VIDEO POKER
HISTORY
The exact origins of poker are often debated and no precise answers exist.
Furthermore there are no clear explanations as to how the game initially
was created. Based on the fundamental principles of the game its believed
to have been created many, many moons ago. It is widely accepted that
contemporary poker was a derivative from many different games.
The earliest references to poker were allegedly made by Jonathan Green
way back in 1834. His writings mentioned the rules of a game he referred
to as the "cheating game." A card game which was being played
in riverboats all along the Mississippi River during this time. After
discovering that he had assumedly made the first references to the game
he chose to call it poker.
VIDEO POKER RULES
The object of the game is to achieve a winning poker hand. This usually
includes a royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush,
straight, three of a kind, two pairs, or a pair of jacks or better. In
some variations such as "deuces wild," there is no payback for
a pair of any kind. View the paytable of the game you are playing for
details.
At the start of a hand, you will be dealt 5 cards when you signal the
machine to deal. Normally, you will press a hold button underneath the
cards you wish to keep. When you signal the machine to draw, those cards
you did not hold will be replaced by new cards. The video poker machine
will then calculate the best hand from your five cards and pay you according
to the paytable of the game.
VIDEO POKER ODDS
The odds on a given hand vary from game to game, of course, but generally
speaking the house edge on Video Poker games is pretty small, even 0%
in some cases. Where the Video Poker games get an edge is with players
who do not follow an optimum strategy. In other words, winging any given
game based on a loose understanding of Poker is going to lose you money.
Each Video Poker variation has its own quirks when it comes to the
odds and optimum player strategy. In the next section we'll give you
a rough guide to the most popular games, but detailed strategy guides
would take pages. If you're serious about Video Poker, try some of the
material in our reference section. Smart players can do pretty well
at Video Poker.
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