Video poker is based on the popular five-card draw version of traditional poker. While video poker is, essentially, a card game, it more closely resembles slots and other electronic gaming machines. As such, the game requires very little skill and is very easy to learn to play. 



There are several variations of video poker available online, but each has the same basic rules. Players are dealt card cards and they must choose how many of those cards they would like to discard. They are then dealt enough cards to give them another five-card hand. The resulting hand will determine if the player wins or not. The strength of their hand determines how much they are paid (for a list of hand rankings, visit our Poker page). In most video poker games, only a pair of Jacks or Tens and up will provide a payout. 

In order to secure a win while playing Video Poker, there are a few tips that players should considering employing:

• Hold all of your Jacks, as they are very versatile cards and even potentially more valuable than Aces
• Always hold pairs, even if a higher card is presented. This increases your chances of winning, as it increases the odds of getting a three of a kind and prevents you from giving up a winning hand
• Never discard any cards if they could possibly create a paying hand. The only situation in which this is advised is when your hand has a likely possibility of becoming a Royal Flush.