Electronic Poker is a beloved game that is able to be enjoyed in casinos all over the world, or alternatively at home on your home computer, through a net connection. The rules are absolutely straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest combination of cards achievable in order to come away with money. In this respect it is much the same as a regular game of poker, minus the line of contact with other players. Of course, techniques used in a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker begins when the enthusiast inserts credits (whether it’s tokens, tickets or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the draw button. A five card hand will be electronically ‘distributed’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and gamblers will need to now choose which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the player wishes to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the player has chosen which cards he wishes to keep, the player will then press ‘draw’, at which point any new cards will be given out if desired. The round is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the payment schedule.
Typically, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money getting larger for each and every better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable gamblers are agile enough to pick the most profitable game each time.
After the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to remain on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that has been won. Further, several styles of the game give the enthusiast a chance to double their winnings, in which situation another hand is played. There are also variations between individual games, with some virtual decks including wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.
