Video Poker is a popular game that is able to be enjoyed in casinos throughout the world, or alternatively at home on your PC, using an Internet connection. The rules are very straightforward and involve the player attempting to achieve the greatest assemblage of cards possible in order to win money. In this respect it is much the same as a regular game of poker, without the line of contact with any other players. Of course, methods used in a real-life game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Video Poker begins when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the machine and pushes the deal button. A 5 card hand will be "dealt" on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has hold buttons, and gamblers should now decide which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the player has selected which cards he or she would like to retain, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any fresh cards are given out if desired. The hand is now completed, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands printed on the payment schedule.
Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each better hand. A list of common winning hands begins with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It is obvious that the payout schedule can range from game to game, so that experienced bettors are agile enough to choose the most profitable machine each instance.
After the first round has finished, the player can either choose to remain on in an attempt to increase their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that they may have won. Further, some versions of the game give the bettor a chance to double their wins, in which case a further round is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some virtual decks including wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.