Online Video Poker: The Whole Story
Video Poker Rules and How it Works
- Firstly, players need to choose an online casino at which to play video poker and perhaps choose a game based on a good rating and reputation. Some games may have instructions or a demo version that can help you better understand the game.
- The next step is for the player to place their bets by choosing a betting level. Each game will different minimum and maximum bets. Players will also need to choose how many hands they would like to play. Once players are happy they can click the ‘Bet’ button to confirm everything.
- A 5 card hand will then be placed in front of the player and they will get to choose which cards they keep and which cards will be discarded. Discarded cards will be replaced by new cards.
- The player will either win or lose the hand depending on high their score was. If a player loses, they will lose their entire bet. The amount a player gains when they win will depend on their original bet.
Video Poker Strategies and Systems
Video Pokers borrows many aspects from the game of table poker and thus similar strategies can be used when playing video poker. Video is also considered to be the most fair online casino game, with the house edge being usually under 1% and with RTPs of 98% to 100%.
Jacks or better strategy- Jacks or better strategy is the most widely used and most helpful system in video poker. It is exceedingly simple. It basically refers to keeping cards that are better than Jacks and discarding other cards. The cards and combos that should be kept include; a straight flush, a royal flush, four of a kind, 3 of a kind, a full house, high pairs. You should definitely hold onto any of the above combinations if you receive them in the game.
Deuces Wild- Deuces Wild is a feature that allows players to substitute a 2 card for any other card, allowing players to make exciting winning combinations. So don’t just discard the 2 card, it can really come in handy.
Hand Values
All video poker games available work on the system of getting the best hand possible with 5 cards. It can be a bit confusing as to which hands beat others so below is a list of the highest value hands in descending order.
- Royal Flush ( suited 10, J, Q, K, A)
- Straight Flush ( sequence of any 5 suited card following in order)
- Four of a kind
- Full House (3 of a kind ad a matching pair)
- Flush ( 5 cards of the same suit)
- Straight ( 5 cards in a straight sequence)
- Three of a kind
- Two pairs (two pairs of different values eg. 2 fours and 2 sixes)
- One pair
House Edge
Online video poker games have the lowest house edge than any other casino game. In most online video poker games the house edge is under 1%, making it one of the most fair online casino games. This means that the player has the biggest chance of beating the house, while playing online video poker games.
Game Variations
Players today have a very big choice of different variations of online video poker games. Many tweaks have been added over the years to the regular video poker game, so today players can try: Jacks or Better, Aces and Eights, Tens or Better, Deuces Wild, Double Bonus, Jokers Wild, Double Double Bonus, Deuces and Joker, Bonus Deuces Wild and many more.
These are all basically the same online video poker game, but with different rules, so it is up to the player to find the online video poker variant that suite him the most.
Reasons to love online video poker
- Video poker is very easy to play and players can take their time strategising without the pressure of other players waiting for them to take their turn.
- Online video poker has become increasingly popular and for this reason there are endless options of where players can play video poker with many different versions and themes available too.
- You can play online video poker at anytime as you never need to wait for other players to join in.
- Video poker is known as one of the most exciting games as well as the most ‘fair’ casino game.
Our Top 10 Picks for playing online video poker
