Video Poker is a popular game that can be enjoyed in casinos throughout the world, or in your house on your personal computer, using a net connection. The game rules are very simple and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest mixture of cards possible in order to come away with money. On this account it is much the same as a normal game of poker, apart from the interaction with other players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, such as tricking, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the player puts credits (whether it’s tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the draw button. A 5 card hand will then be electronically ‘given out’ on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and enthusiasts should now choose which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the enthusiast has selected which cards she wishes to retain, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards will be handed out if desired. The round is now completed, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payout schedule.
Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money increasing for each and every better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It should be known that the payout schedule can vary from game to game, so that skillful players are able to pick the most money-making ones each time.
Once the first round has played out, the player can either decide to continue on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that they may have won. Further, some versions of the game allow the gambler a chance to double their profits, in which instance a further round is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to increase playability.