Video Poker is a popular game that can be gambled on in casinos throughout the world, or alternatively at home on your computer, through an Internet account. The regulations are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the greatest assemblage of cards possible in order to come away with money. In this respect it is much the same as a regular game of poker, minus the involvement with competing players. Of course, techniques employed during a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the player inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the machine and pushes the play button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "dealt" on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and enthusiasts should now pick which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they want, whether it’s all or none.
After the gambler has selected which cards he would like to keep, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be given out. The hand is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands shown on the payout schedule.
Normally, the lowest winning 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, moving on to 2 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 payment schedule can range from game to game, so that experienced enthusiasts are agile enough to select the most beneficial machine each time.
After the initial round has played out, the player can either decide to stay 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 enthusiast an opportunity to increase their winnings, in which case another hand is played. There are also variations between specific games, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other varying characteristics to increase playability.
