Video Table Games Guide – Poker

Video poker players are lucky. They get the best of both worlds. The most popular card game ever invented intermingled with the hottest prospect at online casinos, the humble slot machine. Therefore, video poker is the successful amalgamation of these elements. The two go together perfectly as slot players try out poker and poker players start experimenting with slots. Despite their differences, the two come from the same piece of cloth.

As with all other card games of strategy, poker requires a measure of skill and basic knowledge of the rules. Yet with the video poker version, everything is simplified. The game is primarily based on slot technology, therefore a slot at heart. You still get the card values and winning combinations of poker yet in slot machine style. If anyone needs reminding, the payout values of the card combinations are everything in poker.

So how do the cards rank? The highest hand is the holy grail of poker, the Royal Flush, which is an upper run of the same suit, from ten to ace. That hand cannot be beaten by any other. A Straight Flush is also a run of cards of the same suit, but lower than the Royal Flush. The next in line is a ‘poker’ hand, which is four of a kind, and any additional card. A Full House is a hand containing three of a kind and a pair. Then there are the Flush and Straight hands, followed by three cards of a kind and two other random cards. You can have a hand with two pairs, or one pair and a high card hand without a pair, which is the lowest ranking hand.

This brings us to the wide variety of video poker games that can commonly be found at online casinos. From the many variants, Jacks or Better is a popular choice. As the name implies, you get a minimum hand of a pair of Jacks, and you win a payout. Deuces Wild is another in-demand version which allows players to create higher hands than Five of a Kind. Joker Poker pays out substantial amounts when you manage to get a Sequential Royal Flush. To win you need to land a run consisting of Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace all of the same suit of cards, and paying out from left to right. Five Card Draw has Single Card Draw are another two favorites.

Since video poker games first hit the gambling scene way back in the 1970s, riding on the success of the first wave of video games, they have made their way into popular culture and solidified the popularity of poker. Video Poker has a significant difference with table poker. The game is played alone not in a group; moreover, limits on video poker may be minor without turning heads in embarrassment! The visual side of video poker is almost cinematic in quality and extraordinarily lifelike and realistic. The different games and limits serve to accommodate all players from high rollers to novices looking to gain experience and learn the intricacies of the game.