Q; value 15. And that's our highest value so far so we go for that. Toss the low cards and Deal!

Perhaps a few words of detail are in order. First, the values we've assigned to the different card evaluations are totally arbitrary. The numbers themselves mean nothing. It's that fact that one interpretation of the cards is valued higher than another that matters.

Second, your expectation with this strategy --assuming you're playing a Full Pay game-- is about 99.5%. We could tweak the strategy a bit and get another 0.1% or so out of it but that makes it more complicated and thus harder to remember. It's complex enough as it is so let's leave well enough alone.

Third, and in some ways most important, make sure you check that pay table on your game. If you're playing Jacks or Better with an 8/5 paytable instead of the proper 9/6 table of a Full Pay game you are forfeiting about 2.5% to the house and that really puts the boots to the value of your Strategy play.