Video Poker is a popular game that usually will be wagered on in casinos around the globe, or alternatively at your house on your home computer, using an Internet account. The game rules are very straightforward and consist of the player trying to achieve the highest assemblage of cards possible in order to win cash. In this respect it is much the same as a regular game of poker, minus the line of contact with competing players. Of course, techniques used in a physical game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker starts when the gambler inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or cash) into the machine and pushes the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will be electronically ‘dealt’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and bettors will need to now choose which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the bettor would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they want, whether it is all or none.
After the gambler has selected which cards she would like to retain, they should press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards will be handed out if desired. The round 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.
Generally, the lowest succeeding hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing 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, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payment schedule can vary from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable enthusiasts are agile enough to choose the most beneficial machine every time.
After the first round has played out, the player can either choose to continue on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that they may have won. Additionally, a few styles of the game allow the enthusiast a chance to double their winnings, in which situation a further hand is played. There are also variations among specific games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing aspects to increase playability.
