Electronic Poker is a beloved game that can be enjoyed in casinos throughout the globe, or alternatively at home on your home computer, through a net connection. The regulations are very simple and consist of the player attempting to get the greatest combination of cards possible in order to win cash. In this respect it is much the same as a normal game of poker, without the line of contact with any other players. Of course, tactics used in a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker starts when the enthusiast inserts credits (whether it’s tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and presses the play button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "given out" on the screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and gamblers will need to now pick which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the player has chosen which cards he or she would like to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be dealt. The game is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands shown on the pay out schedule.
Generally, the lowest winning hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money getting larger for each better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It is obvious that the pay out schedule can vary from game to game, so that skillful enthusiasts are able to select the most profitable machine each and every instance.
Once the first round has played out, the player can either decide to continue on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that might been won. Further, some versions of the game give the gambler an opportunity to increase their winnings, in which case another round is played. There are also differences between specific machines, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to enhance playability.