Video Poker is a beloved game that can be played in casinos all over the world, or alternatively at home on your home computer, using an Internet account. The game rules are absolutely simple and involve the player attempting to achieve the highest combination of cards achievable in order to acquire cash. On this account it’s very similar as a regular game of poker, minus the involvement with competing players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker starts when the player inserts credits (whether it is tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the deal button. A 5 card hand will be electronically ‘distributed’ on the video screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and gamblers should now pick which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the bettor would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the player has chosen which cards he or she would like to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards will be needed they will be dealt. The hand is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Normally, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money growing for each and every better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It goes without saying that the payout schedule can range from machine to machine, so that skillful players are agile enough to select the most beneficial game each instance.
As soon as the first round has played out, the player can either choose to remain on and try to to maximize their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that they may have won. Additionally, several versions of the game give the player a chance to increase their winnings, in which case a further round is played. There are also differences between specific machines, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing characteristics to enhance playability.