Video Poker is a favored game that can be enjoyed in casinos all over the globe, or in your house on your home computer, using a web connection. The rules are absolutely simple and involve the player attempting to achieve the highest mixture of cards possible in order to win cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, without the involvement with any other players. Of course, tactics employed during a physical game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Video Poker starts when the enthusiast puts credits (whether it’s tokens, tickets or money) into the video poker machine and presses the deal button. A five card hand will be "given out" on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has hold buttons, and enthusiasts should now decide which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the bettor would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the enthusiast has chosen which cards she wishes to retain, they should press ‘draw’, which will mean that any new cards will be dealt if desired. The round is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payment schedule.
Generally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each 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, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payout schedule can vary from machine to machine, so that experienced gamblers are agile enough to choose the most profitable machine every time.
As soon as the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to continue on in an attempt to maximize their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any money that they may have won. Further, some versions of the game allow the bettor an opportunity to increase their winnings, in which situation a further hand is played. There are also differences among individual machines, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to enhance playability.
