Electronic Poker is a beloved game that can be wagered on in casinos all over the world, or alternatively at your house on your personal computer, through a net connection. The regulations are very simple and involve the player attempting to achieve the best mixture of cards possible in order to acquire cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, minus the line of contact with other players. Of course, methods employed during a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker starts when the player inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the machine and presses the deal button. A five card hand will be electronically ‘handed out’ on the screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and players will need to now choose which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the enthusiast wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they wish, whether it is all or none.
After the player has selected which cards she would like to retain, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any fresh cards will be needed they will be handed out. The hand is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the payment schedule.
Generally, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money getting larger for each and every better hand. A common list of winning hands begins 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 definitely goes without saying that the payout schedule can vary from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable players are able to pick the most profitable game each time.
After the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to remain on and try to to increase their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that has been won. Further, a few versions of the game allow the player a chance to double their winnings, in which situation another round is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying characteristics to increase playability.