Video Poker is a popular game that can be bet on in casinos across the world, or in your house on your PC, using an Internet connection. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to get the highest mixture of cards achievable in order to win cash. In this respect it is very similar as a regular game of poker, without the involvement with any other players. Of course, techniques used in a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the player puts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the machine and presses the deal button. A 5 card hand will be "dealt" on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and bettors will need to now pick which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they want, from all to none.
After the gambler has decided on which cards he or she would like to keep, they should press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards are dealt if desired. The game is now completed, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands printed on the pay out schedule.
Normally, the minimum winning hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money increasing for each better hand. A list of common 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 last but not least royal flushes. It is obvious that the payout schedule can change from game to game, so that knowledgeable players are agile enough to choose the most money-making game every time.
After the first round has played out, the player can either choose to stay on and try to to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any money that they may have won. Further, several styles of the game give the bettor a chance to increase their wins, in which situation another game is played. There are also differences between individual games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing elements to increase playability.