Electronic Poker is a popular game that usually will be wagered on in casinos all over the globe, or in your house on your home computer, using a web connection. The game rules are absolutely simple and involve the player trying to get the best mixture of cards achievable in order to come away with cash. In this respect it is much the same as a regular game of poker, without the involvement with any other players. Of course, techniques employed during a physical game of poker, such as tricking, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker starts when the enthusiast inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and presses the play button. A 5 card hand will be electronically ‘given out’ on the screen.
The Electronic Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and enthusiasts will need to now decide which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they want, from all to none.
After the enthusiast has chosen which cards she wishes to retain, they should press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards will be handed out if desired. The hand is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the pay out schedule.
Generally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money increasing 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, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It should be known that the pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that experienced gamblers are able to pick the most beneficial machine every instance.
Once the initial round has played out, the player can either decide to remain on and try to to maximize their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that might have been won. Additionally, some versions of the game give the player an opportunity to increase their wins, in which case a further hand is played. There are also variations between specific games, with some virtual decks including wild cards and other differing aspects to enhance playability.
