Electronic Poker is a favored game that can be gambled on in casinos throughout the world, or in your house on your PC, using an Internet connection. The game rules are absolutely simple and involve the player trying to get the highest combination of cards achievable in order to win money. In this respect it is much the same as a classic game of poker, minus the involvement with competing players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be useless in Video Poker.
The game of Electronic Poker starts when the player inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or cash) into the machine and presses the deal button. A 5 card hand will then be electronically ‘given out’ on the video screen.
The Electronic Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and players should now choose which cards to hold and which to discard. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons must be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, from all to none.
After the gambler has chosen which cards she would like to retain, the player will then press ‘deal’, at which point any new cards will be dealt 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 payment schedule.
Typically, the lowest succeeding hand on an Electronic 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, and moves on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, 4 of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It should be known that the payment schedule can vary from machine to machine, so that experienced gamblers are able to select the most money-making game each and every time.
After the first round has played out, the player can either decide to remain on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any cash that they may have won. Further, several styles of the game give the enthusiast an opportunity to double their profits, in which situation a further round is played. There are also variations between specific machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing elements to increase playability.