Electronic Poker is a popular game that can be bet on in casinos throughout the world, or alternatively at home on your PC, through a net connection. The rules are very straightforward and involve the player attempting to achieve the greatest mixture of cards achievable in order to acquire money. In this respect it’s much the same as a classic game of poker, without the interaction with other players. Of course, techniques employed during a real-life game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker starts when the player puts credits (either tokens, tickets or cash) into the machine and presses the draw button. A five card hand will be electronically ‘dealt’ on the video screen.
The Video Poker machine also has hold buttons, and players will need to now decide which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the bettor would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they wish, whether it’s all or none.
After the player has decided on which cards he or she would like to retain, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards will be needed they will be handed out. The game is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payout schedule.
Normally, the lowest winning hand on a Video 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, moving on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It definitely goes without saying that the payment schedule can change from machine to machine, so that skillful enthusiasts are agile enough to choose the most beneficial machine every instance.
Once the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to remain on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that they may have won. Additionally, some styles of the game give the bettor a chance to double their wins, in which case another hand is played. There are also variations among individual machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.