Electronic Poker is a favored game that can be played in casinos around the world, or in your house on your computer, through a net connection. The rules are very simple and involve the player trying to achieve the highest combination of cards possible in order to come away with cash. In this respect it’s much the same as a classic game of poker, without the interaction with any other players. Of course, techniques used in a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant here.
The game of Electronic Poker begins when the gambler puts credits (either tokens, credit slips or cash) into the video poker machine and pushes the deal button. A 5 card hand will then be "given out" on the screen.
The Video Poker game also has buttons with ‘hold’ printed on them, and enthusiasts should now decide which cards to keep and which to discard. For the cards the bettor wishes to keep, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they light up. The player can decide to keep any amount of cards they want, whether it is all or none.
After the bettor has decided on which cards she would like to retain, the player will then press ‘deal’, which will mean that any new cards are given out if desired. The game is now finished, with the Video Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it matches any of the winning hands shown on the pay out schedule.
Generally, the lowest winning hand on an Electronic Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the award money growing for each and every better hand. A list of common winning hands starts with jacks or better, and moves on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It is obvious that the payout schedule can change from machine to machine, so that experienced players are able to choose the most profitable machine each instance.
After the first round has finished, the player can either decide to continue on in an attempt to increase their winnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any money that might have been won. Further, several versions of the game allow the enthusiast a chance to double their profits, in which instance a further round is played. There are also variations among individual games, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other differing characteristics to increase playability.
