Back-to-Back Royals Part 2

[Editor's Note: Yesterday, we learned that none of the veteran video poker players we queried had ever even heard of anyone hitting consecutive royal flushes, though a couple had pretty interesting stories. And thank you for all the excellent comments, in which several people had it happen to or around them. Today, since Bob Dancer was cited in the question, he wrote the answer, which we appreciate, as we always do with his contributions to our modest little QoD feature.]

Assuming we’re talking about single-line games, my personal record for back-to-back royals is 21 hands apart. I was playing a dollar machine at a casino where the display showed slot-club-points accumulated since the last time the card was pulled. This was a one-point-per-dollar-bet casino, and the display read 105 points. On that day, both of the royals happened to be in diamonds.

I haven’t heard about any player actually hitting back-to-backers and that surprises me. For years, I taught classes and sometimes attendees shared their greatest video poker accomplishments, often with a photo and explanation. “I know I should never have been playing that pay schedule, but I hit the royal and am proud of it anyway.” Surely back-to-backers would be something to share.

The odds against this happening, however, are nowhere near the numbers included in your question. The 1.6 billion-to-one odds you presented are appropriate for the question of: “What are the odds of hitting royal flushes on each of the next two hands I play.” That’s a very different question from: “In your lifetime of play, has this ever happened?”

My best guess is that I’ve hit between 2,000 and 2,500 royal flushes lifetime, but that includes on Triple Play through Hundred Play machines where they show up much more frequently and sometimes more than one per deal. For the sake of having a number to use, let’s assume I’ve hit 500 single-line royals.

As a professional who has averaged more than 20 hours a week of play for more than 30 years, I’ve hit more royals than most other players. But I know other players who’ve played more years and more hands per week than I have, so surely each of them has connected on more royals than I have.

For each of those 500 times, I’ve had a 1-in-40,000 chance to hit another royal on the very next hand. That means for me, as a first approximation, lifetime I’ve had about a 1-in-800 chance of getting single-line back-to-backers. That’s nowhere near 1-in-1.6 billion. I’m still playing, so maybe I’ll accomplish this some day.

I assume that nationwide, more than 40,000 royals are hit every week. If true, that means there will be back-to-backers somewhere across the country more than once a week! Hitting 40,000 royals a week nationwide is just a wild-ass guess. It could be 40,000 per day for all I know.

If we aren’t limiting the discussion to single-line games, I was playing 10-cent Hundred Play 8-5 Bonus Poker years ago at the Silverton and on back-to-back deals received royals. I didn’t think it was all that impressive at the time. I still don’t, so I never wrote about it before now.

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Comments

Donzack Jul-08-2026

Once again

Thanks Bob. It’s good to know you’re doing well. Your products made all of my achievements possible. All of my royals that I wrote about yesterday were on single line games.

Don the Dentist Jul-08-2026

Dealt Royals

The strangest thing that happened to me was two deals royals EXACTLY one hour apart. The W2-Gs had a time stamp on them. It was at the Silverton bar and both were in spades.

Tim Soldan Jul-08-2026

Video Poker software

I used to play Bob Dancers video poker on my computer. Since I purchased it before is it available to download? It was a great training tool.

Cal Jul-08-2026

Back-to-back RF's

All the numbers and personal experience aside, I think
we can agree, they are possible, just not probable.

Michael Kilgore Jul-08-2026

Educated guesses

1) Based on the numbers and the sheer volume of players over decades of gaming, back-to-back royals have probably happened somewhere.

2) That VP machine was taken out of service, permanently.

AKQJ10 Jul-08-2026

Stardust slot attendant told me yes

Back in the Stardust days, when you hit a royal flush handpay, they would reach into the coin hopper and load the machine with 5 coins for you to play off the royal, to avoid any customer claiming they were forced to unwillingly put more coin into the machine by the casino.   While being paid off on one of my royal flushes there, the attendant told me that they had someone hit a royal flush in the "free" casino funded first post royal flush payout hand.  Obviously this is story is 2nd hand, and years ago, but that's what they told me then.

Susan Huss Jul-08-2026

Close to Back to Back Royals

Many years ago, the gentleman sitting next to me at Four Queens Palace Bar was close to back to back royals
 He hit one, then of course had to wait for the attendant and to get paid (playing $1 DDB, $4000). He went to his room to put it in his safe (I assume), played a couple of times on the same machine and hit another one. The time stamp was only 20 minutes after the 1st one. Very close to back to back.

IdahoPat Jul-08-2026

My closest "back-to-back" ...

happened just last month at the Palms on a DreamCard variant (.05 DDB). I was playing five-handed, got dealt three to the royal in the first four cards and DreamCard feature kicked in and gave me four to the royal. Pulled the queen of spades on the second and third hands.

Marcus Leath Jul-08-2026

Royals galore

In a galaxy far away (2004 at Caesars Palace) when they still had 9/6 JoB, my friend and I had just been served our delicious martinis as we sat side-by-side playing VP.  We toasted by saying "To Royals".  I was playing five dollars a hand and she was playing twenty-five dollars per hand.  About two minutes later I was dealt 4 to a Royal in Clubs and the magic 5th card appeared.  As the attendant was paying me the last of the $4,000, my friend was dealt 4 to a Club Royal and the 5th card appeared for a $20,000 Royal.  As it was late afternoon we decided to celebrate with a very nice dinner at the lovely Bradley Ogden restaurant across from where we were playing.  After dinner we decided to play a little more and she wanted to play the same machine where she hit to big Royal, so we sat down and began playing; about 15 minutes later, she was yet again dealt 4 to a Royal in Clubs and the beautiful King of Clubs popped up for her second $20,000 Royal in the space of two hours.

VegasVic14 Jul-09-2026

Identical royal progressive hits

(Photos were submitted to videopoker.com as proof)
On 9/23/2011, at Flamingo Las Vegas, playing quarters, I hit a progressive for $1,034.25. Vacationing there the following year, on 9/30/12, I played the same machine. Out of superstition, in that bank of machines, I always played the one on the left end, so I knew where to sit...again. In short order, I hit a royal and it was the identical progressive amount. When it happened, the total looked familiar, so I pulled up the previous years's picture on my phone and, yes, it was the exact same amount.

Question of the Day - 08 July 2026

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