A 99.92% published return is about as high as casino maths goes, and that is what Switch Studios lists for this game. The catch is the same as with every video poker machine: that figure assumes you make the mathematically best hold on every single deal, and the paytable behind it is the thing doing the work. If you want a demo to practise holds against, there is a free version available and no money needs to change hands.
Cards of Asgard All Aces in one minute
Here is what the listing actually confirms about cards of asgard all aces video poker. The provider is Switch Studios, the stated return is 99.92% with optimal play, a free demo exists, and the game sits 33rd in this collection with a popularity percentile of 77.1. Switch Studios has three video poker titles here, averaging 99.63% between them, so this is the strongest of a strong set rather than an outlier.
Against the wider corpus average of 97.5%, this game is 2.42 percentage points ahead. In practical terms, that is the difference between a house edge measured in fractions of a percent and one measured in whole percentages, and it comes entirely from the payout schedule plus correct play.
What the listing does not include is the paytable itself: the exact payout for a full house, a flush, a straight or four of a kind. The title suggests an All Aces style ruleset, which in the wider video poker world is built around a large four-aces payout, but the specific numbers on this table are not published here. Read the in-game pay chart before you commit real money.
What perfect strategy actually means here
Optimal strategy in video poker is not a betting system and does not touch the odds. It is a solved hold-and-discard chart: for any five cards you are dealt, there is one mathematically best set of cards to keep, and that decision is computable in advance. Charts are published for each paytable, and they never depend on what happened on the previous deal.
That matters because the advertised return is the ceiling, not the average outcome of casual play. Deviating from the chart lowers your return; it does not make the deck behave differently. Keeping a low pair over a four-card flush draw, or breaking a made hand for a long-shot royal, changes only your own expected value.
Two consequences worth holding onto. First, the chart is specific to the paytable. An All Aces schedule rewards four of a kind heavily, which pulls strategy towards holding single high cards and pairs that can grow into quads, whereas a Jacks or Better chart is tuned differently. Second, no deal is ever due. Cards come from a freshly shuffled 52-card deck every hand, so a long stretch without a paying hand tells you nothing about the next one.
Where the 99.92% comes from
The 99.92% figure is the sum of two inputs and nothing else: the payout schedule for each hand rank, and a player following the optimal chart for that exact schedule. There is no reel weighting here, no hidden symbol frequency, no house-side dial. Every card has a known probability of appearing because the deck is a standard 52-card deck, and the maths is fully solvable.
That transparency is why video poker returns can be quoted to two decimal places while a slot RTP is a longer-run statistical average. It also means a 99.92% claim is checkable in principle, provided you know the paytable. Since this listing does not carry the paytable, treat the number as the provider’s stated figure for correct play under their published schedule.
Some context on how good that is. Switch Studios averages 99.63% across its three video poker games, so the house is competing on return rather than presentation. For comparison inside this collection, Cards of Ra Jacks or Better is listed at 99.54% and uses the more familiar Jacks or Better ruleset, which is a gentler starting point if you have never worked from a strategy chart before.
Paytable differences that change everything
This is the single most important thing to check in any video poker game, and it has no equivalent in slots. Two machines can carry the same name and differ by a percentage point or more in return, purely because of two numbers on the pay chart.
The textbook case is Jacks or Better. In the 9/6 version, a full house pays 9-for-1 and a flush 6-for-1, giving roughly 99.5% with perfect play. Change those to 8/5 and the return drops to around 97.3%. A 6/5 schedule falls well below 95%. Nothing else about the game changes.
| Hand | 9/6 Jacks or Better | 8/5 Jacks or Better | 6/5 Jacks or Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full house | 9-for-1 | 8-for-1 | 6-for-1 |
| Flush | 6-for-1 | 5-for-1 | 5-for-1 |
| Straight | 4-for-1 | 4-for-1 | 4-for-1 |
| Three of a kind | 3-for-1 | 3-for-1 | 3-for-1 |
| Approximate return | 99.5% | 97.3% | Below 95% |
Those are general industry figures for Jacks or Better, included to show the size of the swing, not this game’s numbers. Bonus-style schedules such as the one used by Cards of Athena Double Double Bonus at 99.44% reweight four-of-a-kind payouts by rank, which changes both the return and the correct holds.
Multi-hand and multi-play formats, explained
Multi-hand video poker deals you one set of five cards, you choose your holds once, and those holds are then played out across several independent decks at the same time. Each hand draws its replacement cards from its own shuffled deck, so the results are independent of one another.
The key point is that this does not change the per-hand return. The paytable and the strategy chart are identical whether you play one hand or fifty. What changes is variance and the rate at which you cycle through your budget. Playing ten hands at once means ten times the stake per deal and ten times the number of hands per hour, so swings in both directions arrive faster and larger.
This listing does not specify how many hands this version supports or what coin denominations are available, so check the game itself. If it does offer a multi-hand mode, treat the hand count as a variance setting and size your total stake per deal accordingly rather than assuming the per-hand cost stays the same.
Trying the demo first
A Cards of Asgard All Aces free demo is available, which is genuinely useful in video poker in a way it is not for most games. The demo lets you read the actual pay chart, learn the interface, and rehearse holds against a strategy chart without paying for the mistakes. Play a few hundred hands and check your decisions against the chart for the paytable you find in-game.
What the demo cannot do is predict real-money results. It shows you the rules and the schedule, not your future outcomes. If you move to real stakes, play 18+, set a budget in advance and treat the money as the cost of entertainment rather than a source of income. No staking pattern, sizing method or session length alters the expected value of a hand.
Who should play Cards of Asgard All Aces
This suits players who are willing to use a strategy chart. The 99.92% return only exists for someone playing correctly, and casual guesswork can cost a full percentage point or more. If you are happy to keep a chart open and play deliberately, this is close to the best return available in a casino.
If you would rather not learn holds, the number on the tin will not be the number you get. A simpler ruleset such as Jacks or Better (Red Rake Gaming) at 99.55% has a shorter, more forgiving chart to start from. Either way, find the paytable first: it decides more here than in any other casino game category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I play Cards of Asgard All Aces for free?
Yes, a free demo is available for this game, so you can read the in-game pay chart and practise holds without staking money. That is particularly useful in video poker, where the correct hold for each dealt hand is a solved chart tied to the specific paytable. Demo results do not predict real-money outcomes.
What is the RTP of Cards of Asgard All Aces?
The listed return is 99.92% with perfect play, which is 2.42 percentage points above the 97.5% average for games in this collection. That figure comes from two things only: the payout schedule for each hand rank and the player following the optimal hold chart for that exact schedule. Casual play returns less.
Which video poker variant is this and how do you play it optimally?
The name points to an All Aces style ruleset, which in general terms rewards four of a kind heavily and pulls strategy towards holds that can grow into quads. Optimal play means using the published hold-and-discard chart for the paytable you find in-game. The specific paytable is not listed here.
Why does the paytable matter more in video poker than in other games?
Because the return is fully determined by the payout schedule plus correct play, with no hidden weighting. Jacks or Better shows the scale: 9/6 returns about 99.5%, 8/5 about 97.3%, and 6/5 falls below 95%, purely from two numbers on the chart. Always check the pay chart first.
Who makes Cards of Asgard All Aces?
Switch Studios, which has three video poker games in this collection averaging 99.63% RTP. This is the highest of the three at 99.92%, ahead of Cards of Ra Jacks or Better at 99.54% and Cards of Athena Double Double Bonus at 99.44%. The game ranks 33rd here, in the 77.1 popularity percentile.
