Electronic Poker is a popular game that can be wagered on in casinos across the globe, or in your house on your computer, through an Internet connection. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the greatest mixture of cards possible in order to acquire money. On this account it is much the same as a regular game of poker, without the interaction with other players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, such as bluffing, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Video Poker begins when the player puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the machine and presses the deal button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "handed out" on the screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and gamblers will need to now decide which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the gambler would like to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any number of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the gambler has chosen which cards he wishes to retain, they should press ‘draw’, which will mean that any fresh cards are given out if desired. 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 pay out schedule.
Typically, the lowest succeeding hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing for each and every better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving on to two pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It goes without saying that the pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that discerning gamblers are able to pick the most profitable ones each instance.
Once the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to continue on and try to to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any money that they may have won. Additionally, several versions of the game give the gambler an opportunity to double their wins, in which situation a further game is played. There are also variations among specific machines, with some virtual decks including wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.