Video poker is an extremely popular casino entertainment, which offers one of the best odds in the industry. Technically, it is a blend of a slot machine and a game of poker. To play, you need to know the rules of poker combinations, and that’s, basically, all. As everything’s automated and you don’t have any opponents except for the machine itself, you won’t need any psychological tricks involved in table games. This is the greatest advantage of video poker – it is designed for poker lovers who are acquainted with values of hands, but it is faster and less stressful than a process of playing against others.

Variations

There are lots of video poker variations. First of all, you have to look up their return level. It’s true that some games have more than 100%, which means that an experienced player can make regular profits. It doesn’t mean you can get rich in seconds, but it surely means that players have a little advantage over a casino, which is a rare thing.

Also, check out payout tables before choosing a version to play. They may differ dramatically, and for the same high combination, you may get different results. It also matters how much you bet: usually, with the increase of your wager, the possible winning sum increases two- or three-fold.

There might be versions of poker slot machines which feature progressive jackpots. They function like progressive slots: the highest prize is accumulated from each bet players make and is given randomly to one lucky person who managed to collect a strong hand. This feature adds some thrill to the process and increases the chances to win it big. Usually, video poker with progressive jackpots reduce other payouts, so you need to think about whether it’s worth it for you.

One of the most popular versions is Jacks or Better: in order to win at least something, you need to collect a pair of jacks or anything more valuable. Many variations provide additional bonuses, increasing payouts.

Another popular type of the game is Deuces Wild: here, deuces act like Wilds in slot machines and replace all the other cards to make a combination. Lots of variations feature such Wild cards – it could be, for example, sevens, or any other cards.

Rules

Before playing video poker, make sure you understand how poker hands are evaluated and what are the odds of each combination to appear. The process goes like this: you’re dealt five cards, and then, you need to decide which ones to leave and which ones to replace with others. Sometimes, you will have more than one line, i.e. more than five cards, but it doesn’t change the essence of the game.

Don’t expect for high hands to appear often and don’t believe that you can track some patterns or frequencies to guess your next cards. Video poker is a perfect blend of your decisions and luck: the biggest part is based on how you understand the probabilities and how quickly can you count them.