All About Video Poker

Video poker is considered by many to be a combination of a slot machine and a poker game. In reality, video poker is only a distant relative of a slot machine and a very close blood relation of poker. In other words, poker fans, video poker is a lot more poker than slot.

Video poker is only similar to slot games because they are both viewed on a screen, but that's where the similarities end. On the other hand, video poker is poker for all intents and purposes, the major difference being that you need to get a hand containing at least a certain rank to be get paid out, according to the pay chart associated with that specific machine. Most video poker machines require that a minimum of a pair of Jacks be displayed. The better your hands are, the more you get paid. Some of the newer video poker machines allow you to play more than one game at a time, with some machines letting you play up to 1000 hands at a time.

While recent years have spawned dozens of poker variants, video poker goes back 40 or so years ago, making it perhaps the grandpa of poker alternatives. The first video poker machines used a 50-card deck and were called drop card machines because of the two missing cards. Slowly - with the advent of technology - video poker machines evolved, adding features and graphics that make them almost irresistible. To poker players, video poker is the easiest and most stress-free way to enjoy their favorite pastime.

The rules of video poker are simple. You are dealt five cards into your hand and they are displayed on the screen. You then choose which cards to keep, and which to discard. One of the better-known strategies recommends that, unless you have winning cards in your hand, it is advisable to throw the original cards away and try for something better. Some people will keep lower pairs or single picture cards

How to Play Video Poker

When you have decided which cards you want to keep, your discarded cards are removed and your hand is filled back up to five cards with new cards. This is your final hand and if you've got a hand that ranks high enough, you win. It's that easy. What's great about video poker, however, is that, unlike a regular slot machine, you still do need a certain amount of knowledge and skill to win (albeit not as much as a top-level poker player would need in a real card game). You still have to familiarize yourself with poker rankings and, of course, you have to have good judgment to know when to hold 'em and when to discard. Because of this challenge, video poker is one of the most popular versions of poker around, and yes, one of the favorite types of slot machine, as well.