Video poker, a blend of traditional poker and slot machines, offers a unique gaming experience in casinos and online. This electronic game combines chance with strategy, allowing players to aim for the best hand based on poker rankings. Simple yet strategic, video poker appeals to a wide audience, offering the excitement of playing poker along with the solitary play of slots.
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Table of Contents How to play video Poker
Common vocabulary of video poker
When playing video poker, you’ll come across specific terminology that’s helpful to know:
Hand:
The set of cards a player holds during a game.
Pay Table:
A chart showing the payouts for different hands.
Wild Card:
A card that can substitute for any other card to create new cards in a winning hand.
Full Pay:
A game offering the highest standard payouts.
House Edge:
The statistical advantage the casino holds over the player.
Multi-Hand Poker:
A version where players play traditional poker hand or multiple hands simultaneously.
Hold:
Keeping a card(s) from the initial deal for the final hand.
Discard:
Cards that a player chooses to replace after the initial deal.
Jackpot:
A large prize for achieving a rare hand, like a royal flush.
Flush:
A hand with all cards of the same suit.
Straight:
A sequence of consecutive cards, regardless of suit.
Royal Flush:
The highest hand, consisting of A, K, Q, J, 10 of the same suit.
Random Number Generator (RNG):
Software that ensures each card deal is random.
Double Up:
An optional feature to double winnings by guessing a card color or suit.
Progressive Jackpot:
A jackpot that increases until it’s won.
Understanding these terms can greatly enhance your online slot experience, helping you navigate and enjoy the game more fully.
Video Poker strategies
Strategy
Description
Know the Pay Tables
Understand payouts for various hands to inform strategy.
Understand Probabilities
Familiarize with the odds of drawing specific hands.
Use Strategy Charts
Follow charts from top to bottom to determine the best play.
Bankroll Management
Play within limits to sustain gameplay.
Find ‘Full Pay’ Games
Seek games with the best payback percentages.
Play Maximum Coins
Ensure eligibility for the highest payouts, like the royal flush.
Game-Specific Strategy
Adapt strategy to the variant of video poker game being played.
These strategies are a synthesis of the common approaches to video poker strategy that players use to improve their chances of winning at video poker.
Understanding video Poker odds
Video poker odds are crucial for players to understand the likelihood of forming certain hands. Here’s a brief summary of these odds:
Royal Flush dealt:
Approximately 1 in 650,000
Royal Flush ending hand:
Approximately 1 in 40,000
Four of a kind:
Approximately 1 in 423
Full House:
Approximately 1 in 90
Flush:
Approximately 1 in 85
Straight:
Approximately 1 in 80
Straight Flush:
Approximately 1 in 9,150
Odds of improving a hand
Turning one pair into two pairs:
Approximately 1 in 6
Turning one pair into three of a kind:
Approximately 1 in 9
Turning two pair into four cards for a full house:
Approximately 1 in 12
Drawing one card up to five coins make a flush:
Approximately 1 in 5
Drawing one card into an open-ended straight:
Approximately 1 in 6
These odds vary depending on the game and the specific draw situation.
Different video poker games
Video poker offers a variety of games, each with its own set of rules and pay structures. Here are some of the different types of video poker games available:
Jacks or Better:
Often recommended for beginners, this game pays out for a pair of jacks or better. Optimal machines, known as 9/6 machines, pay nine to five coins for a full house and six for a flush.
Joker Wild:
Played with a 53-card deck including a joker, which acts as a wild card. The presence of the wild card requires a minimum of two pairs for a winning hand.
Deuces Wild:
In this variant, all four deuces (twos) are wild, making the minimum winning hand three of a kind.
King of the Decks:
Utilizes five decks of cards and offers a progressive jackpot for getting five kings of clubs, with the minimum winning hand being two pairs due to the increased number of potential pairs.
Progressive Machines:
These two video poker machine and machines offer a progressive jackpot, which can make them worth playing if the jackpot is sufficiently high, despite lower payouts for a full house and flush.
Bonus Poker:
A variation that offers higher payouts for certain four-of-a-kind hands.
Double Bonus Poker:
Pays extra for four-of-a-kind hands, especially four aces.
The best machines to play are those offering the highest payback percentages, such as the 9/6 Jacks or Better, 10/7 Double Bonus, and Full-Pay Deuces Wild, which can pay out 99.5%, 100.2%, and 100.8% respectively with optimal play.
FAQ – How to play poker
A casino game based on five-card draw poker played on digital consoles similar to slot machines.
Players bet, receive five cards, and decide which to keep and discard. The goal is to make the best poker hand possible.
The odds vary by game. For example, the odds of getting a Royal Flush in Jacks or Better are approximately 1 in 40,000.
This could be intentional, as strategies are designed to be as accurate as possible with or without exceptions. For instance, Suited King-Ten might be omitted because holding only the King returns more in the long run in some games.
The strategy calculator groups plays of the same type that don’t conflict. For example, in 9/6 Jacks or Better, Full House and all Four of a Kinds are listed separately since they don’t conflict.
Computer-generated strategies may differ from hand-written ones as they are designed to be more concise and applicable to multiple games. Hand-written strategies are usually more detailed and game-specific.
If a play isn’t listed in the basic strategy or exceptions, it’s generally advised never to make that play.
Exceptions in strategy charts are cases where a less obvious play may be more profitable. They are sorted by frequency of occurrence and must be studied carefully for optimal results.
Games that offer the highest possible payouts for particular hands are known as ‘Full Pay’ games.
Yes, many online casinos offer video poker where you can bet and win real money.