2017
04.25

Video Poker is a popular game that can be enjoyed in casinos all over the globe, or alternatively at home on your personal computer, using an Internet account. The game rules are absolutely simple and involve the player attempting to get the greatest mixture of cards possible in order to come away with cash. On this account it’s very similar as a regular game of poker, without the interaction with other players. Of course, methods employed during a physical game of poker, such as tricking, will be useless in Video Poker.

The game of Electronic Poker begins when the gambler puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and presses the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will be "given out" on the screen.

The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and enthusiasts should now pick which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the player would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they want, from all to none.

After the player has decided on which cards she wishes to retain, the player will then press ‘draw’, at which point any new cards are given out if desired. The game is now finished, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the payout schedule.

Typically, the minimum succeeding 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 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 last but not least royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payment schedule can change from game to game, so that discerning gamblers are able to select the most beneficial machine every time.

Once the initial round has finished, the player can either choose to remain on and try to to maximize their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that might have been won. Further, some styles of the game give the player a chance to increase their winnings, in which situation another hand is played. There are also variations between individual games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing aspects to enhance playability.