Electronic Poker is a favored game that is able to be played in casinos throughout the world, or alternatively at your house on your home computer, using an Internet account. The game rules are very straightforward and consist of the player attempting to achieve the best combination of cards achievable in order to come away with cash. On this account it is much the same as a regular game of poker, minus the interaction with any other players. Of course, techniques employed during a real-life game of poker, such as tricking, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Video Poker begins when the bettor inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the machine and pushes the play button. A five card hand will then be electronically ‘handed out’ on the screen.
The Electronic Poker machine also has hold buttons, and enthusiasts will need to now choose which cards to keep and which to throw away. For the cards the bettor wishes to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it’s all or none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards he or she wishes to retain, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards are handed out if desired. The hand is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine scanning the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payout schedule.
Typically, the lowest winning hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, moving on to two pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It is obvious that the payout schedule can change from machine to machine, so that experienced players are able to choose the most money-making machine each time.
After the initial round has completed, the player can either decide to continue on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that have been won. Further, a few versions of the game allow the enthusiast an opportunity to increase their winnings, in which case a further round is played. There are also variations between specific machines, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other varying aspects to increase playability.