[ English ]

Video Poker is a beloved game that is able to be bet on in casinos all over the world, or in your house on your PC, through an Internet connection. The regulations are very simple and consist of the player trying to achieve the highest mixture of cards possible in order to win cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a regular game of poker, apart from the involvement with competing players. Of course, techniques used in a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be irrelevant here.

The game of Electronic Poker starts when the enthusiast puts credits (whether it is tokens, tickets or cash) into the video poker machine and presses the draw button. A hand of 5 cards will be "distributed" on the video screen.

The Electronic Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and enthusiasts will need to now decide 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 illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they want, from all to none.

After the player has chosen which cards she would like to keep, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards are dealt if desired. The hand is now finished, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the hand to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the payout schedule.

Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money increasing for each better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to two pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It is obvious that the pay out schedule can change from machine to machine, so that skillful gamblers are able to select the most beneficial game every time.

Once the first round has finished, the player can either choose to stay on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that they may have won. Additionally, several versions of the game give the player an opportunity to increase their profits, in which situation another round is played. There are also differences among specific machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other varying aspects to increase playability.