Video Poker

If you enjoy being involved in live poker games then you will love video poker. The rules for video poker are normally the same as the rules for a live table game but in video poker you are playing against a machine rather than a group of people. Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television monitor with a central processing unit. Early models appeared in the mid-1970s around the same time the first personal computers were introduced. However, these machines were rather primitive compared to the technology available today. To play you must first deposit your money and, if given an opportunity screen, choose your game of choice followed by choosing which poker game variation you would like to play. You are then dealt a five card hand. You choose which cards you want to hold and which ones to discard. The new cards are dealt and you either win or lose. A lot of people who are intimidated in a live poker game actually prefer to play video poker. The game is growing in popularity online as well because there isn’t that much of a difference in the online type and the bricks and mortar casino versions. Newer video poker machines employ variants of the basic five-card draw but the best return on your money is often found on the “Jacks are Better” variation of the game because you are paid twice the amount of your bet for a pair of Jacks or better and usually the payout for three of a kind is three times your bet. Some of the video poker machines offer a bonus feature at the end of the hand. You might have a double down or a high low opportunity to double your winnings. Please exercise caution when playing this feature because this is usually a side bet designed to take back more than it pays out. Video Poker is one of the best games online or off for the player if you give yourself the advantage by learning how to play the hands correctly. Always remember when playing any machine to bet the maximum coins allowed for maximum payouts. One of the worst things that can happen to a video poker player is to play the minimum coins allowed and hit a Royal Flush. If you play the maximum number of coins in, you stand to win several thousand dollars.

Video Poker - Six Tips to Win the Big Payouts

Video poker is a slot machine game combined with the rules of five-card draw poker in a very specific manner. Video poker is a better game to play rather than traditional slot machines because it involves skilful play and is not a game of pure chance.

By playing with correct strategy, you can reduce the house edge and earn bigger paybacks. Below are six video poker tips to help you maximize your profits.

Tip 1. Play the Machines with the Best Payouts The payouts for all video poker machines are the same except for the payout on the flush, full house, or royal flush. This means that you need to play only the highest paying machines and avoid the lower ones. Here is a typical comparison of payouts on a Jacks-or-Better, which is the most popular video poker machine. Machine Payback Machine Payback with Correct Strategy 9 for a full house 6 for a flush 99.5% 8 for a full house 5 for a flush 97.4% 7 for a full house 5 for a flush 96.3% 6 for a full house 5 for a flush 95.2% This means that a player on the 9 / 6 machine, will be winning more for the same hands than the players on other machines. A 9 / 6 will generally hit the royal flush once for each 40,000 hands. The 8 / 5 odds are once for each 45,000 hands etc.

Tip 2. You Need to Play Maximum Coins. If you bet five coins, all winning hands are paid out by a factor of five, except for the royal flush. This is a bonus amount designed as an incentive to play five coins. Any player who plays less than maximum coins will contribute to a royal flush that will be won by another player. Keep in mind that you need to win the royal flush to beat the machine, so always play maximum coins.

Tip 3. Play Progressives It is already obvious that you need to play maximum coins, but you also need to look at the size of the jackpots when playing progressives. Compare them and then play the one with the biggest jackpot. Sounds obvious, but many players ignore jackpot size - don’t make the same mistake.

Tip 4. You Need to Play for a Long Time A player on the 9 / 6 machine has odds to 1:40,000 to get a Royal Flush - equivalent to about 100 hours of play. You need to keep feeding the machine until you win it; it’s as simple as that. You will therefore need to finance your play from your own bankroll or by collecting money from the intermediate hands that you win.

Tip 5. You Need to Play With a Strategy. In video poker, your odds are improved if you play with a strategy - and it’s easy to learn. There are strategies free on the net for all the major games.

Tip 6. Take Your Time Take your time to study every hand. The machine is in no hurry and you don’t get a bonus for playing quicker, so take your time. Video poker is fun and playing with the above six video poker tips will make sure the odds are in your favour as much as possible.

Video Poker And It’s Mark On The Poker World

What is Poker: Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, after which the pot is awarded to the remaining player or players with the best combination of cards. Poker can also refer to Video Poker which is a single-player game seen in casinos much like a slot machine. A Simple warning about gambling: Know your limit and play within it… As the poker game continues to make an unforgettable mark to the world of gambling, the existence of the video poker is much evident nowadays. In fact, many of the poker addicts today much preferred the video poker as their source of pleasure. But what then is video poker? Generally, the video poker has remained a preferred and favorite pastime of gamblers for years. This fact is noted for the reason that the video poker, with the combination of both poker and slots, is one of the few games in the casino where the player can definitely sight s positive expectation of winning. The video poker is often contrasted to “pure luck” which are games such as slots and roulette for the reason that unlike those sorts o games, the video poker combines the elements if luck and strategy. Accordingly, with the element of luck to the video poker, the outputs on video poker are generally governed by a random number generator, which is known as an RNG. In the video poker, the RNG cycles through random numbers at about 1000 per second when the machine is sitting idle. And at the time that you signal the machine to deal, the RNG of the video poker provides the machine used for video poker a number that corresponds to a combination of cards and the replacement cards in video poker to display. Also in the video poker, the available combinations in the RNG of the video poker level those that could be dealt by a 52-card deck. This ability of the video poker is similar to the probabilities that can be found in a poker game. On the other hand, the second element of the video poker which is the strategy holds that because in the video poker the player is granted to discard, the strategy element of the video poker comes into play. The key for the video poker with this second element is to discard in an act that provides you the highest probability of winning the video poker game. By applying such strategy for a video poker will give you the great opportunities of ruling in the long run. It is noted that under the video poker, the optimal strategy may change depending on the rules of a certain video poker you are playing. Also, the optimal strategy for video poker may vary with dissimilar video poker pay tables. With such situation in a video poker, oftentimes the players of the video poker game play maximum credits just to take advantage of the highest expectations for winning the video poker game. So if you want to experience playing the various video poker games, just remember those basic elements of the video poker for your great advantage. W. C. Fields once said: “Trust everyone-and always cut the cards.”

Video Poker (Jacks or Better) Tips

Video poker made its entry in the 1970s. It has proven to be a popular form of gaming. Video poker offers players the opportunity to gamble with anonymity, skill and a relatively low “house” advantage.

The objective of video poker is to achieve a winning combination of cards. The player firstly chooses how much to bet on the game. The machine then presents the player with 5 cards. The player chooses which cards, if any, to keep and discards the remaining cards. The machine then replaces the discarded cards with new ones.

The payout schedule displays the machines winning combinations and the values for each combination. These values vary according to the credit bet.

If the player’s last hand of cards form a winning combination, the player is awarded an amount corresponding with this combination and the number of coins bet.

Some machines give players the opportunity to win even more credit, by allowing them to bet their winnings and original bet using a secondary betting system.

There are various forms of video poker, such as ‘Jacks or better’, ‘Aces Faces’, ‘Deuces Wild’ and ‘Joker Wild’. Each is said to have varying rules and strategies.

Basic video poker winning combinations

Below is a list of common video poker winning combinations. Some video poker games incorporate other combinations also.

Royal Flush
A Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, all in the same suite.

Straight Flush
5 cards in sequence and in the same suite.

4 of a Kind
4 cards of the same rank and in any suite + 1 unmatched card.

Full House
3 cards of the same rank and in any suite + 2 cards of the same rank and in any suite.

Flush
5 cards of any rank and in the same suite.

Straight
5 cards in sequence and in any suite.

3 of a Kind
3 cards of the same rank and in any suite + 2 unmatched cards.

2 Pairs
2 cards of the same rank and in any suite + 2 other cards of the same rank and in any suite + 1 unmatched card.

1 Pair
2 cards of the same rank and in any suite + 3 unmatched cards.

‘JACKS OR BETTER’ VIDEO POKER TIPS

This form of video poker generally requires a minimal winning combination of 2 ‘Jacks’. Always check the machine’s payout schedule to confirm this.

Ensure you understand the payout schedule prior to deciding whether to bet and how much to bet on each game. Try to compare different machines and see if any offer a higher payout rate for certain winning combinations, such as for ‘full house’ or ‘flush’.

Generally, it seems more beneficial to bet the maximum amount of credit on each game. The jackpot for a ‘Royal Flush’ combination, for example, is only awarded if the player has bet the maximum number of coins. The problem, however, is that this has the potential to quickly exhaust your wallet. With this in mind, find a machine that best suits your budget. A quarter machine may suit your budget more so than a dollar machine, for example.

If your initial hand of cards does not contain a winning combination but contains a ‘Jack’, ‘Queen’, ‘King’ or ‘Ace’, it may be worthwhile holding onto this card and discarding the other four.

If your initial hand does not contain a winning combination but shows the potential to give you one should you hold certain cards and discard others, consider the probability of obtaining certain combinations versus other combinations.

If your initial hand does not contain a winning combination and seems to hold no promise of one should you hold any cards, consider discarding all 5 cards. The next lot of 5 cards have the potential to give you a winning combination.

If your initial hand contains a winning combination, it is generally less risky to hold on to the cards that form this winning combination than to not do this in the hope of obtaining a higher winning combination. This is probably a question of guaranteed returns versus possibly higher returns that are NOT guaranteed.

If your initial hand contains a ‘4 of a kind’ combination, hold onto all cards as changing the unmatching card will not improve your winning combination.

If your initial hand contains 4 cards needed to achieve a ‘Royal Flush’ or ‘Straight Flush’ but you need one more card to achieve this winning combination, SERIOUSLY CONSIDER holding onto these four cards and discarding the non-matching card. ‘Royal Flush’ and ‘Straight Flush’ combinations are most rewarding.

If your initial hand contains 4 cards needed to achieve a ‘Straight’ or ‘Flush’ but you need one more card to achieve this winning combination, consider holding onto these four cards and discarding the non-matching card. ‘Straight’ and ‘Flush’ combinations are relatively rewarding.

Recognize when a jackpot (large value) has been won. Some machines will ask you to call an attendant who will organize payment to you. Never handle or walk away from a machine that has just produced a jackpot winning. Call the attendant or have someone call him/her for you while you wait at the machine.

Find out if the venue you intend to play at offers other incentives, such as points, meals, accommodation, etc., that goes with your game play. This however doesn’t mean that you should play purely for these secondary benefits.

Practice your strategy for free using a video poker simulator. Many online casinos offer free game play.

Try to recognize when your luck may have changed. There are many examples of people winning significantly then “getting greedy”, so to speak, and losing everything.

Make sure you empty the machine of your credit prior to leaving it. Each year, people accidentally abandon machines that still have their credit inside.

Assign a budget for the day’s play. If the budget is lost, you will know when to leave the casino.

Don’t bet more than you can afford to lose.

Remember to always have fun

Video Poker - The Skill Debate

You will find some die-hard video poker players in any brick and mortar casino or in any online casino who have done their homework on the game. These players have read every book imaginable on the subject and are often convinced that the only beatable game in the casino is indeed video poker. The players have studied every variation of the game and are convinced it can be beaten regularly for profit. These people will never believe that their game of video poker is anything less than a game determined by skill and they are right. Just as in online Texas Hold’em games, video poker games are supposed to deal random hands and give the player the opportunity to use what they know to make the most out of the hand they are dealt. These random hands are valid poker hands and then give the player the opportunity to control the outcome of their game. Critics of video poker will argue that the game is on a RNG (random number generator just like slot machines) and therefore the machine is set, just as slot machines are to payout a certain amount within a certain time. These same critics would like for you to believe that while you play video poker online, you will be given the illusion of being in total control over your hand when in fact, you are not. These claims are rubbish if you think about it. The reason is clear. Video poker machines are set to pay back a percentage based on “perfect play” or near perfect play. You will of course have a more favourable outcome if you learn how to play the hands you are dealt with properly so you have a chance of beating the machine. This is true of any card game and just like in the online version of Texas Hold’em, you will increase your chances for a favourable outcome if you play like you are supposed to play. The RNG can play a significant role in your starting hands of course but the same RNG factor plays a role in the new cards you receive when you discard several that you won’t need to make a winning hand. This is one of those games which can be debated all day long as being a game of chance, but ultimately there have been enough books written on the subject to prove it is indeed a game of skill.