Electronic Poker is a beloved game that can be enjoyed in casinos across the world, or alternatively at your house on your PC, through an Internet connection. The game rules are absolutely straightforward and consist of the player trying to get the greatest assemblage of cards possible in order to come away with money. In this respect it’s 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, such as tricking, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker begins when the player inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the video poker machine and presses the play button. A hand of five cards will be electronically ‘handed out’ on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and bettors should now pick which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the enthusiast 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, whether it is all or none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards he would like to keep, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards will be needed they will be given out. The round is now finished, with the Video Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the pay out schedule.
Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money growing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, and moves on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It is obvious that the payment schedule can range from machine to machine, so that discerning players are agile enough to pick the most money-making game each and every time.
After the first round has played out, the player can either decide to continue on and try to to maximize their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that they may have won. Further, a few versions of the game allow the bettor a chance to increase their winnings, in which case another game is played. There are also differences among individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying aspects to increase playability.