Playing video poker

Video Poker first started to appear in land based casinos in the 1970's and proved to be an instant hit as it allowed players who were tiring of slot machines to play a new variety of casino game and one that offered them the ability to put into play a playing strategy that could be used in the hope of letting them walk away a winner.

The game of developed over the years, with the first version brought out being the Jacks or Better game and this game has spawned a huge variety of different types, with games such as Deuces Wild in which all of the two cards are wild, Progressive which offers an ever rising jackpot and also multi hand which allows you to play lots of different hands per game.

Know the basics of the game

The rules are the same as draw poker, but you are playing against a machine. You're dealt five cards, and can take up to five new cards or keep any you have. Hit the "hold" button for those you want to keep, and then hit deal to discard those you don't want and receive new ones. The final hand is the only one that matters.

Because video poker machines have a 52 card deck, there are 2,598,960 possible combinations, and the video poker machine simulates the same probabilities as if it were a physical deck of cards. Casinos have the machine payouts adjusted so that they have a slight edge, and payout amounts for video poker games are alike except for full house, flush, and royal flush.

You simply have to end the game with any one of the hands featured on the payout schedule, and if you do then you will be rewarded with the displayed amount of coins. One valuable tip is for you to always play any with the maximum number of coins per hand as this will often give you an enhanced payout for the fifth coin you play.

The game of Video Poker is very simple to play once you get enough practice in, and most online Video Poker games will have what is known as an Auto Hold facility, this automatically holds the best cards for you, so you will never miss out on a winning hand combination.

The best hand you can get dealt on the vast majority of Video Poker games is a Royal Flush, this is the Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace all of the same suit, however some Video Poker games give you bonus payouts for certain hands so always ensure you check the payout table before you start to play to ensure you know what you are playing for and what hands payout gives you the most amount.