When it comes to playing video poker I consider myself savvy enough to know the basic rules of video poker, however I do have a question regarding the auto hold feature that's available in most versions of video poker both those found at online casinos and offline.

Anyways my impression is that the auto hold feature holds cards that maximize your chances of winning on the draw, is assumption correct?

Let's say that I play Jacks or Better video poker and I get the following:

Jack (club), Jack (spades), Ace (club), Queen (club), King Club). AS you can see I'd be in line for a royal flush however the odds that I'll draw a 10 of clubs is very unlikely here so if auto play would hold the two jacks would I be better off un-holding those cards and trying for the royal flush?

Thanks for your help and advice...

Well in regards to your question Bonnie I would have to say that it would really depend on the online casino or land based casino video poker game that you're playing. Many online video poker games that do offer you auto-hold would not actually hold the two jacks in the case you describe below but rather they would hold the remaining cards in hopes of drawing the 10 to complete the Royal Flush hand.

You are correct in your assumption though that the auto play is designed to maximize your chances of winning as it just makes it easier for the novice player who doesn't really understand video poker to still stand a chance of winning from time to time when decent hands are dealt. And I do agree that in the case you've described that you should uncheck the two jacks and go for the Royal Flush without hesitation. Even with a smaller wager the benefits of hitting the Royal Flush outweigh the cost of loosing the payout on the two jacks... Anyways I hope this helps you out!

I personally don't spend a huge amount of time playing video poker online but from the amount of play that I do play I do rely on auto-hold to a certain extent when playing however I know hands well enough that in the case that you describe I would certainly opt for holding the potential Royal Flush then the other hand paying out far less.