Video Poker Introduction – Become proficient at Video Poker Games

This is an introduction to video poker games. Tired of losing at slots? Switch to video poker! Search out the games with most favorable pay tables, and learn to play with optimum precision. You then have a chance of becoming a long-term winner, whether you play online or in live casinos.

Video poker is a very popular casino game. The aim of the game is to make the best hand out of the five cards the machine deals you. You try to improve the dealt hand by discarding the weak cards or holding the strong ones. Every card you discard is replaced by a new (and hopefully better) one.

Video Poker Hands Rankings

The ranking of the hands is basically the same as in regular poker (royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, three of a kind, two pairs, two jacks or higher). There are many video poker game variations, but the ranking of the hands is always the same. The only difference may be the fact that some variations have additional ranks or include wild cards (deuces or a joker).

When playing video poker games, the goal is not to beat your opponents, as in traditional poker, but to get a winning hand. Each hand is played from a newly shuffled deck, no need to try and remember what cards have already been played. The amount you win depends on the number of coins you bet. The pay table is different for each game and the right strategies also differ, depending on which game you’re playing. Deuces Wild, Jacks or Better, Joker Wild, or whatever game you wish to play, you will have a much better chance of winning if you know the rules that apply to that particular variation. You can not use the same strategy for all the different video poker games.

Are you ready to play?

When ready to play, you insert your money and make your bet, either by clicking the “BET ONE” button until you have the number of coins you wish to bet, or select the “BET MAX” button, to choose the maximum number of coins. The computer deals five cards at random. Then you decide which ones to keep and which ones to replace by pressing the appropriate buttons. Your new five card hand will then be displayed.

The most important part of playing video poker games is deciding how to evaluate your initial cards, meaning which one(s) to discard and which one(s) to hold to achieve the best possible hand. And you do this by clicking “Hold” or “Discard”, according to your decisions. Click here for free video poker strategy tables for some of the most popular games.

Equally important is to choose machines with as close to 100% payout tables as you can find. To learn how to recognize, full-pay video poker games, click here

Useful Tools to help you play

If you are really serious about becoming a winning video poker player, I strongly recommend you invest in a video poker tutoring program. You can effortlessly learn the correct way to play, right on your computer. A very good program is BVS Video Poker.

Some casinos offer the double-up feature, which gives you the opportunity to double your winnings. This means that after a winning hand, if you choose this feature, you will be dealt another five cards. One of the dealt cards is exposed and the other 4 are kept face down. You choose one and if it is higher than the dealt face up card, you win twice as much as your initial payout. Furthermore, you may double the payout again, but if you don’t like risking your winnings again, you simply collect and start a new hand. By the way, the double-up feature is a 50/50 proposition, the casino does not have an advantage in double-up.

Become a proficient video poker games player and you may never again look at ordinary slot machines.