All About Video Poker

If you are excited about the idea of playing five card draw poker, you may be interested to know that video poker is practically the same thing. The major differences being that video poker is played on a computerized console which looks very similar to a slot machine.


Somewhere in the middle of the nineteen seventies video poker was born. That may be hard to believe especially since the game of poker has been around for such a very long time. The video poker machines were introduced to the world of gambling around the same time that the first personal computers were made available for the public to take home. That was the first time it became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television or monitor with a solid state central processing unit, although they were rather archaic by today’s standards.


Si Redd’s Coin Machines, which was more commonly known as SIRCOMA, and eventually turned into what we now call the International Game Technology, made video poker a much more time honored past time when they introduced Draw Poker to the world at the end of the 70’s. SIRCOMA and the brick and mortar casinos at the time did an excellent job of marketing the unheard of video poker by cleverly placing them right next to slot machines. Because of this incredibly intelligent move, video poker became increasingly more and more popular in the 80’s. Another reason for the greater than before popularity is the intimidation factor. The intimidation factor for video poker was so low compared to a game of table poker tat many people found themselves relieved to be able to have the chance to play a game of poker without having to be embarrassed over not knowing exactly all of the rules. These are the two most important factors that made video poker more appealing to the masses.


More on Video Poker at CasinoAUstralis.com

As of today the land based casinos will not make it hard for you to find a video poker machine as they are littered all over the casino floor. The game is particularly popular with Las Vegas locals who tend to patronize local land based casinos just off of the infamous Las Vegas Strip. These smaller, local casinos can offer a better deal, which basically means lower denomination machines or better odds. However, more recently, the favor of the video poker machines have been split as many complain they are taking the place of actual table games. What is becoming increasingly more popular are online casinos that allow for all the games that you would find in a land based casino to be played in the comfort of your own home. Video poker or online poker, which is how it is called when playing at home, is the star of any of the internet gaming sites.


If you know how to begin a slot machine, or any other online gambling game for that matter, then you are privy to the beginning of a video poker game. The first step is the obvious one. Put your money into the machine, whether it is viscerally or virtually. There tends to be a button that says Deal on it, when that button is pushed the virtual computer dealer will draw the cards. From these cards that the player is dealt, the player will have the opportunity to discard one or more of his or her cards in exchange for a new card or cards drawn from the same virtual deck. After the draw, the video poker machine evaluates the player’s hand and offers a pay out if the player’s hand matches one of the winning hands in the posted pay schedule. Pay outs will vary from site to site or machine to machine, but the pay outs generally begin with a minimum hand of a pair of jacks. Pay tables allocate the pay out for the hands based partially upon how unlikely it is for a player to actually attain them. It is also based upon the total theoretical return the game operator chooses to offer. And if that was not enough for a player’s hungry pallet some video poker games do also offer progressive jackpots for the royal flush, in that way they entice players to play more often and play with larger monetary risk. In some cases a player will be able to find that the web based gambling site that they are on will offer a progressive jackpot to hands that are not a royal flush, therefore increasing the chances of making more money.


All of the AU online gaming sites that have video poker and that are operated in a state regulated jurisdiction are programmed to deal random card sequences. There are lists or reviews that any potential player can find online pertaining to any australian online casino site that they may want to play at to make sure which of these sites are trusted by the community and are in good standing with the gambling police houses. A series of cards is generated from the random deck for each play. Five cards are dealt straight to the hand and the other one to five cards are dealt in order if the player has discarded or requested an exchange. This way of operating is based upon a Nevada regulation which has been adopted by most other states with a gaming authority. This regulation would require the dice and cards used in an electronic game to be as random as the real thing, within, of course, computational limits set by the standard gaming authority. Just as the actual video poker machines are tested to ensure that they comply with the random deal requirement, so are online gaming sites before they may be available to the public to play and enjoy. All video poker machines are programmed to be using a fifty-two card deck unless they are also including the joker card, in which case they would be using a fifty-three card deck.