Most Canadian players who lose money on video poker do not lose because the cards are rigged or the software is unfair. They lose because they make the same handful of decisions over and over: holding the wrong cards, misreading the paytable, or treating a Jacks or Better machine like a slot. The fixes are concrete, and once you know them you can apply them on any real-money online casino floor, including Imperial Wins casino, where video poker sits alongside hold and win slots and live dealer tables.

The paytable is the first thing to read, not the last

The single biggest error Canadian players make is skipping the paytable. On a standard 9/6 Jacks or Better machine, a full house pays 9 credits and a flush pays 6 per coin wagered, and two pair returns 2 credits. That 9/6 structure returns roughly 99.54 percent to the player with perfect strategy. Plenty of “bonus” video poker variants offered by Curacao-licensed operators look similar but quietly cut the two-pair payout to 1 credit and trim the flush to 5. Those small changes drop the return by several percentage points, and no amount of skill closes the gap.

Before you insert a single coin, compare the paytable line by line against 9/6 Jacks or Better. Two pair should read 2, not 1. A flush should read 6, not 5. If the numbers are lower, treat that machine as a different game with a worse house edge and decide whether it is worth your time. Imperial Wins runs under gaming licence OGL/2024/284/0863, granted by the Government of Curacao, and the licence sets requirements around segregation of player funds, but it does not dictate paytable design. That part is on you to check.

The paytable check takes about ten seconds. Do it every session, because operators can swap game variants without notice, and the machine that paid 9/6 last month may not be the same build today.

Card-holding mistakes that quietly drain your bankroll

Chasing royals with unsuited high cards

The royal flush is the dream, and it is also the most expensive distraction in video poker. Newer players often hold two or three unsuited high cards, like a Jack and a Queen of different suits, hoping to draw into a royal. The math does not support it. Unsuited high cards have no realistic path to a royal, and holding them throws away better draws such as a four-card flush, an open-ended straight, or a low pair with a higher expected value.

Royal flushes require suited cards. If you are holding a Jack of hearts, you want the Queen, King, Ace, and Ten of hearts, and nothing else gets you there. Holding unsuited high cards costs you the small and mid-size wins that actually fund a session. On a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine, the difference between correct holds and “chase the royal” holds can be three to five percentage points of return, which is the difference between a near-break-even game and a losing one.

Here are the mistakes I see most often from Canadian play. Imperialwins has more details on this topic. ers on Imperial Wins online casino and similar platforms:

• Holding two unsuited high cards (for example Jack and Queen of different suits) instead of drawing five new cards or keeping a low pair.
• Breaking a made flush or straight to chase a four-card royal, when the made hand pays more on average.
• Discarding a low pair (deuces through fives) to hold a single high card, when the pair has the higher expected return.
• Ignoring the 2-credit two-pair payout on bonus variants and holding for three of a kind anyway, which is correct on 9/6 but not always on trimmed paytables.
• Playing max coins on a machine where the royal bonus only kicks in at five coins, then dropping to one coin and losing the bonus entirely.

That last point matters more than people realize. Most Jacks or Better paytables pay 250 credits per coin on a royal at one to four coins, but 4,000 credits at five coins. If you cannot afford five coins per hand, play a lower denomination machine at max coins rather than a higher denomination at one coin.

The lower two-pair return is the other trap worth flagging. Some Curacao-licensed sites label a variant “Bonus” or “Double Bonus” and advertise bigger payouts on four of a kind, but they fund that by cutting two pair and flush returns. On those machines, correct strategy changes: you hold differently because the payout structure is different. Read the paytable, then adjust. Do not import 9/6 Jacks or Better instincts onto a machine that pays 1 for two pair.

Bankroll, verification, and the practical side of play

Video poker is a grind game, not a jackpot game. Variance is lower than slots but higher than blackjack, and a session can swing 50 to 100 credits in either direction on a quarter machine. Set a session budget in dollars, not credits, and stop when it is gone. Canadian players on Imperial Wins Canada can fund accounts through standard deposit methods at the casino cashier, and the withdrawal verification process usually requires ID and proof of address before the first cashout. Get that paperwork done early so a win does not sit pending for days.

Imperial Wins is operated by ABC Interactive N.V., a company registered in Curacao, with NextWay Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary based in Limassol, Cyprus. That corporate structure is common for offshore operators serving Canada. Ontario players have access to a provincially regulated market, and if you are in Ontario, the provincial regulator’s licensed sites are the safer route for dispute resolution. For players outside Ontario, the Curacao licence is the main recourse, and it is worth reading the terms on responsible play tools before you deposit.

Game studios matter less on video poker than on slots, but the software provider still affects paytable options. Imperial Wins offers real-money online casino games across slots like Big Bass Splash, 3 Pots Riches: Hold and Win, and Coins of Zeus – Hold & Win, plus live dealers and table games. Video poker sits in that mix, and the same discipline applies: check the paytable, play max coins on the denomination you can afford, and use the mobile casino interface only if it shows the full paytable clearly. If the mobile view hides the paytable, switch to desktop before you play.

Start your next session by reading the paytable against 9/6 Jacks or Better, then set a five-coin max bet at a denomination your bankroll can survive for at least 200 hands. Hold suited cards for royal draws, keep low pairs over single high cards, and walk away from any machine that cuts two pair to 1 credit. Those three habits will do more for your return than any hot streak ever will.