Video Poker is a popular game that usually will be played in casinos all over the globe, or in your house on your personal computer, using an Internet account. The regulations are very simple and consist of the player attempting to achieve the best combination of cards achievable in order to acquire money. On this account it is much the same as a classic game of poker, minus the involvement with any other players. Of course, techniques employed during a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Video Poker begins when the bettor inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the machine and presses the draw button. A 5 card hand will be electronically ‘given out’ on the screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and enthusiasts will need to now decide which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the gambler wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards he wishes to keep, the player will then press ‘draw’, which will mean that any fresh cards will be needed they will be handed out. The game is now completed, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payment 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 finally royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payout schedule can change from game to game, so that discerning enthusiasts are agile enough to choose the most profitable machine each time.
Once the initial round has played out, the player can either decide to stay on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that they may have won. Further, some versions of the game give the enthusiast a chance to increase their winnings, in which case a further round is played. There are also variations between specific machines, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other varying aspects to increase playability.
