Video Poker is a popular game that usually will be bet on in casinos all over the world, or in your house on your personal computer, through a web connection. The regulations are absolutely straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest assemblage of cards as you can in order to win money. In this respect it is much the same as a classic game of poker, minus the interaction with any other players. Of course, tactics used in a real-life game of poker, such as tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Video Poker starts when the player inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the machine and presses the draw button. A hand of five cards will be electronically ‘handed out’ on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has hold buttons, and enthusiasts should now decide which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the player has chosen which cards she would like to keep, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards will be given out if desired. The game is now completed, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payment schedule.
Normally, the lowest winning hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money increasing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It is obvious that the payment schedule can change from machine to machine, so that discerning players are able to select the most money-making machine every time.
Once the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to stay on and try to to increase their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that they may have won. Further, a few versions of the game allow the enthusiast an opportunity to double their wins, in which case another round is played. There are also variations between individual games, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing aspects to enhance playability.