Video Poker is a popular game that can be gambled on in casinos across the world, or in your house on your PC, using an Internet connection. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the best mixture of cards as you can in order to win cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a classic game of poker, without the line of contact with any other players. Of course, tactics used in a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Electronic Poker starts when the gambler inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the machine and presses the play button. A hand of 5 cards will then be electronically ‘dealt’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and gamblers will need to now pick which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast wishes to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the bettor has chosen which cards she 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 cards to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the pay out 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, 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 goes without saying that the payout schedule can vary from game to game, so that knowledgeable enthusiasts are able to choose the most profitable game each and every instance.
Once the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to remain on in an attempt to increase their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that has been won. Further, some versions of the game give the bettor an opportunity to double their profits, in which situation another hand is played. There are also differences between individual machines, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing elements to enhance playability.