Video Poker is a popular game that is able to be wagered on in casinos all over the globe, or alternatively at home on your personal computer, using a net connection. The rules are very straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest assemblage of cards possible in order to come away with cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, without the line of contact with other players. Of course, methods employed during a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker begins when the player puts credits (whether it’s tokens, tickets or cash) into the machine and pushes the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "distributed" on the video screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and enthusiasts should now decide which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they want, from all to none.
After the gambler has decided on which cards he wishes to keep, the player will then press ‘draw’, which will mean that any fresh cards are given out if desired. 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.
Generally, the lowest succeeding hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each and every better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It should be known that the payout schedule can range from game to game, so that skillful players are agile enough to pick the most profitable machine every instance.
As soon as the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to stay on and try to to increase their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any money that they may have won. Further, some styles of the game give the gambler an opportunity to increase their wins, in which instance another game is played. There are also differences between specific games, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.