Video Poker is a Slots game. However, unlike some other slots games, there is an element of skill involved. This is because you can make an educated guess on the outcome of the game based on mathematics as cards are required to be dealt from a 52 card deck unless you are playing on a Joker’s Wild machine, in such a case it’s a 53 card deck.
In order to be able to successfully play video poker it is important that you are familiar with the rank of poker hands. Ranks of poker hands starting with the best possible hand are as follows.
Royal flush: Ace-king-queen-jack-10 all of the same suit (hearts, clubs, spades, or diamonds). Straight flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit; for example, 2-3-4-5-6, all of clubs. Four of a kind: Four cards of the same rank; for example, ace of hearts, ace of spades, ace of clubs, ace of diamonds. Full house: Three cards of one rank, two cards of another rank; for example, 3 of diamonds, 3 of hearts, 3 of spades, 6 of hearts, 6 of spades. Flush: Five cards of the same suit; for example, ace, 10, 7, 4, 3, all of diamonds. Straight: Five consecutive cards of mixed suits; for example, 2 of diamonds, 3 of hearts, 4 of diamonds, 5 of clubs, 6 of spades. Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank; for example, 6 of hearts, 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds. Two pair: Two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank; for example, ace of spades, ace of hearts, 7 of clubs, 7 of diamonds.
The most common type of Video Poker is Jacks or better, that is where the machine only counts a hand of 2 Jacks or above. Now for game play, players must initially decide how much to bet and be dealt a hand. Therefore the user normally has to select an amount and press a deal button in order for this to occur. Like Slots there is usually also a Bet Max button which means to bet the maximum the machine will allow per bet. Once the player has placed their bets and cards have been dealt five cards will appear on the video screen. Now the fun starts! You now have the option of discarding or holding any of the cards, that is deciding which cards to keep according to what kind of hand you are trying or hoping to get. You hold and discard cards by pressing the hold and cancel button, hold to hold the card and cancel to cancel the decision to hold the card. After your final decision is made regarding which cards you are keeping you are then be required to press the draw/deal button. All discarded cards will then be replaced with new ones to join your held cards to make your final poker hand. If the hand is a winning hand then it will be rewarded accordingly depending on the poker hand rank. Happy Video Poker Playing!