Video Poker is a favored game that can be gambled on in casinos throughout the world, or in your house on your personal computer, using a net connection. The game rules are very simple and consist of the player trying to get the greatest assemblage of cards possible in order to come away with cash. In this respect it is much the same as a normal game of poker, minus the interaction with competing players. Of course, methods employed during a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the player puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and presses the deal button. A 5 card hand will then be electronically ‘handed out’ on the screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and gamblers will need to now choose which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the player has decided on which cards she would like to retain, they should press ‘deal’, which will mean that any fresh cards will be needed they will be dealt. The game is now finished, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands shown on the pay out schedule.
Normally, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money growing for each and every better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving 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 pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that discerning bettors are able to choose the most beneficial ones each instance.
Once the initial round has completed, the player can either choose to continue on and try to to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any money that has been won. Further, some versions of the game allow the enthusiast an opportunity to double their wins, in which instance a further round is played. There are also variations among individual machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other varying aspects to enhance playability.