Video Poker is a beloved game that can be played in casinos around the globe, or in your house on your home computer, through an Internet connection. The rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to get the best mixture of cards achievable in order to acquire money. In this respect it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, minus the involvement with any other players. Of course, tactics used in a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the bettor puts credits (whether it’s tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the draw button. A hand of five cards will then be electronically ‘dealt’ on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and bettors should now decide which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the bettor wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the enthusiast has decided on which cards he or she wishes to keep, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards will be handed out if desired. The round is now completed, with the Video Poker machine scanning the cards to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Typically, the minimum succeeding hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money getting larger for each and every better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It is obvious that the payout schedule can vary from machine to machine, so that discerning bettors are able to pick the most profitable machine each instance.
As soon as the first round has played out, the player can either decide to remain on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that might have been won. Further, a few versions of the game allow the bettor an opportunity to increase their profits, in which case another hand is played. There are also variations among individual machines, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to increase playability.