Joker Poker at Springbok: one wild Joker, Kings or Better and two royals

A round works like every other machine in Springbok's room: coin value, 1 to 5 coins, five cards, one draw, one hand per round. The difference is a Joker shuffled in with the regular 52 cards. When it lands in your hand it becomes whatever card gives the best result, so it can complete a straight, fill a flush or turn three of a kind into four. Lobby reading · 9 Oct 2026 (opens the source)

The bottom of the table is set at Kings or Better (a pair of Kings or Aces), and with the Joker in hand any single King or Ace already makes that pair. Look closely at what the two lowest rows return: a pair of Kings and two pair each pay 1 coin per coin, your stake and nothing more. Three of a kind, at 2, is the first row that leaves you ahead on the hand.

After a win the machine offers Double or Nothing: choose a card that beats the dealer's to double the win, or lose it on a lower one. So many Joker Poker wins are only the stake coming back that gambling them turns break-even hands into all-or-nothing calls. Decide before you start whether you will use it.

Bob Dancer, writing for the Las Vegas Advisor about Kings or Better Joker Wild, makes two points that fit this machine. The Joker makes straight flushes much easier to complete than in a natural-card game, so draws towards them deserve more respect. And some finished hands hold a high pair and a bigger hand at once, a straight with a pair of Kings inside it for example, where only the bigger hand is paid. He calls those redundant high pairs.

His worked example is the deal beside this section. Both three-card holds are open straight flush draws with the Joker, yet the one with the 5 and 6 is worth more: no straight can include both those cards and a King, so every King drawn stays free to make a paying pair. Counting every possible draw against Springbok's own rows gives the same order, and both holds come out ahead of keeping the Joker alone.

The rest of the notes come from the same full count, done at 1 coin and again at 5, with matching answers. Following them shaves the machine's edge on those hands; the edge itself stays.

• The Joker and a single King or Ace: keep both. The pair is already made, and that comes out ahead of the Joker alone.
• Two pair: keep both pairs. They already return your stake, and the one-card draw to a full house returns 6 per coin when it lands.
• A pair of Kings or Aces: keep the pair alone. A third card held as a kicker comes out behind.
• A low pair against a lone King: keep the low pair, and do not add the King to it.
• Four to a flush or a low pair: hold the four suited cards.
• The Joker with a low pair: that is three of a kind already. Keep the three cards and draw two, with no kicker.

One limit: the counts price every natural royal at the ordinary royal rate, because the register does not record how the screen judges exact order. None of the comparisons above is close enough for that to change the answer. Dancer's column and the strategy basics guide go further for readers who want more.

Both natural royals pay their full rate only with five coins in: at 1 coin the sequential royal returns 500 and the ordinary natural royal 250. If you play this machine, choose a coin value at which five coins fit your budget. Every other row pays the same per coin whatever the coin count.

Joker Poker's table was read on a phone. The desktop notice saying Flash play is no longer available, seen on 9 October 2026, was recorded for Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild; nothing is recorded for Joker Poker on a computer. Practise the Joker holds in Try It! first: the practice credit showed R1,000.00 at the reading, and according to Springbok it is given once and does not renew. Springbok's claim · 9 Oct 2026 (opens the source)

Joker Poker pays often, but many of those wins are a pair of Kings or two pair that only return the coins you bet. Judge a session by the balance rather than by how often the screen lights up, and stop at the figure you set. Talking to someone costs nothing: the NRGP helpline is 0800 006 008, and WhatsApp reaches a counsellor on 076 675 0710.