Video Poker – All You Need to Know

Introduction to Video Poker:

Video Poker is known to be one of the most popular online as well as land based casino games ever since its creation in the 1970’s. The best part about Video Poker is that is a game novices can enjoy as well as well seasoned gamblers and that’s because the rules are easy to grasp.

This game is played on a machine that looks like a slot machine and it is based on a Five Card Draw version of Poker, it’s a game of simplicity and fun filled at that. The main goal when playing Video Poker is to get the hand that offers the highest pay-out. It is a game of skill and pure chance which makes it and adrenaline pumping and challenging game and has a moderately low house edge in contrast to the standard casino poker.

Poker Hands:

There are various Poker Hands and we are going to discuss them briefly as some nice background information when playing Video Poker or even normal Poker and it’s also important to understand the meaning of suits and ranks when playing poker.

Suits are referring to the symbols beneath the actual card value and they may be a Spade, Heart, Diamond or Clubs, where as rank refers to the actual cards value A, J, Q K.

Poker Hands from highest to lowest:

Royal Flush – 10, J, Q, K, A all the same suit.

Straight Flush – Five cards in a sequence all in the same suit which could be Spades, Clubs, Diamonds or Hearts e.g.: 5 of Clubs, 6 of Clubs, 7 of Clubs, 8 of Clubs and 9 of Clubs.

Four of a Kind – All four cards must be in the same rank e.g.: A, A, A, A and any other card.

Full House – Three of a kind with a pair e.g: K, K, K, 10, 10.

Flush – Any five cards of the same suit (diamond, hearts, spades, clubs) but not in sequence, so you could have five cards that are clubs with different numbers, that’s a Flush.

Straight – 5 cards in number order but different suits:

Three Of A Kind – Three Cards of the same value, meaning three Jack’s and any two other cards.

Two Pair – Two different pairs in your five cards so if you have two six’s and two ten’s you have Two Pair.

Pair – Here you only need two of your five cards to have the same rank.

High Card – When you haven’t made any of the ranks above the highest card plays be it the Jack, King or Queen if the rest are numerical cards. In most High Card games, the Ace is a 1.

Best Real Money Video Poker Casinos

Types of Video Poker Games:

There are a bewildering number of Video Poker Games to be found at online casinos and most of them are variations of some of the main games and for the most part are all variations of Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild.

Jacks or Better Video Poker:

Video Poker Jacks or Better game is considered to be the original Video Poker game and is based mainly on a five card draw. The game is played on a Video Poker machine which looks a lot like a slot machine, but it does not have spinning reels with symbols on them instead has a screen with five cards. It is quite similar to All American Video Poker.

The RNG (Random Number Generator) in the case of Jacks or Better is based on a 52 card deck so the odds of getting any particular card in any particular position are known. A Video poker game like a slot has pay tables which is a list of combinations that you end up paired with how much each of them pay and these are referred to as Poker Hands. In Video Poker unlike slot machines you get to decide whether or not you want to keep or throw away each card and should you choose to throw them away new cards are dealt once only

Deuces Wild Video Poker:

Deuces Wild video poker has a lot in common with Jacks or Better. It too has a 5 card hand and deciding which cards to keep and which ones to throw away is the nature of this beast. Pay-outs are also based on the strength of your hand. As so many people believe Deuces Wild to be just another variation of Jacks or Better we had a closer look so as to correctly categorise the game.

The difference between Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better is that Deuces Wild includes a Wild card however also dealt from a 52 deck of cards. Instead in this instance the deuces can be used to replace other cards needed for a hand allowing for a much stronger hand. The trick to winning big on Deuces Wild is to always bet the maximum coins and there is a vast difference between the pay tables when it comes to Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better.

The Deuces Wild pay table seems to be a bit on the heavy side. Getting back to the game and the strategy behind playing Deuces Wild which is quite different to Jacks or Better. Namely, you will never discard a deuce/wild as it improves your hand.

In a nutshell it can be said that for the most part, all Video Poker games play similarly to Jacks or Better. But with a few added features, and the Wild card being one of them. There are as previously stated a plethora of Video Poker games and here are a few more of the favourites:

Ace Invaders:

This game has 3 lines and you are dealt 3 hands. Any aces in the top two lines will drop down to improve your hand.

Ace Bonus Poker:

Very similar to Jacks or Better. But you receive bonus pay-outs on 4 of kind hands that include either a face or ace card.

Blackjack Bonus Poker:

This game has nothing to do with Blackjack. Instead, it’s a variant of Bonus Poker where a bonus pay-out is received if you have a blackjack as part of your final hand.

Bonus Poker:

This is probably one of the most popular Video Poker games, and it’s really just Jacks or Better with a bonus pay-out on a variation of 4 of kind hands.

Double Down Stud Poker:

A very unusual game as it is also offered as a table game. The draw card is you decide whether you would like to double your bet before you receive the last card.

Joker Poker:

In Joker Poker there is only one Wild card in this game and it’s the Joker. Here’s your chance to get Five Of A Kind.

Stack ‘Em Bonus Poker:

In this game you get to play up to 10 hands, 5 calculated vertically and 5 calculated horizontally.

Dream Card Poker:

This is a Video Poker game with a nice twist, in this variation you bet 10 coins per hand instead of 5 and in exchange, you will be on the odd occasion be dealt the dream card along with 4 other cards and what’s more the game advises you on which dream card to choose.

The list is endless when it comes to Video Poker games and they are generally based on the Video Poker games Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild so once you have mastered these two games the other selections and variations will be interesting and exciting to play especially those with added extra features.