What is Full-pay video poker?
Full-pay video poker refers to machines whose paytable offers the most favourable standard payouts for a given game, as opposed to 'short-pay' versions with reduced payouts.
Each video poker variant has a recognised best paytable. For Jacks or Better it is 9/6, which returns about 99.54% with optimal play. Casinos can install the same game with lower payouts, such as 8/5 or 7/5, to increase the house edge. To the casual eye, the machines look identical.
Some full-pay versions of other games, such as certain Deuces Wild paytables, can return slightly more than 100% with perfect strategy, which is why they have become rare on casino floors.
The term is useful in reporting on casino product mixes and in explaining why the return on a game depends on both the paytable chosen by the operator and the decisions made by the player. Because the paytable is shown on screen, players can check it before playing, unlike the hidden RTP setting of most slots.