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Video Poker

Video Poker played at land based or online casinos is the digital version of 5 card draw poker, only instead of playing against other people for a pot, you play against the house.  Video Poker has a payout chart similar to slots, denominating how many coins you win with each possible hand combination.

Explanation of Winning Poker Hands

Before we get into the rules of video poker, we will briefly go over the different winning hands of poker – this holds true for all forms of poker you will find, whether Draw Poker, Texas Hold’em, and of course Video Poker. The illustration below lists all the possible hands, in value from highest to lowest, as well as the percentage probability of drawing each hand in Video Poker.

Rules of Video Poker

In Video Poker, before any cards are dealt you must decide how much you wish to bet, and how many coins you wish to play with.  Once the bet is made you are dealt five cards.  You have one opportunity to trade in any number of cards you like, and that will be your final hand.    Different video poker machines have different minimum hand requirements, such as Joker Poker requiring that you have at least a pair of Kings to receive a payout.  Some of the more common variations of Video Poker you may find at online casinos are:

• Jacks or Better – This variation of Video Poker requires that your hand consist of at least a pair of Jacks for it to be considered a winning hand.
• Joker Poker – Joker Poker is played with a normal deck but adds a joker into the mix, which is considered a wild – it gives you a better chance at making a better hand, but raises the minimum required hand for a payout to Kings or better.
• Deuces Wild Poker – Similar to Joker Poker, this gives the player an edge by having four possible wild cards, but the minimum hand required for a payout is a three of a kind.
• Deuces and Joker Poker – A combination of joker Poker and Deuces Wild Poker, this is the ultimate Video Poker variation for wild card lovers.  Although the minimum required hand is only three of a kind, most of the better hands have much lower payouts then normal video poker on account of the fact that you will be drawing stronger hands much more often.

Your final hand, if a winning hand, will payout based on the value of the hand in the payout chart, the number of coins you bet, and the value of each coin bet.  As shown in this Jacks or better machine to the right, coins act as a multiplier – the winning hand’s payout is increased proportional to the amount of coins bet.

Doubling Down

Most video poker machines offer a unique chance to double your winnings with some luck.  Once you win a hand you are given the choice to collect the winnings, depositing it into your balance, or to try for double or nothing.  With double or nothing you are taken to a screen with one face up card, and several face down cards.  You need to pick one of the face down cards, and hope that it is higher than the initial face up card.  There are three possible scenarios that can happen:

• If your card is higher than the face up card you double your winnings.
• If you tie, you push (neither win nor lose) and you are offered the chance to double up again or collect.  In some Video Poker machines, the player loses if you tie.  It would be prudent to avoid these machines if you like to double down.
• If your card is lower, you lose your winnings.

When you either beat the card or tie, you are again given the option to collect your winnings, or to try doubling again.  Most casinos offer you the chance to continue to double up each hand up to 5 times.  Although you do risk losing your winnings,  doubling up with a weaker hand several times can give you a fantastic payout.    Doubling up is a 50/50 chance bet with no house edge.

Continue here to our in depth strategy guide on Video Poker