Five playing cards are initially dealt out to players in video poker, and they then have to decide which of those cards, if any, to hold and lock into place and which cards to get rid of to be replaced with a new card or cards dealt out of a single pack of playing cards.
There is nothing complicated about video poker, for players are simply aiming to form one of the winning hand combinations as displayed on the pay table of the machine they are playing, and by doing so they will then win the respective cash payout, based on the hand and the number of coins played.
Each variant of video poker will have its own unique pay table, and sometimes you will find some variants also have wild cards that can stand in for any other cards when dealt out to a player’s hand.
Most video poker games have a multi-denomination playing structure, and as such players are able to pick a coin value setting that they can afford to play for.
On each hand played, there is the option to play one to five coins per hand, and obviously the more coins wagered on each hand the higher in value the winning payout will become.
Those are the basics of how to playing video poker, but there are several ways to ensure players are always going to get the maximum winning chances when playing, and never make any strategic playing errors, which shall be revealed below.
Pay Tables and RTP’s
Players do need to know just which video poker games are going to be the best ones to play, and often they will find dozens of variants on offer to them.
It will always be the pay table associated with each variant of video poker that will ultimately determine whether it is worth playing or not, for the number of coins awarded per hand will reflect the payout percentage of that game over the long term.
Obviously there are lots of different casino game designers who have launched an array of different video poker games, which are in use at most casino sites, but one company whose games are very popular with such sites and apps is Microgaming.
Therefore below is listed their range of video poker games and the long term expected payout percentage of each variant is listed alongside each game, so players should make a note of the following information and stick to playing the better paying variants only.
Jacks or Better 99.54%
Joker Poker 98.60%
Deuces Wild 99.37%
Tens or Better 99.14%
All American 99.38%
Double Bonus 99.11%
Bonus Poker 99.17%
Aces and Faces 99.26%
Double Joker 98.10%
Deuces and Joker 99.07%
Double Double 98.98%
All Aces 99.92%
Configuring Video Poker Games Optimally
As players do have to make a judgement call when playing video poker games, once the initial five playing cards have been dealt out to them, there is always the chance that they could make some basic playing errors when deciding which cards to hold and discard.
Therefore it is important for all players to know just which cards are the ones they should be holding on every possible hand combination initially dealt out to them, but that could take a players years to learn, of course.
By simply clicking onto the option settings button attached to most if not all video poker games players will find a range of different settings they can make use of.
One of those settings is known as an Auto- Hold setting, and when activated what the game will then do is deal out a players initial five playing cards but will then automatically hold the best ones as per the best strategy for the variant being played.
Therefore, all players should ensure if that option setting is available to them on the variant they are playing, it is turned on and activated, as by doing so they are never going to make any costly playing errors and will always be playing perfectly too.
Playing Maximum Coin Hands
The pay table of any video poker game does need close inspection by players, for often there are a range of bonus winning payouts that can be awarded to them when they play a certain number of coins.
The most common bonus payout is an enhanced jackpot on offer to players, and the only way to have any chance of winning that enhanced jackpot payout is to put into play the maximum number of coins on each hand a player chooses to play, which for reference is usually five coins.
To make that affordable, for every single video poker player will have their own gambling budget, players are strongly advised to adjust the coin value settings to ones that will allow them to get a fair number of hands based on the bankroll they have set aside to play with.
Be Careful When Using Casino Bonuses
One final thing about playing video poker games online that all players should be aware of, is that some of the bonus offers available to them are not going to be available on games such a video poker.
For example many casinos offer deposit match or reload bonuses to their customers, however hidden in the small print of the terms and conditions and bonus play rules it could stipulate that players are only allowed to play slot machines with their awarded bonus credits.
So, if any player out there does fancy playing real money video poker games online and are tempted to claim a casino bonus, they need to be 100% certain they can use any awarded bonus credits on the video poker game variants they wish to play, long before they claim such a bonus offer.
