Electronic Poker is a popular game that is able to be played in casinos all over the globe, or alternatively at home on your PC, using a net connection. The rules are very simple and consist of the player trying 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 normal game of poker, apart from the line of contact with any other players. Of course, techniques used in a real-life game of poker, like tricking, will be useless here.
The game of Video Poker begins when the player inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the machine and pushes the play button. A hand of five cards will then be electronically ‘given out’ on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has hold buttons, and enthusiasts should now pick which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to 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 gambler has selected which cards he or she wishes to retain, they should press ‘draw’, at which point any new cards are needed they will be dealt. The hand is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it matches any of the winning hands listed in the pay out schedule.
Generally, the lowest succeeding 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 should be known that the payout schedule can range from machine to machine, so that discerning enthusiasts are agile enough to pick the most profitable game each and every time.
As soon as the initial round has completed, the player can either decide to remain on and try to to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that they may have won. Further, a few styles of the game give the enthusiast a chance to increase their winnings, in which situation a further round is played. There are also variations among specific machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other varying characteristics to increase playability.