Video Poker is a beloved game that can be played in casinos around the world, or in your house on your computer, through a web account. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the highest combination of cards achievable in order to win money. In this respect it’s very similar as a regular game of poker, without the line of contact with other players. Of course, tactics used in a real-life game of poker, like tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Video Poker begins when the enthusiast puts credits (whether it is tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the deal button. A 5 card hand will then be "dealt" on the video screen.
The Video Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and players will need to now choose which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it is all or none.
After the enthusiast has chosen which cards she wishes to retain, the player will then press ‘draw’, which will mean that any fresh cards are given out if desired. The round is now completed, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Generally, the minimum succeeding hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It goes without saying that the payout schedule can range from machine to machine, so that discerning players are agile enough to select the most money-making machine every time.
After the initial round has completed, the player can either decide to remain on and try to to maximize their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any money that might have been won. Additionally, some styles of the game give the bettor a chance to double their profits, in which case a further hand is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing aspects to increase playability.
