Video Poker is a popular game that is able to be played in casinos throughout the globe, or alternatively at home on your PC, using a web account. The rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the highest combination of cards possible in order to win money. In this respect it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, without the line of contact with competing players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker starts when the gambler inserts credits (whether it is tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and pushes the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "distributed" on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and gamblers should now pick which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it is all or none.
After the gambler has chosen which cards he wishes to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be given out. The game is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payout schedule.
Normally, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing for each and every 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 last but not least royal flushes. It goes without saying that the payout schedule can change from machine to machine, so that experienced enthusiasts are able to select the most profitable game every instance.
As soon as the first round has finished, the player can either choose to continue on and try to to increase their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that they may have won. Further, some styles of the game give the bettor an opportunity to double their profits, in which instance a further hand is played. There are also variations between specific games, with some virtual decks including wild cards and other varying elements to increase playability.