Video Poker is a beloved game that can be enjoyed in casinos across the globe, or in your house on your home computer, using an Internet account. The rules are very straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the highest mixture of cards as you can in order to come away with cash. On this account it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, minus the line of contact with competing players. Of course, methods employed during a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Video Poker begins when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the video poker machine and presses the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will be "dealt" on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and bettors should now choose which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the bettor wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they want, from all to none.
After the bettor has selected which cards he would like to retain, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be dealt. The hand is now finished, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the pay out schedule.
Typically, the minimum winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money getting larger for each better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to 2 pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payment schedule can vary from game to game, so that discerning players are able to select the most profitable game every time.
After the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to stay on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that they may have won. Further, a few versions of the game allow the player an opportunity to increase their winnings, in which instance a further round is played. There are also variations between individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to enhance playability.