Video Poker is a popular game that is able to be bet on in casinos across the world, or in your house on your PC, through a web account. The game rules are absolutely simple and consist of the player attempting to get the highest combination of cards achievable in order to come away with cash. On this account it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, without the involvement with competing players. Of course, techniques employed during a physical game of poker, such as tricking, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the video poker machine and pushes the draw button. A five card hand will then be electronically ‘handed out’ on the screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and gamblers will need to now decide which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the player would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the bettor has chosen which cards he or she wishes to retain, the player will then press ‘draw’, which will mean that any new cards are handed out if desired. The round is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the payout schedule.
Typically, the minimum 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 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 finally royal flushes. It should be known that the pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that discerning enthusiasts are agile enough to pick the most money-making ones every time.
Once the first round has completed, the player can either choose to continue on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that they may have won. Further, a few styles of the game allow the gambler an opportunity to double their wins, in which case a further game is played. There are also differences among individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying characteristics to increase playability.