Video Poker is a beloved game that can be gambled on in casinos throughout the world, or in your house on your personal computer, through a web connection. The regulations are very straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the highest combination of cards as you can in order to win money. In this respect it is very similar as a regular game of poker, minus the interaction with any other players. Of course, tactics employed during a real-life game of poker, like tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Video Poker starts when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the video poker machine and presses the play button. A five card hand will be electronically ‘distributed’ on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has hold buttons, and players will need to now choose which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the player would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it’s all or none.
After the player has decided on which cards she would like to retain, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any fresh cards will be needed they will be given out. The hand is now finished, 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.
Generally, the minimum winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It should be known that the pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable enthusiasts are agile enough to pick the most money-making game each and every instance.
Once the first round has completed, the player can either choose to remain on in an attempt to maximize their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any cash that has been won. Further, a few versions of the game give the bettor an opportunity to increase their wins, in which case another game is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing characteristics to enhance playability.