Are you in need of a good jest? Well then, Joker Poker is here to deliver! One of the most popular variations of video poker out there, Joker Poker will have you laughing and winning all night long. Sometimes referred to as Joker’s Wild, the rules of this video poker game are similar to standard poker so it’s easy to pick up, even if you’re a slow learner. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re a total newbie or a video poker pro, the rule variations will have you winning more than ever before and singing a victory song. Keep reading to learn everything there is to know about how to play Joker Poker!
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Understanding Joker Poker
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Before you can even begin to think about picking up your mouse and playing a round of Joker Poker, you’ve got to learn a thing or two about where it came from. The card game of poker has been around for a long time and established itself as one of the most popular casino games. With the first poker games being recorded in the 1820s, poker has created a whole casino game culture around a battle of the wits, takings risks, and finessing a whole room of people.
Since then, the world of poker has come a long way. With the advent of random number generators or RNGs, casinos could replace your favorite games’ dealers with computer programs. The next natural step of casinos was to take poker to the internet. Thanks to RNGs, you can play all of the most popular video poker casino games on your computer from the comfort of your couch and in your favorite pair of jammies. As of now, there are eight main variations of video poker – but the only one we care about right now is Joker Poker!
How to Play Joker Poker
Joker Poker rules are easy to learn and the game is fun to play. Just like classic table poker, the goal of Joker Poker is to see what cards you’re dealt and get the highest ranked hand. One of the reasons you might fall in love with video poker is the prizes you win are outlined based on which hand you receive. Unlike standard poker, where you play against others and may lose everything if someone has a better hand, you will always win a little something for every winning hand. All you have to do is play it smart, pick and choose the best cards, and win big!
The first step is super simple: download the Slots of Vegas casino software to play the game. Once you’ve done that, you can start playing the game. If you want to learn the Joker Poker rules first, check out practice mode. This will let you play the game without placing real money bets, so you don’t have to worry about your bankroll while you’re watching your cards.
Once you’ve got the video poker game up and running, you have to make a bet, either using your own bankroll or the practice mode’s fun money. Just like the good old land-based casinos’ video poker machines, you make bets in this game with coins. You first choose the denomination of a coin, pressing the up or down arrows on the left side of the screen until the amount suits your taste. Denominations can range anywhere from $0.05 to $5 per coin, so it’s perfect for anyone and any budget, even if you’re a miserly old man or rolling in dough!
Once you’ve set the bet amount, it’s time to choose how many coins you’re going to bet. To play it safe, press “Bet One” to put down one coin. You can keep pressing the button to add one coin at a time. If you’re feeling especially lucky today, you can press the ‘Bet Max’ button, which will bet the maximum number of five coins.
Now you’re ready for the dealing. Click the button labeled ‘Draw Deal’ to get your initial five cards. Click on the ones you want to keep, which freezes them, and click ‘Draw Deal’ again. This will replace your unwanted cards with new, and hopefully better, ones. If you get a winning hand, you receive instant payouts. If you don’t, keep trying until you can do a little victory dance of your own.
Cards in Joker Poker
Just like standard poker, the Joker Poker rules rank the cards in the same order, starting with 2 and going up through 10. Then the card order continues through Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. Joker Poker plays a 53-card deck, taking the original 52 cards and adding in the namesake card, the Joker.
In Joker Poker, the Joker card is your best friend – it acts as a wild card. This means that if you’re one card short of a high-ranked, winning hand, all you need is a joker to replace it. This not only helps tip the odds even more in your favor, it’ll keep you on your toes. Pay attention to the cards you get and discard, because you never know when you’ll get surprised by a winning hand!
Winning Hands in Joker Poker and Rules
Joker Poker is a game of thrills and strategy. It’s close to the standard poker you may have grown up playing in your living room or around a green card table with friends, with a few exceptions. In Joker Poker rules, a pair is a winning hand, but only with kings or better (an Ace card). This is not as advantageous to you because other pairs won’t count towards your win, but that’s okay because Joker Poker offers its players other ways to win big.
Because the Joker card can stand in for anything you need, a new hand is introduced into the ranking: a Royal with Joker, which is a Royal Flush with one card substituted with the Joker. There’s also the new potential to get a hand with five of a kind!
Listed below are the winning hands ranked from highest to lowest on Slots of Vegas’s Joker Poker game. The good news is that you don’t have to worry about being beaten by another opponent, so even with a low hand like Kings or better, you can watch the payouts pour in!
| Poker Hand Name | Cards required |
| Sequential Royal | 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace (in exact order) |
| Royal Flush | 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of the same suit |
| Five of a kind | Five cards of same rank (card value plus joker as wild card) |
| Royal with Joker | Royal Flush that uses a wild card |
| Straight flush | Five cards of the same suit in sequence |
| Four of a kind | Four cards of the same rank |
| Full house | Three of a Kind and a pair |
| Flush | Five cards of the same suit |
| Straight | Five cards in sequence |
| Three of a kind | Three cards of the same rank |
| Two pair | Two sets of cards of the same rank |
| Kings or better | Two cards of the same rank that are either kings or higher |
Joker Poker Strategy
Joker Poker strategy is different from any other video poker game because of the addition of the Joker into the deck. Below, we’ve listed the simple strategy that will help you improve your results when playing the majority of Joker Poker games on the market.
The first chart illustrates the moves you should take when your hand doesn’t have a Joker, while the second chart shows you what to do if you do hold a Joker. The left-hand column in both charts lists the type of hand, the middle column tells you how many cards to hold, and the right-hand column tells you how many to discard. Be aware that some games – like the Joker Poker on Slots of Vegas – ranks the hands in a different order than other games. While the hands might be ranked slightly differently, this Joker Poker strategy still applies and will help you improve your gameplay.
In poker, when a straight is open both ends it means that it can be completed on either the higher side or the lower side. For example, a straight of 4, 5, 6, and 7 may be completed with either a 3 or an 8. When a straight is classified as an inside draw, it needs a card in the middle to complete the straight. For example, a straight of 2, 3, 5, and 6 can only be completed with a 4.
Joker Poker Cheat Sheet without Joker
| Poker Hand | Hold | Discard |
| Royal Flush | 5 | 0 |
| Straight Flush | 5 | 0 |
| 4 of a Kind | 4 | 1 |
| 4 Card Royal | 4 | 1 |
| Full House | 5 | 0 |
| Flush | 5 | 0 |
| 4 Card Straight Flush – open both ends | 4 | 1 |
| 3 of a Kind | 3 | 2 |
| 4 Card Straight Flush – inside draw | 4 | 1 |
| Straight | 5 | 0 |
| Two Pairs | 4 | 1 |
| 3 Card Royal | 3 | 2 |
| Pair of Aces or Kings | 2 | 3 |
| 4 Card Flush | 4 | 1 |
| Low Pair – 2 through 10 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 Card Straight Flush – open both ends | 3 | 2 |
| Ten, Jack, Queen and King, any suit | 4 | 1 |
| Ace and King of same suit | 2 | 3 |
| 4 Card Straight – non sequential order | 4 | 1 |
| 2 Card Royal | 2 | 3 |
| Ace or King | 1 | 4 |
| Nothing | 0 | 5 |
Joker Poker Cheat Sheet with Joker
| Poker Hand | Hold | Discard |
| Five of a Kind | 5 | 0 |
| Royal Flush with Joker | 5 | 0 |
| Straight Flush | 5 | 0 |
| 4 of a Kind | 4 | 1 |
| Full House | 5 | 0 |
| 4 Card Royal with Joker | 4 | 1 |
| 4 Card Straight Flush – open both ends | 4 | 1 |
| Flush | 5 | 0 |
| 3 of a Kind | 3 | 2 |
| 4 Card Straight Flush – inside draw | 4 | 1 |
| Straight | 5 | 0 |
| 2 Card Royal Flush with Joker | 3 | 2 |
| 4 Card Flush – high cards | 4 | 1 |
| King and 9 of same suit with Joker | 3 | 2 |
| Ace-2, Ace-3, Ace-4, Ace-5 of same suit with Joker | 3 | 2 |
| Ace with Joker | 2 | 3 |
| 4 Card Flush – no high cards | 4 | 1 |
| 4 Card Straight – non sequential order with Joker | 4 | 1 |
| Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, or Ten with Joker | 2 | 3 |
| Joker Only | 1 | 4 |
These charts illustrate the simplest Joker Poker strategy for players to follow in order to improve gameplay. Print these charts out and have them with you while you play Joker Poker online, or pull them up in a new window next to the Slots of Vegas desktop app to make it even easier. You can always start by playing Joker Poker for absolutely free before you ever lay down any real money.
So, we’ve covered everything about Joker Poker rules, how to play, and the specific strategy you need in order to improve your returns. Now all that’s left is for you to log onto Slots of Vegas and start practicing! Pretty soon you could be a Joker Poker pro and give new meaning to “laughing all the way to the bank.” Log on and start playing now!
The “Joker” movie is released in the UK on the 4th of October and debuting to mixed cries of controversy and critical acclaim. The trailers have been tantalising, the awards have been prestigious and the anticipation is bubbling away like a fresh canister of Joker Venom.
For those who would rather forget every post-Nolan Batman project that has left the franchise gasping for credibility, now could finally be the time that DC moves out from the shadows cast by Bale, Ledger and the all-consuming Marvel universe.
Perhaps we can thank the likes of Ben Affleck and Jared Leto because without them dropping the reins on what has become a bolting horse Joaquin Phoenix might never have been given the breathing space to reprise a role that defined Heath Ledger’s career. That Joker, Ledger’s Joker, took the character to new heights, defined who the Joker might become and now we need to find out if Phoenix can take us there.
”Joker” and “The Dark Knight”
10 years ago, following Ledger’s performance would have been like limping into Woodstock, blindly navigating the stage through drifting smoke and the final distorted waves of “Hey Joe” with nothing but an untuned banjo to hide your mediocrity.
Time and a series of catastrophic disappointments have given Phoenix the opportunity to present the most infamous bad guy in comic book history to an audience that is finally willing to open its mind to the reprisal.
Whilst “Joker” has already won big at the Venice Film Festival it has also received heavy criticism for gun-related violence, integral to a plot that allowed director Todd Phillips to take home the coveted Golden Lion award.
October the 30th, 2012 was one of many dark days for America, one in a terrifying long list of mass shootings. This one took place in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film “The Dark Knight”. 10 people died that night and there is a fear amongst state authorities that a similar event might occur with the release of a film that embellishes many of the themes and ideas that were developed in the 2nd of Nolan’s trilogy.
Warner Brothers have been quick to dismiss any suggestion that they endorse the violence in the film, pointing out the this is a work of fiction and not a representation of reality or a manifesto for anarchy. The movie studio might not have met the requests that friends and family of the victims of the Aurora shooting have asked for: to pledge their resistance of support to any politicians with links to the NRA, but they have make the following statement:
“Our company has a long history of donating to victims of violence, including Aurora, and in recent weeks, our parent company joined other business leaders to call on policymakers to enact bi-partisan legislation to address this epidemic. At the same time, Warner Bros. believes that one of the functions of storytelling is to provoke difficult conversations around complex issues.”
The Joker’s Origins
Whatever the backstory behind the release, it is the background of the character himself that I really want to discuss. As origin stories go, this is one that has been in the making now for nearly 80 years and there is more than one direction that the film could go in.
It is likely that the great Alan Moore will be the compass on which Todd Phillips guides his crew but that guidance is likely to be an ethos opposed to a clear direction. “Batman: The Killing Joke” is just one of the comic book masterpieces credited to Moore, a graphic novel that tries to explain who the Joker is and where he comes from. Phillips will likely tap into the tragedy of that story but he is unlikely to replicate it.
The Red Hood was first mentioned in DC comics all the way back in 1951 and was originally a master criminal who had a run-in with Batman. In that comic, the Red Hood falls into a vat of acid and is physically transformed into the Joker. When Moore revised the character he went for something much more human. Jack Napier was a husband, an expectant father and a failing stand-up comic who worked in a chemical plant. He fell in with the wrong crowd so that he could pay a few bills and before he knew it he was in a gang, using the moniker of the Red Hood and had been established as the pasty his criminal friends needed to get away with their crimes.
His wife and unborn child die in a fire, he is stitched up by his new colleagues and he falls into a vat of acid. These catastrophic events all happen in just one day. One day in which everything that could go wrong does go wrong and The Red Hood, or Jack Napier, the Joker, Arthur or whoever you want to call him, snaps. As he said himself whilst hanging from the edge of a tall building, held in Batman’s grip:
“Madness is a little like gravity, all it takes is a little push!”
The Joker that Nolan gave us is one who wanted to burn the world down around him. He is not motivated by base desires like greed or lust. He is not looking for justice, redemption or even revenge. Nolan’s Joker wants everyone around him to feel what he felt on the worst day of his life.
Joker's Ultimate Persona
Having experienced ruinous tragedy in a short space of time the Joker embraces nihilism, and instead of screaming into the void he laughs at the absurdity of anyone taking anything seriously. Life becomes a game in which the Joker invites us over to his side, one where consequence is inconsequential.
Phillips will take us there, but the trailers suggest that the path that the path he carves will be one that Joker has not walked before. For a start, he is not called Jack, he is called Arthur and there doesn’t appear to be a family waiting for him at home. It has also been revealed that this film is a stand alone, one that is not connected with the current DC universe. Phoenix will be taking on a new Joker, one we haven’t seen before. One that allows Phoenix to take his Joker and run, without having to tie himself down series of movies and sully himself with the stigma of an ailing franchise.
This is not something that any of us should be surprised by. In Moore’s “Batman: The Killing Joke” everything we are told can be undone by one single line:
“If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice.”
This single declaration tells us that everything Moore has written could be a lie, one that the Joker has used to elicit the sympathy he needs from his audience so he can laugh even harder as he commits those crimes that make our skin crawl.
The clincher in all this comes from the relatively recent thread within the DC comics. One where it has been revealed that there have always been 3 Jokers. This way the stars can align in any way that Phillips wants them to.
If that is the case, if this is a Joker that we have never seen before then where does it leave us? What is its significance if it appears that it will have no relevance outside of the DC Universe? For me, that is precisely where the relevance does lie. We are dominated by superhero mega-franchises, filled with sprawling characters, story lines and battles, all at epic expense. What I like about this version is that I can carry all the lore with me into that screening and dip into it as I could with any other movie. But what should make “Joker” stand out from the multiplex is that is it an exploration of character, one that can begin and end in one sitting but will remain with us long after we have stepped out of the foyer and back into reality. One that doesn’t have De Niro playing a talk show host just because it is Robert De Niro, but because this film will have more in common with “Taxi Driver” and “King of Comedy” than it will any Marvel or DC movie being released today.
Joker, the Super Villain
One thing that remains consistent throughout the different versions of the Joker is his philosophy. Whilst the motive might change, even when he ruined the best laid plans of Adam West’s Batman, he was an agent of chaos.
The Joker is the ultimate bad guy. He has no superpowers but he holds our attention more than just about any other super villain. He is who is because he has had to evolve into that super villain. Think of him as a supergerm that has survived the onslaught of repeated does of anti-biotics. Batman makes the Joker the ultimate bad guy because as crime fighters go, the Dark Knight is best there is.
DC tried to kill off The Joker in the first edition, believing that their heroes had to win out at all costs. It wasn’t long before the writers realised their mistake and brought the Joker back, as they would, time and time again because Batman needs the Joker as much as the Joker needs Batman.
In the Tim Burton film, Jack Nicholson’s Joker kills Bruce Wayne’s parents and sets him off on his path towards becoming the Batman. In the Nolan version Ledger’s Joker tells Batman, “You complete me.” Before he draws direct allusions to their almost symbiotic relationship:
“This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”
Order and chaos existing together and at the centre sits Two Face, the beacon of hope for Gotham who the Joker tries to drag down to his level. Harvey Dent becomes neither one nor the other, and instead opts out of morality and allows fate to make his choices with the toss of a coin.
Batman won’t be in the new film, but Bruce Wayne will. He will be a child and will meet Arthur Fleck. What happens between the two is anyone’s guess but ultimately this is a story about a man who struggles with social conventions. He struggles to be a success in a world that makes no sense to him. “Joker” will be a classic exploration of alienation and his response will be to alienate everyone by removing those conventions and pouring chaos out into the streets.
The Joker would rather burn a pile of money than become rich because the economy is a construct that can be torn down. He would rather make money useless than become part of the system he wants to drag to its knees.
The Joker and Slots
The original Joker in first edition of DC comics is said to have been based on the lead character in a silent movie called “The Man Who Laughed”, a man with his face permanently twisted into a disturbing smile. The character also based on the jokers that come in a deck of cards.
This is what will define our list of slot games for the week. There are countless numbers of slot games out there that have jokers in them, so to narrow things down I will include slots that have the word Joker in the title.
A word of warning is that there are a lot of not very good slot games with Joker in the title, but I have managed to ensure that any of the slots that I include received a minimum of 6 out of 10 and that there are also some excellent slots in list too.
Mega Joker
If you are lucky enough to find a casino that is offing Mega Joker then you, quite simply, have to play this Net Entertainment slot. Don’t be fooled by how awful it looks, which is essentially just a fruit machine from a pub showed onto your computer screen. Features are also non-existent, so why would anyone want to play it? Well, look no further than the house edge. At just over 1% this slot is offering tremendous value for money and might actually be the best value for money slot I have ever seen. Sure, it will be boring but you have chance of long term success on this slot than just about any other.
Joker Pro
Joker Pro is a Net Entertainment slot that makes it onto this list because it offers some solid entertainment. It looks decent, offering decent value for money and comes with a few interesting features. You get Re-Spins, an instant Bonus and Wilds.
Joker Strike
Joker Strike is all about the Hi Roller Mode. If you don’t want to play in High Roller Mode then you need to play a different slot because without it this is an average slot and with it this is an exceptional one. We loved this Quickspin slot when we reviewed it, awarding Joker Strike full marks, all because of Hi Roller Mode.
Inferno Joker
The Inferno Joker slot is probably the most recent one to make it onto the list. I wasn’t exactly overwhelmed by this one when it came out but I‘m including it because it looks good and it has a few of those features that make it a decent Play ‘n Go slot.
Reel Joker
Reel Joker is the first every Reel NRG slot to make it onto any of our lists but it is also one that has to come with a massive warning sticker. In order make the most out of this slot you need to bet big. If you don’t you won’t trigger the key feature and will be playing at a significant disadvantage. You can’t afford to do so then leave this slot well alone.
Joker Stacks
Joker Stacks comes with everything we have grown to expect from iSoftBet. The slot, despite the basic theme, looks great and the features are what you would want from any slot. You get Free Spins, Wilds and Stacked Wilds. The house edge is offering excellent value for money, which allows this slot to stand out from the joker pack.
Mystery Joker
Mystery Joker is a certain type of Joker themed slot. If I was to tell you that the paytable is only on screen then those of you who have played a few slots in your time will know what I mean. There isn’t a whole lot going on but what this slot is, is steady and reliable. You get your Wilds and you get your Free Spins and you get a reasonable house edge.
Free Slots Joker Poker
Super Joker
This is a 3-reeler of a slot that does a few simple things rather well. You don’t get Free Spins but what you do get are re-spins that keep going until you win. You also get Wilds and a Multiplier. The slot is a standard looking one but does offer some good value for money.
Fruits and Jokers: 100 Lines
I have rarely been kind about this particular brand of slot and so placing this Playson game on a top 10 list might come as a surprise. However, needless to say, this slot is by far the best in the Playson catalogue of fruits, stars and jokers. It is still nothing mind-blowing but you do get Wilds, Scatters and a competitive house edge. There is clearly something about these slots that people like, otherwise Playson wouldn’t keep making them.
Jokerizer
I suspect that software developers have ran out of ideas for Joker based slots. But that is OK so long as they take the Yggdrasil approach, which in this instance is to ramp the house edge right down to 2% and be done with just about anything else. This should be an average slot, but value for money is so good that we rated this an impressive 9 out of 10 when it was first released. Be aware that the only way you can access that 2% house edge is to always active Jokerizer Mode when you land a winning combination, otherwise you are playing at a huge disadvantage.
Conclusions
Joker Slots Free OnlineHowever, there are some really good slots on this list. In fact, going by our scoring there are some excellent slots on this list. Something interesting appears when you group all those excellent Joker themed slots together. You begin to notice that what makes them good is also what makes them slightly dangerous. The slots we rated 9 or 10 all come with a caveat. They all come with a warning that you need to risk more to make the most out of them. For your average slot player, this is unlikely to be a possibility. How many of us can truly afford to play at maximum stakes to drop the house edge by 2%?
More risk doesn’t guarantee more reward and can mean that you lose your money quickly. So be very careful if you choose to play these sorts of slots.
The one exception to this is Mega Joker. A 1.1% house edge, no tricks, no hidden agenda, just exceptional value for money.
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Ultimate Joker Slot Machine
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