Video Poker is a beloved game that is able to be played in casinos across the world, or in your house on your home computer, through an Internet connection. The rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player attempting to achieve the best combination of cards possible in order to win cash. On this account it is very similar as a normal game of poker, minus the interaction with any other players. Of course, techniques employed during a physical game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker starts when the player inserts credits (whether it’s tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the draw button. A 5 card hand will be electronically ‘dealt’ on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and bettors should now choose which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards she wishes to keep, they should press ‘draw’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be given out. The game is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands shown on the payment schedule.
Typically, the lowest winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money growing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payment schedule can change from machine to machine, so that discerning gamblers are able to choose the most profitable machine every instance.
As soon as the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to stay on in an attempt to increase their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that have been won. Additionally, some versions of the game give the enthusiast an opportunity to double their winnings, in which case another hand is played. There are also variations among individual machines, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other varying elements to increase playability.