Electronic Poker is a popular game that is able to be enjoyed in casinos around the world, or in your house on your home computer, using an Internet connection. The game rules are very straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest combination of cards possible in order to acquire money. In this respect it is very similar as a classic game of poker, apart from the involvement with other players. Of course, techniques employed during a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker begins when the enthusiast inserts credits (whether it’s tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and pushes the play button. A 5 card hand will then be "given out" on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and bettors should now choose which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the gambler would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it’s all or none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards he would like to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, at which point any fresh cards will be handed out if desired. The hand is now completed, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Generally, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money getting larger for each better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It goes without saying that the pay out schedule can vary from game to game, so that experienced players are able to select the most profitable game every time.
As soon as the first round has completed, the player can either choose to stay on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that might have been won. Additionally, some versions of the game allow the gambler an opportunity to increase their profits, in which instance another game is played. There are also differences between individual games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing aspects to increase playability.
