Electronic Poker is a beloved game that is able to be bet on in casinos across the globe, or in your house on your personal computer, through an Internet connection. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest combination of cards possible in order to win money. In this respect it is much the same as a regular game of poker, without the involvement with other players. Of course, tactics employed during a real-life game of poker, such as tricking, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker starts when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and presses the play button. A hand of five cards will be "distributed" on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and bettors should now choose which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the bettor wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it’s all or none.
After the gambler has selected which cards he would like to keep, the player will then press ‘draw’, which will mean that any new cards will be handed out if desired. The round is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payout schedule.
Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing for each and every better hand. A common list of 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 goes without saying that the payment schedule can change from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable enthusiasts are agile enough to select the most profitable ones each and every instance.
After the first round has played out, the player can either decide to continue on and try to to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any money that might have been won. Further, several versions of the game allow the enthusiast an opportunity to increase their profits, in which instance a further hand is played. There are also differences between individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other differing characteristics to enhance playability.