Jacks or Better 9/6 is an excellent payout as far as Video Poker goes. The "9" refers to the amount you'll win on a full house. (45 if you bet the maximum 5 coins, because 9 X 5 coins = 45). The 6 refers to hitting a flush. (30 if you bet 5 coins, because 6 X 5 coins = 30.)

    Check carefully when you go into a casino. You'll see most Jacks or Better machines pay only 8/5, or 40 coins for a full house and 25 for a flush with maximum coins bet.

    Your questions:

    1) I would almost always keep the lower pair and go for 3 of a kind (or you can hit 2-pair.) The only time I wouldn't, would be if I have an EXCELLENT draw. (Either 3 or 4 to the Royal Flush or 4 to a flush or 4 to an open-ended straight draw.)

    2) Go for a 4-flush or an open-ended straight draw. Only keep 3 to a flush if they are 3 to the Royal Flush.

    3) PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE remember one thing: No matter how well you play, in the long run the House has an edge on you! This means the more hands you play over the course of your life, the more money you will eventually give to the casino. This is true even if you hit a Royal Flush!!! Wow, it's great to have that cash when you finally hit the big one, but in the course of the thousands and thousands of hands you might play in your life, you will eventually give more money to the casino than they will give to you! The only way this will NOT be true is if you're lucky enough to hit a Royal Flush toward the beginning of your playing career, and then you NEVER play slot machines again!

    Therefore...(to make a long story short!)...The more hands you play at once, the quicker you will give money to the casino...IN THE LONG RUN. (There's always a chance that you'll hit the "big one", in which case you'll think it was because you were playing more hands.)

    4) Mostly I explained this in my opening paragraph. Yes, you will find SOME machines in Vegas that are of a 9/6 style, but not very easily. More often, you will get a worse deal. (no pun intended!) Everything you said about the Jacks or Better Rules is right. Just don't forget to check the Pay Table of whatever machine you're using.

    5) My best tip that some folks will disagree with: You aren't playing a video poker machine with the hopes of winning 5 dollars, or 10 dollars, or even 50 dollars. You are playing with the hopes of hitting the "Big One"...the Royal Flush!

    With that in mind, look for opportunities to draw to the Royal. If you're dealt a King of Hearts, a Queen of Hearts, and a Jack of Clubs, plus 2 other worthless cards, keep the K-Q of Hearts, and toss the J of Clubs! You'll have 3 cards to get yourself a pair, and you give yourself that tiny change at drawing 3 to a Royal.

    Here's an even more radical play I'll make with the same reasoning. If I am dealt 3 or more to a Royal Flush, I will almost always go for the Royal Flush....EVEN IF IT MEANS BREAKING UP A PAIR OF JACKS OR BETTER!!! It so hard to get a Royal Flush, but once you have 3 of the Royal, you have just a little worse than 1 in 1,000 shot at drawing the final 2! (1,080 to 1, to be exact.) That's NOT all that bad of a chance! Furthermore, if I have 4 to the Royal Flush, I will break up ALL hands to take a shot at the jackpot. This is true even if I was dealt a flush. (I've never been dealt a King-high Straight Flush in the first 5 cards. I'd have to really think about throwing away the 9 in the hopes of pulling the Ace.)

    Final Thought: If you play this long enough, you WILL hit a jackpot at some point in time in your life. But in the long run, the casino will always have more of your money than you have of theirs! Live it up and celebrate those times you hit the Jackpot. They're few and far between.