If you have been into a casino, chances are, you have seen or played with a video poker machine. For those who do not know what video poker is or for those who haven’t stepped inside a casino, video poker is one of those casino games that looks like and has a similar size like that of a slot machine. It is usually played on a computer console.

The earliest video poker machines were in the market in the mid 1970’s. It is basically a combination of a monitor that resembled that much of a television and a CPU or Central Processing Unit. In 1979, video poker came into the mainstream with the introduction of “Draw Poker”. Video Poker became popular in the 1980’s and up to now, different video poker machines are still being played in many casinos and gaming floors.

A game of video poker begins when a player inserts money or ticket into a video poker machine as a bet of one or more credits. After this, a “deal” button found in the machine should be pressed. This action draws the cards in the video poker machine. At this point, the player has an option to keep or exchange one or more cards for a new one from the deck of cards. After this, the video poker machine evaluates the hand. A pay schedule of winning hands is usually posted. If the hand matches one of those, then the video poker will offer a payout.

A pair of jacks is usually the minimum hand when a video poker machine starts the payout. The bases of payout allocations in pay schedules are the rareness of the hand and the overall speculated return offer of the game operator. Other players play more and bet more boldly for video poker machines that offer progressive jackpots for royal flush and other rare hands.

There are many kinds of video poker machines. Most of which that were created are variants of the original 5-card draw. These video poker games can be categorized into 2 kinds. These are the standard video poker and the multi-line video poker.

Standard video poker include Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, 10’s or Better, Aces & Faces, Joker Poker, Megajacks and 2 Ways Royal. These video poker games are usually characterized with the use of terms that have some adjective in the title such as “double”, or “triple” or “bonus”. Deuces Wild, which is the most popular among standard video poker machines, can be played where a two can substitute as a joker. In this video poker game a jackpot is paid as a natural royal or for four deuces.

Multi-play poker games, on the other hand, are video poker games where the player starts with a base hand of five cards. In this game, different set of cards with the base excluded from the set will be used to draw additional hands. Some of the multi-player video poker games offered include 4-Line Jacks or Better, 4-Line Deuces Wild, 4-Line Aces & Faces, 10-Line Jacks or Better and 25-Line Aces & Faces

The following are tips that can help you play and win in video poker games.

- For players who want to play progressive video poker, it is best to look for jackpots over 250 dollars on a nickel machine, 2,500 dollars on a quarter machine and 10,000 dollars on a dollar machine.

- you should play on a video poker machines that pay 6 coins for a flush and 9 coins for a full house

- Jacks should be reserved when playing video poker and you should remember that it is more valuable than the Ace.

- A strategy to get royal flush bonuses when playing video poker on progressive machines is to bet the maximum amount of coins.

- And lastly, like in all poker games, take your time. Study the hand dealt by the video poker machine before you act.

By: Nicholas Tan

Video Poker is a game that requires some skill to play and bridges the gap between slot machines and table games for many players. It’s still easy and fun to play, but you have the potential to maximize your gains by being able to put the odds in your favour, making it a more involving playing experience. In most casinos video poker machines, (when played correctly), give a lower house edge than other online slot machines. When video poker machines first appeared in casinos, the only game played was Jacks or better draw poker. Today, there are over 100 variations of the game and they can all be played online.

How to Play

Video Poker is derived from draw poker and has the same rules, except that you are not playing against any other players, just a machine. The machine deals five cards on the screen. The player can if they want, take up to five new cards. The player keeps the cards they want to keep by hitting the “hold” button that corresponds to the individual card shown. When the choice is made the player hits the “deal” button, and the cards discarded are replaced by new cards. The result of the game is determined by the outcome after the final hand is completed. How much you win (if at all) is shown on the pay table that is on machine the player is playing. Video slots have better graphics and more effects than three-reel slots, and create an overall more visual and exciting gaming experience.

The Pay Table & Return

The major advantage that video poker has over other slot machines is that the return of the game can be calculated by reading the pay table on the front of the machine. Most video poker games use the combinations of hands that can be made from a 52-card deck. There are some Joker Poker Games that use one / two Jokers added to the deck. For example, the game Deuces Wild uses a 52-card deck but the deuces are wild cards. The number of combinations that can be made from the cards used in the game means the payout can be worked out by what the machine pays for each winning combination.

There are 2,598,960 possible hands from a 52-card deck. The programme in a video poker machine is set to simulate the probabilities of drawing any of these combinations. Because this is a set probability, the casino simply adjusts the pay table of the online machines to produce the house edge. There are software programs, books, courses, strategy cards, and online information sites where you can get relevant information to workout the payouts for each pay table. By knowing how to read a pay table, you can pick a machine with the best return and best odds of success.

Video Poker – Online Slot Machines with Skill

Many players start playing online slot machines, try video poker and stay with it. So why is online video poker one of the best online slot machines to play? Simply, it has all the fun and excitement of regular online slot machines, but there is also the possibility to put the odds a little in the players favour by introducing an element of skill. Many players who want to maximize their bankroll and payback like this!

By: Stephen Todd

Poker is one of the interesting games since the start of fifteenth century. The challenge is not to prove who among the players are most skilled and competent. Rather, the game is simply based on luck and chance. Although this is so, smartness is one characteristic that is applied to ensure that the player gets on the right bet. In playing poker, hopes are usually up so that the reward will be taken. The rewards are payouts for the right bet made. Usually, these rewards are quite substantial that’s why more players continue betting with hopes that they get the reward.

Poker is a card game that involves bets as to who among the players got the highest card value based on the hand ranking hierarchy. The stakes for poker games are usually high. Getting the right bet means winning substantial monetary rewards from the bet. Wrong bets, on the other hand, results to loosing a lot of money from the bet made.

There are people who are challenged with poker games that they tend to play it over and over again even if it means loosing certain amount of money. They do so for hopes that they get it back if they get the chance to win. Others play poker games just for the mere fun of it.

Because of the demand for poker games, there are online poker games that are established for those who want to play right from their home or office. With online poker, players do not have to go to casinos or other gambling areas. Online poker, video poker, and other poker games are much like the same in principle. There are also plenty of poker games available online. If you have an Internet access in your computers, you can access to online poker games wherever you are at anytime of the day.

What is more rewarding about online poker is the various poker bonus offered by different poker sites. These pokers sites entice players to play in their rooms with their poker bonus. There are different types of poker bonuses offered by each poker sites. Every poker bonus has corresponding different amounts. To know what these bonuses are, how much are involved, and how you can avail it, it is best to get the information from sites that compile poker bonus. Here you can compare which among the poker sites offers a lot of bonus while getting the chance to play different online poker games. Poker bonus may include sign-up bonus, poker reload bonus, and other promotions in online poker.

One of the sites that provide a list of poker bonus from different sites is Earn Poker Bonus. Earn Poker Bonus can provide players which among online poker sites gives the best poker bonus. While doing this, Earn Poker Bonus also provides other relevant bonus information such as release requirements and deposit requirements.

Earn Poker Bonus does not only give you details of poker bonus, it also provides other services that makes online poker more convenient and rewarding such as information on strategies and relevant rules to online poker games.

By: Vikram Kumar