Electronic Poker is a popular game that is able to be gambled on in casinos all over the globe, or in your house on your home computer, through a net connection. The game rules are very straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the best mixture of cards achievable in order to come away with cash. In this respect it is much the same as a normal game of poker, without the involvement with any other players. Of course, tactics used in a physical game of poker, such as bluffing, will be useless here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the gambler inserts credits (whether it’s tokens, tickets or money) into the video poker machine and presses the draw button. A hand of five cards will be electronically ‘distributed’ on the video screen.
The Video Poker game also has hold buttons, and players will need to now choose which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it’s all or none.
After the gambler has decided on which cards she would like to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any fresh cards will be dealt if desired. The round is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Generally, the lowest winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It goes without saying that the payment schedule can change from game to game, so that discerning bettors are agile enough to select the most profitable machine each instance.
Once the initial round has completed, the player can either decide to continue on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that have been won. Additionally, a few versions of the game give the player a chance to double their wins, in which instance another hand is played. There are also variations between individual machines, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other varying elements to enhance playability.