[ English ]

Video Poker is a favored game that can be played in casinos across the world, or alternatively at your house on your home computer, using a web connection. The game rules are very straightforward and involve the player trying to get the highest combination of cards achievable in order to acquire money. In this respect it’s much the same as a normal game of poker, apart from the interaction with any other players. Of course, techniques used in a real-life game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.

The game of Video Poker begins when the bettor inserts credits (either tokens, credit slips or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the deal button. A hand of 5 cards will then be electronically ‘dealt’ on the screen.

The Electronic Poker machine also has hold buttons, and bettors will need to now pick which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they want, from all to none.

After the gambler has decided on which cards he would like to retain, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any fresh cards are given out if desired. The hand is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands shown on the payout schedule.

Normally, the minimum succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money increasing for each better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It goes without saying that the payout schedule can range from machine to machine, so that knowledgeable enthusiasts are agile enough to select the most beneficial game each time.

As soon as the initial round has completed, the player can either choose to continue on and try to to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that they may have won. Further, a few styles of the game allow the gambler an opportunity to increase their winnings, in which situation a further game is played. There are also variations among specific games, with some decks of cards having wild cards and other differing elements to enhance playability.