Video Poker

How to Play Video Poker

Cards appear on the screen and it’s up to you decide which cards to hold, ranging from none to all five. There are also five buttons on the front of the machine. When you push these buttons, the word "hold" will appear above those cards selected. Your objective in video poker is to get the best or highest hand possible.

The next thing you do is press the "deal" button and a new set of cards will appear, replacing the ones you chose not to hold. If a winning combination results, the machine will award you with credits based on the payout schedule. A machine that requires $.25 to play would record each credit as 25, so basically the credits will equal the value required to play the machine.

With this hand over, you start the process all over again. You bet how many units or coins you wish to play on the next hand and then hit the "deal" button. When you decide you want to end your video poker session, all you do is press the "collect" button and the machine will give you your credits.

Betting is quite straightforward with Video Poker. You can typically choose $0.25, $0.50, $1, or $5 games on which to bet. And the bets are 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x, which is the maximum bet. If you're playing a $1 game, you can place bets of $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5.

Video Poker Strategy

Because you are allowed to discard, strategy comes into play. The key is to discard in a manner that gives you the the highest expectation of winning. Using such a strategy will give you the best chances of winning in the long run. Optimal strategy will change depending on the rules of the video poker game you are playing. Optimal strategy may also change with different pay tables. Often, you must play maximum credits in order to take advantage of the highest expectation.

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