Video Poker is a favored game that can be bet on in casinos all over the globe, or alternatively at home on your home computer, through a net connection. The rules are very simple and involve the player trying to get the best assemblage of cards possible in order to acquire cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a regular game of poker, minus the line of contact with competing players. Of course, tactics used in a real-life game of poker, such as tricking, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Video Poker starts when the bettor inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the machine and presses the play button. A hand of five cards will be electronically ‘dealt’ on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ written 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 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 player has decided on which cards he or she wishes to retain, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards will be needed they will be handed out. The hand is now completed, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the pay out schedule.
Normally, 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 common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, and moves on to 2 pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payout schedule can vary from game to game, so that knowledgeable enthusiasts are agile enough to select the most profitable game each and every instance.
Once the first round has completed, the player can either choose to continue on and try to to maximize their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that have been won. Additionally, several styles of the game give the player a chance to increase their profits, in which situation a further hand is played. There are also variations among specific machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing elements to enhance playability.