Jacks or Better 9/6: pay table and return
"9/6" Jacks or Better pays 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush, per coin. With perfect play and 5 coins it returns 99.54%, one of the highest returns of any casino game. At OpalRove a Royal Flush pays 800 per coin at 5 coins (4,000 coins) but 250 per coin at 1 to 4 coins, so the return with fewer coins is 98.37%.
The pay table
| Hand | Pays per coin |
|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 250 (800 at 5 coins) |
| Straight Flush | 50 |
| Four of a Kind | 25 |
| Full House | 9 |
| Flush | 6 |
| Straight | 4 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 |
| Two Pair | 2 |
| Jacks or Better (a pair of J, Q, K or A) | 1 |
"Pays 1" returns your bet, so a pair of jacks or better gets your stake back.
Why the 9 and the 6 matter
The full house and flush pays are what set the return. Commonly published figures for perfect play: 9/6 returns about 99.5%, 9/5 about 98.5%, 8/5 about 97.3% and 7/5 about 96.2%. Always check the full house and flush lines before you play.
The first holds to learn
This short list catches most of the value of perfect strategy. The full strategy has more rows, and the 99.54% figure assumes the best hold on every hand.
- A straight flush, four of a kind or royal flush: always keep it.
- Four to a Royal Flush, even if it means breaking a straight or a flush.
- A full house, flush, straight or three of a kind.
- Four to a Straight Flush.
- Two Pair.
- A high pair (jacks or better).
- Three to a Royal Flush.
- Four to a Flush.
- A low pair (twos to tens).
- If nothing else: hold your high cards (J, Q, K, A), at most two of them.
Other games on the same machine
OpalRove's machine also deals Bonus Poker (99.17% at 5 coins) and Double Double Bonus (98.98% at 5 coins). BET MAX deals a hand at 5 coins straight away.
Questions
- What does 9/6 mean in video poker?
- A full house pays 9 and a flush pays 6, per coin. It is the best common version of Jacks or Better.
- What is the RTP of 9/6 Jacks or Better?
- 99.54% with perfect play and 5 coins. At OpalRove it is 98.37% at 1 to 4 coins, because the Royal Flush pays less.
- Should you always bet 5 coins?
- For the full return, yes: the Royal Flush bonus is only paid at 5 coins. Choose a coin value that makes 5 coins fit your budget.
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Updated 2026-11-04.