Video Poker: Put Skill in a Slot
Unlike slot machines, video poker is a game that commands strategy and skill more than luck. Unlike table games, video poker does not involve dealer-player or player-player competition, but, as in slot machines, a player competes against the mechanisms of a machine. All in all, video poker is the end-product of the combined concepts of slot machine plus table poker.
The common root of all video poker games is draw poker, and some of the rules of draw poker apply in video poker. That is, a player is randomly dealt five cards by the machine's random number generator. Then the player has the option to substitute one's hand cards with cards from the deck.
To play a game, put in money or coded paper slip into the slot. Then push the button that says "Draw/Deal." The machine will automatically deal you your five cards.
Push the button found under the card you do wish to be discarded and replaced. The button is marked "Hold/Cancel." You may replace as many cards as you want or you may replace none.
After you have decided on the hands to keep and hands to get rid of, press the "Draw/Deal" button again.
To win, your hand must reflect any of the enumerated winning hands in the game's payout table. The payout table shows not only the enumeration of winning hands but the win amount for each type of hand and for each credit. The table also shows the theoretical return of the game.
Each game holds its own hand ranking, theoretical return, and maximum/minimum win amounts. Video poker has more than a hundred game variants. This means to say that there are more than a hundred payout systems. This also means that there are more than a hundred game-specific video poker strategies.
Because holding versus discarding of card(s) involves choice, this means that video poker is a game that requires strategy, mathematical calculations, and skillful play, and not solely luck. When do you, for instance, decide to discard a card and when do you keep a card? What kind of hand should you chase? Further, in which game do you play? You need also to consider your strategy. You need to gear every tactic to the game.
The observation that winning can accomplished through skill and strategy has gained video poker a large population of players. In addition, playing with a machine is no less complicated than sitting on five-card draw poker table where you have constantly act against several opponents who are constantly acting against you. And if you get a big win in video poker, laugh or shout, no one is strategically reading your emotional tells.