Most of "Is video poker random?" can be read off the pay table. Video poker sits between slots and table poker. A machine deals five cards, the player chooses which to hold, and a pay table fixed on the screen says what every final hand is worth. Because the player makes real decisions and the pay table is public, video poker is one of the few casino games where the odds can be read before a coin goes in.
Video poker odds are good, and better than slots on most machines because the return is printed rather than hidden. A full pay machine of the classic kind returns more than ninety nine percent with correct play, while a typical slot returns noticeably less and never says exactly how much. The best hands pay most: a royal flush, straight flush and four of a kind carry the top of the table, and small changes to what a full house or flush pays move the entire return.
Video poker can be beaten only in narrow cases. On a few full pay machines, perfect strategy combined with cash back or comps can push the return above one hundred percent, which is what advantage play means here. Almost everywhere else the game is not profitable over time. Casinos control which pay table a machine carries, not which cards it deals: regulated machines draw from a random shuffle, so they are not rigged, but a weaker pay table costs more without saying so.
Only on rare full pay machines with correct strategy and extra rewards on top. On an ordinary pay table the edge stays with the house.
Strategy charts, analyzers and calculators show the best hold for every hand of a given pay table. They cut mistakes; they cannot change the pay table.
A regulated machine shuffles a virtual deck at random for each deal, and its cards cannot know what the player holds. The pay table sets the return.
Autoplay makes the holds for you and hides each decision, and on some games it does not play the best strategy. Manual play keeps the choices in view.
It lists what each hand returns for the stake, and small changes matter: a machine paying 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush returns more than one paying 8 and 5.