Video Poker is a beloved game that can be gambled on in casinos around the world, or in your house on your computer, through a net connection. The rules are very simple and consist of the player trying to get the highest combination of cards achievable in order to come away with money. In this respect it is much the same as a classic game of poker, without the interaction with any other players. Of course, methods employed during a real-life game of poker, like tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the player inserts credits (whether it’s tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and presses the draw button. A 5 card hand will then be electronically ‘dealt’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and bettors will need to now decide which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the gambler has decided on which cards he wishes to retain, the player will then press ‘draw’, which will mean that any new cards will be needed they will be dealt. The hand is now completed, with the Video Poker machine scanning the cards to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payment schedule.
Typically, the lowest winning hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money getting larger for each better hand. A list of common 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 finally royal flushes. It is obvious that the payment schedule can vary from game to game, so that skillful players are agile enough to pick the most money-making machine every time.
As soon as the initial round has finished, the player can either choose 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. Further, several versions of the game give the enthusiast an opportunity to increase their profits, in which case a further game is played. There are also differences between individual machines, with some virtual decks including wild cards and other differing aspects to enhance playability.