A Royal Flush, sometimes called a Royal Straight Flush, is the dream poker hand. Hitting a Royal Flush in Video Poker is not the likeliest of events, but it has to happen to someone, and if you play enough, it could be you. The good news is that unlike the lottery, Video Poker is a game that offers you an expected return of 99.50%. So you can play tons of Video Poker with the dream of hitting a Royal Flush, but still make tons of money without ever hitting it.
When playing a Video Poker game that employs a standard 52-card deck, you can be dealt one of a possible 2,598,960 different 5-card starting hands. Considering that there are only four Royal Flushes out of all of those hands, don't hold your breath on picking one up right off the deal. Mathematically, your odds of picking up a Royal Flush in Video Poker improve to 1 out of every 40,000 hands once you factor in the ability to add and drop cards.