Aces and Faces is one of the many variations of Video Poker, just like Jacks or Better casino game, which is the most popular among them all, played in casinos. For some people, who prefer to gamble individually rather than on a table against a group of people, this combination of slot machines and poker is exciting. The people who find table poker a bit more intimidating, or they find it somewhat uncomfortable; video poker becomes their perfect choice for a casino game.
Aces and Faces are usually played on a slot machine- which works on electricity and is just like a computer with some control buttons and an interface. The game has good payouts and gives you the option to double your earnings at the end of the game too. Being able to play without any other concurrent players, this game can also be implemented online, and many online platforms allow players to play online. The online platforms, or at least some of the popular ones, enable players to get used to the game first before involving any actual money in it.
Aces and Faces Tutorial – How to Play it
Aces and Faces begin when a player pays the initial required bid to the machine of the game. Initially, the computer on which the player is playing deals five random cards from a virtual deck of fifty-two standard playing cards.
The player can decide to discard any of the cards or even the complete set of 5 cards. Then the machine re-deals cards to replace the cards that have been discarded by the player. It is the choice of the player to keep or discard individual cards to get a better hand, which decides the fate of the game and earns the player more or less money based on what cards the player has at the end when he decides to pay himself or herself out.
Some standard hands are possible with the five cards being dealt with the player. Some of them have higher payouts, and some of them have lower payouts than the other hands. It is essential to know the various hands in Video Poker before you play any variations of the video poker, along with its payout scheme.
Various Hands of Aces and Faces
Here we have listed all the possible hands that can give you a payout in Aces and Faces. Starting with the highest payout hand, the latter hands in the list have diminishing returns.
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Royal Flush
Royal flush occurs when all the five cards belong to the same suit, and have cards from Ace to the Ten, for example, A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠. This is an example of the Royal Flush of the Hearts suit, and the royal flush of any suit has the highest payout than any other hand in Aces and Faces. The suit does not matter at all here; hence A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ has the same rank as A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥.
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Four Aces
This hand has all the four aces from the four suits and one irrelevant card. The rank of the different hands belonging to this type of hand depends upon the rank of the irrelevant card, as all Four Aces hands will have four same cards and one different card. An example of four aces hand can be A♥ A♠ A♣ A♦ J♣.
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Straight flush
A straight flush is a hand where you have five cards of the same suit, and all of them are in a sequence, but it is not a royal flush. An example of this type of hand is J♥ 10♥ 9♥ 8♥ 7♥. Straight has rank lower than that of a royal flush but higher than any other hands in Aces and Faces.
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Four of a kind
This hand occurs when the player has four cards of the same rank and all of the different suits, and one irrelevant card. The rank between all four of a kind hands is decided concerning the card that occurs four times, and then the irrelevant card. For example, 10♣ 10♠ 10♦ 10♥ J♥ is ranked higher than 8♦8♣ 8♠ 8♥ A♥, which is ranked higher than 8♦8♣ 8♠ 8♥ 5♥.
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Full House
This is when you get three cards of the same rank and two cards of another rank. This is also known as a full boat, or just boat or a full hand. An example of a full house is 8♠ 8♦ 8♥ 7♦ 7♣. In a full house, ranks are decided by the card that comes thrice first then the card that comes twice. For example, 8♠ 8♦ 8♥ 7♦ 7♣ is ranked higher than 4♦ 4♠ 4♣ 9♦ 9♣, which is ranked higher than 4♦ 4♠ 4♣ 5♣ 5♦.
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Flush
Flush is when all the cards are of the same suit, but not all of them are in sequential order. It is ranked below a full house and above a straight. Flushes or full houses or quads or straight flushes that differ by suits alone are of the same rank. An example can be 10♦ 8♦ 7♦ 6♦ 5♦.
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Straight
This hand is when all the cards are of sequential rank, not all of the same suit. An example of this king is 7♣ 6♠ 5♠ 4♥ 3♥ (a seven-high straight). In any straight, (Straight or a straight flush) the hand is called King-high straight if the highest card in the sequence is a king.
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Three of a kind
Three of a kind occurs when the player has three cards of different suits with the same faces and two irrelevant cards in the five cards that have been dealt with him. It is ranked lower than a straight but higher than a two-pair.
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Two pair
This hand occurs when out of the five cards in hand, the user has two cards each of two same faces and different suits, and one irrelevant card. For example, K♥ K♠ 9♦ 9♠ J ♦.
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Pair of Jacks
Pair of Jacks is the minimum requirement in this variation of Video poker if you want to receive any payout in this game.
Rules of the Game
The game starts with an initial bet, with the player having to choose the coin size, as well as the number of coins. Playing with 5$ can be looked at as five 1$ coins as well as one coin of 5$, and can give different payouts so as a player you should understand that too.
After the initial bet is made, the player gets five cards and an option to raise the bet, payout, or discard any number of cards from his hand. The discarded cards will get replaced by other cards from the same virtual deck, and like this, the game goes on until the final hand.
The payouts are made according to the hand that the player has at the end, and there is an option to double your payout by a side game. In this side game, five cards are dealt at random from a deck of cards, with the first card exposed. The player then will have to choose which of the cards from the other four cards will have a face value higher than the exposed card. If the player chooses correctly, the payout is doubled, and otherwise, all earned money is lost.
The payout schemes
You should always read and understand all the payout schemes before you start the game. For each coin you bet in the game, your payout will be as follows, depending on the final hand.
- Royal Flush: eight hundred coins
- Four Aces: Eighty coins
- Straight Flush: Fifty coins
- Four of a kind (Jacks to kings): Forty coins
- Four of a kind (2s to 10s): twenty-five coins
- Full house: eight coins
- Flush: five coins
- Straight: four coins
- Three of a kind: three coins
- Two pair: two coins
- Jacks or better: one coin per coin bet
- All other: zero payout
Tips and strategies to excel in Aces and Faces
If you have four out of 5 cards for royal flushes, hold them as they are also useful in completing straights or flush hands.
All the strategies that are useful in Jacks or Better also apply to Aces and Faces. The initial way of thinking should be to get at least a pair of Jacks, or some hand ranked higher than the Jacks pair.
As the game payout is made only if you have a pair of Jacks or a better hand, if you initially get dealt with such a hand, do not discard any card helpful in keeping the pair of jacks unless you have a better hand with that card discarded.
Unless you need only one card to complete a royal flush, you should not break a flush or a straight, as it will not always yield a better payout, and will lose you some payout if you can’t get a better hand than the flush or straight you already had.
Keep a high pair unless you have four cards to either a straight flush or a royal flush.
When you have only one high card and not any hand possible with the cards that you have, you should keep the high card only, and discard the other four.
Draw three cards if you have a pair, and no better hand possible using the cards that you have.
Always draw only two cards if you have three of a kind or three cards to a straight flush.
When you are four cards to a royal flush, discard the fifth card, even if it gives you a pair or a flush. That way, even with discarding a card that already gives you a hand with some payout, you will probably get something better, and hence you should discard the fifth card.
If you have reached one of these hands: A royal flush, a double pairs, three of a kind, or four of a kind, do not break the hand.
You should always keep in mind that a Three of a Kind, a Flush, a High Pair, and a Straight are all ranked higher than a hand having three cards that are leading up to a Royal Flush. Only stick with a hand with three cards leading to a Royal Flush if you have lower-ranked hands like a Low Pair or four to a Flush.
Always draw only one card if you have a hand like four of a kind, two pairs, or four cards to a straight or flush.
The Aces and Faces have some pretty good payout schemes and the regulations that different associations have for the machines that implement this game, and you are at high odds to win if you play well.
Remember to check the payout schemes and complete rules and regulations before you place any bets in the game every time, as there are many variations of the popular video poker game at every casino. It is always better to practice online first to get a better idea of all the scenarios.