So what exactly is Video Poker? It’s a cross between Stud Poker, a slot machine and a few wild cards thrown in. The game is played fast, similar to Stud, and you’ve got a huge range of game options to choose from. These include Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, All American, Joker Poker or a number of other variations.
You have the option of playing from 1 through 5 coins, with payoffs improving with more coins used. All variations in video poker rank hands the same, though a given variation may add an extra rank or two. Video Poker is named accordingly because usually one player plays against a machine which displays the player’s cards on a video screen. However, there is no obvious reason why it could not be played with real cards, dealt by a human banker instead of a machine. Hence, the name of the game: Video Poker. The player places a wager and is dealt five cards from a standard 52-card deck.
The player has one opportunity to discard any number of unwanted cards, and is dealt an equal number of replacement cards from the deck. If the player has a sufficiently good poker hand, the dealer than pays the player according to a fixed scale of odds according to the type of hand. “Sufficiently good” often means a pair of Jacks or better If the player’s final hand is worse than this, the stake is lost to the dealer.
The exact odds offered and the minimum winning hand can vary from game to game. Of course this can significantly affect the player’s chances of making a profit. In some games certain cards are wild – either the 2’s or a joker is added to the deck.
In some games there is a cumulative jackpot that is won by a high hand such as a royal flush. The size of the available jackpot then also affects whether the game is worthwhile to play.
Some of the different types of video poker games that can be played are:
- Jacks or Better
- All American
- Double Bonus