Video Poker is a popular game that usually will be bet on in casinos around the world, or in your house on your PC, using a net connection. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the best combination of cards possible in order to come away with cash. In this respect it is much the same as a classic game of poker, apart from the line of contact with other players. Of course, techniques used in a real-life game of poker, like bluffing, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker starts when the enthusiast inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or cash) into the machine and pushes the play button. A hand of 5 cards will be electronically ‘distributed’ on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and gamblers should now pick 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 choose to keep any number of cards they want, from all to none.
After the bettor has chosen which cards he or she would like to keep, they should press ‘draw’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be given out. The hand is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the payment schedule.
Generally, the lowest 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, three 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 range from game to game, so that discerning gamblers are able to pick the most money-making game every instance.
After the initial round has played out, the player can either decide to stay on in an attempt to increase their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any money that they may have won. Additionally, a few styles of the game allow the gambler an opportunity to double their profits, in which instance another game is played. There are also differences among specific games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to increase playability.