Video Poker is a popular game that can be enjoyed in casinos across the globe, or in your house on your computer, using a web connection. The game rules are very simple and consist of the player trying to get the best combination of cards as you can in order to acquire cash. In this respect it’s very similar as a regular game of poker, apart from the involvement with competing players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the draw button. A hand of five cards will be electronically ‘given out’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and players should now pick which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the bettor wishes to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards he would like to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any fresh cards will be handed out if desired. The game is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands printed on the pay out schedule.
Normally, the lowest winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing for each better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It should be known that the payout schedule can vary from game to game, so that experienced players are agile enough to choose the most profitable machine every time.
Once the first round has played out, the player can either decide to stay on in an attempt to maximize their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that might been won. Additionally, a few styles of the game give the bettor a chance to double their profits, in which instance another round is played. There are also differences between specific games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing elements to increase playability.