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Video Poker Expected Value Expected value, referred to as EV, is a number which expresses the relative value of drawing to any combination of cards in a dealt hand based on the payoff card of the game being played. The correct way of playing any hand is to draw to the combination of dealt cards which has the highest EV. In many cases drawing five new cards will have a higher EV than drawing to any combination of the five original dealt cards. The statistically projected average per-unit-bet payback of a particular play. Another way of looking at the EV is the average of all possible outcomes for a particular play or game. Most commercially available video poker analysis programs give the Expected Return (ER) of each possible play when a hand is analyzed. Assuming a five coin bet, dividing the ER by five will give the EV. A better technique, however, is to change the bet to one coin and adjust all one-coin payoffs to per-coin values so that the program will give EV directly. Pat hands always have an Expected Value of 1.00 or greater meaning that your wager is returned in a multiple represented by the EV. However, because a hand has an EV greater that 1.00 doesn't guarantee a win. It simply means that, on average, your wager will be returned multiplied by the Expected Value. For example, the dealt hand of: 10h Ah 3c Kh Jh has an EV of 18.49 on a 9-6 Jacks or Better game (9 units paid for a Full House and 6 units paid for a Flush ); however, unless you draw the Qh ( Royal Flush ); any other Queen ( Straight ); another King, Ace, or Jack ( High Pair ); you simply wind up with "bragging rights" to a 1-card draw to a Royal Flush.