Video Poker is a favored game that can be played in casinos around the world, or alternatively at home on your home computer, through an Internet connection. The game rules are very simple and involve the player attempting to get the highest mixture of cards achievable in order to acquire money. In this respect it’s much the same as a regular game of poker, minus the interaction with any other players. Of course, tactics employed during a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the enthusiast inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and presses the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "handed out" on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and bettors will need to now choose which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast wishes to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they wish, whether it’s all or none.
After the player has selected which cards he or she wishes to retain, they should press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards are dealt if desired. The round is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Generally, the lowest winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money increasing for each and every better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, moving on to two 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 change from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable bettors are able to choose the most profitable ones each and every instance.
As soon as the first round has played out, the player can either decide to continue on and try to to maximize their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any money that they may have won. Additionally, a few versions of the game give the enthusiast a chance to double their winnings, in which case a further round is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing aspects to increase playability.