Playing poker at a land-based casino is a real art – the ‘poker face’ expression came about to reflect the player’s need not give away the cards they hold. But thanks to video poker you can enjoy all the thrills and spills of a poker game, but without having to face a dealer or other opponents.
Even if you’ve never tried your hand at poker before you can still enjoy playing video poker. In many ways, it makes learning the game much easier as you can concentrate exclusively on your own gameplay. These games have often been referred to as ‘poker slots‘, but unlike slots, games poker depends on the skill of the player. Read up on game strategy and you’ll find you can play at returns of higher than 100% – something you’ll never get from a slots game!
There isn’t just one single variant of poker, so you’ll need to spend a bit of time working out the best game to play. Jacks or Better is usually considered to be the ideal game for beginners as it’s fairly simple and straightforward to get started. The paytable isn’t too complicated and you won’t get bogged down in complex game strategy.
Once you’ve mastered Jacks or Better you can branch out into other types of poker games. We recommend Deuces Wild as the perfect follow-on game – as it allows the twos to act as Wilds, substituting for other cards to help you create winning lines.
Playing a game of video poker is incredibly easy. Just follow our step-by-step guide and you could be amassing wins within just a few minutes.
1 Decide on the amount of your stake for your game
2 Press Deal to receive your five cards from the dealer.
3 Decide which cards to reject and which to keep – you can exchange all five if you want to.
4 Receive your replacement cards from the dealer.
5 Receive any winnings from your hand.
It really is as simple as that! But of course, although playing is easy, refining your knowledge of the game takes much longer. The high potential returns are based on players making the best mathematical choices with the cards they’re dealt, and that’s something that takes a bit of time to learn.
Always check the paytable of your video poker game before wagering real cash. Every game is different, so paytables can vary quite widely, and you’ll want the best potential returns to stand the best chances of winning.
Highest prizes are paid for a royal flush of A, K, Q, J and 10 of the same suit. Next comes the straight flush, which is a run of five cards in the same suit. If you manage to get four of a kind across each suit that pays out the next highest cash awards.
A full house is three matching cards and a pair of matched cards, followed by a flush, which is five cards from the same suit but not in order. A straight is five cards in sequence that don’t belong to the same suit and is ranked higher than a pair of matching cards.