Poker has to be the best known casino game in the entire world, with millions of fans choosing not just to play online but purchasing their very own poker packages – complete with fancy felt table covering and chips – in order to play with the boys in the comfort of their own homes, entire nights and stag parties dedicated to this game! The game of poker can be traced back to New Orleans in the early 1800’s, with the very first account of poker being given by Joseph Crowell. But it wasn’t until An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling was penned in 1843 by Jonathan Green that poker – ironically! – hit the mainstream. Since then there has been hundreds of variations as poker spread throughout the world and morphed into Atlantic City Poker, Vegas Poker, Caribbean Stud and thousands more. One of the most popular forms of online poker playing today has to be Video Poker.
Though you are likely to find hundreds of Video Poker variations on any given online casino site – from Joker Poker, Aces and Faces and Deuces Wild to Bonus Poker, Aces and Fights and Jacks or Better – it is most traditionally a simple video form of 5 card draw. Traditionally this was played on a computerised device similar to brick and mortar slot machines, but of course with the technological leaps these days this can all be played online, and it remains to be one of the most popular.
How to play Video Poker
You will find that a Video Poker game looks much like an online slot game. With players simply placing their bets and hitting the “Deal” button. When you do so, your hand is dealt on to the screen exactly as though they were playing dealt from a real deck of 52 cards which means that the odds of drawing good cards are exactly the same as traditional online poker or land based poker. The next step is to choose which cards you would like to discard and which you would like to keep. Traditionally, you simply click on the cards if you want to keep them for the next round – you can choose to keep any cards you like or simply choose none and be dealt 5 new cards. As a general poker rule, stick to the simple cards like 2 pair, 3 of a kind of pair. No matter what you pick you will see that each of the hands are displayed to you above your hand, along with the payout that you will receive if you win these particular hands, so use this as a guide as to what hand you actually want to shoot for.
Once you have your selected cards, click the deal button to be dealt your next round of cards. If you r hand is a winner, this is displayed for you on the screen and the table above the hand you have drawn will highlight the hand that you have won on so that you know how much you have won. Of course different online casino sites offer completely different winnings for each hand and of course the winning hands will vary from game to game. But the great thing about Video Poker is that you can see these hands at all times. This means that to become a master of Video Poker, all you need to know is the hands and you’re good to go!
Video Poker Rules
Naturally as there are absolutely thousands of poker variations you will find that the rules may vary from game to game. However the only rules that are ever linked to Video Poker is that you must hold a winning hand to win – it couldn’t be simpler! Again this is why you need to know each individual poker hand inside out so that you know what exactly is needed in order to grab a winning hand. Though the different types of hands – Three of a Kind, Two Pair etc. – are all displayed above your hand, you will rarely find an online casino site with a Video Poker machine that actually shows you what cards you need to fulfil the hand. Wining hands are then paid out according to the pay chart on the machine.
Video Poker Lingo
Again, the only thing you really need to know when playing Video Poker is the different kinds of hands. There are lots, but there are 9 typical hands most often seen in a game of Video Poker:
Jacks or Better – you need a pair of Jacks or higher to win
Two Pair – a hand that contains 2 cards of the same rank with 2 cards of another rank
Three of a Kind – 3 cards of the same rank
Straight –5 cards in a row of different suits, eg. Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
Flush – 5 cards of the same suit
Full House - 3 cards of the same status together with another 2 cards of the same status
Four of a Kind – 4 cards of the same status
Straight Flush – ain straight run – eg 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 – of the same suit
Royal Flush - straight run from 10 to Ace with all 5 cards boasting the same suit
Video Poker Strategy
Playing Video Poker is actually very easy as the computer tends to do all of the work for you and therefor there is not much strategy involved at all. Also, as there are so many thousands of Video Poker variations, there are tonnes of different kinds of strategy and therefore your best bet is to search for your chosen Video Poker game and adopt some of the hints and strategies designated for that specific game. The second best strategy you could possibly have is play the games in demo mode if your casino site allows. This will help you to get to grips with the features, the hands and of course, practise makes perfect!
Wiki’s Final Thought Video Poker is absolutely ideal for poker fans who may be a little shy of their own abilities as the computer tends to do a lot of the work for you. As long as you know the different kinds of hands available to you inside out and you have a good amount of skill in knowing what you need for those hands and keeping the correct cards, you could scoop an awful lot of money playing Video Poker.