The video poker machine does a lot of thinking for you in the sense that it reads your eventual hand and evaluates its worth. After the first deal and a player's removal of certain cards, the machine will then deal again and replace the cards you have chosen to get rid of. Lastly, the machine will automatically credit your bank in the case of a win. To finish playing at a certain machine, simply hit cash out. Some machines will cash out with actual coins while others will print out a ticketed stub with your dollar amount printed on a receipt-like paper.
For players wanting to challenge their poker skills but would rather play alone or for those players just seeking a great game with a low house edge, video poker is a good match. The prospect of a huge jackpot from a small bet, and the thrilling element of chance combined with skill characterize video poker quite accurately. Video poker does without the element of competition against other players at the table and this is probably its most attractive feature to so many of its fans.
There are countless varieties of video poker games found online. The most popular are Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Aces and Faces. The general game is based on standard poker hand rankings with the royal flush giving the highest pay. On average the royal flush will appear once every 40,000 hands. While the royal is the best pay out you can find games with great pay outs for other wins such as four of a kinds. If you want the biggest non royal wins then try Double Bonus Poker where you can win 2,000 credits (half a royal) for quad aces and a 2, 3 or 4.
The following are the standard hand rankings for poker. You will find however that different video poker variation has even more different winning hands.
* Royal Flush: Straight flush with the high card being an ace
* Straight Flush: Five sequential cards of the same suit
* Four of a kind: Four cards of the same value
* Full House: Three of a kind and a pair
* Flush: Five cards of the same suit
* Straight: Five cards with sequential values
* Three of a kind: Three cards with the same value
* Two Pair: Two separate pairs of cards with the same value
* Pair: Two cards of the same value
To play video poker you simply insert credits or load up the game on your computer. You can then choose the credit size. You can then choose to bet between one and five credits per game. It is highly recommended that you always play max bet as you will get better pay offs for all win. Once you have pressed the bet button five cards are dealt. You can then choose to hold all or any of the cards and press deal to get these cards replaced. You are then presented with the final hand and paid for any wins. At this point most games let you have the chance at collecting your win or trying to double up. The double up option is not such a bad bet as it has no house advantage. If you select double, you will have one card dealt face up and four cards dealt face down. You then need to select one of the facedown cards in the hope that the card you pick is higher than the face up card. If you tie the bet is returned if you win you can collect or double up again. Usually there is a maximum of five doubles per win in a game of video poker but that does differ considerably from casino to casino. |
Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like monitor with a solid state central processing unit. The earliest models appeared at the same time as the first personal computers were produced, in the mid-1970s, although they were rather primitive by today's standards. Throughout the 1980s, video poker became increasingly popular in casinos, as people found the devices less intimidating than playing table games. Today, video poker enjoys a prominent place on the gaming floors of many casinos. 