Video Poker is a favored game that can be bet on in casinos across the world, or in your house on your personal computer, through a net connection. The regulations are very straightforward and consist of the player trying to get the greatest mixture of cards possible in order to acquire cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a regular game of poker, without the interaction with any other players. Of course, methods used in a real-life game of poker, like bluffing, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the player inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the video poker machine and presses the draw button. A five card hand will then be electronically ‘handed out’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and players will need to now decide which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the bettor 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 want, whether it’s all or none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards he or she wishes to retain, they should press ‘draw’, which will mean that any new cards are needed they will be handed out. The game is now completed, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands printed on the payout schedule.
Typically, the lowest winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It goes without saying that the payout schedule can range from game to game, so that discerning players are able to pick the most money-making machine each instance.
After the initial round has completed, the player can either decide to remain on and try to to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that have been won. Further, a few versions of the game give the bettor a chance to double their profits, in which situation another round is played. There are also differences between specific games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.