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.
Video Poker is one of those casino games that a lot of players enjoy playing online for these particular games often are the casino games which have the highest long term payout percentages, which means a skillful player has a much better chance of winning when playing these Types of games as opposed to most other types of casino games!
Practice Video Poker Free
There is of course, a huge variety of Video Poker games available to play online many of which, depending on where you choose to play them, will come with their own playing structure. To help you discover just which types of Video Poker games you can find on the net, we have made a Video Poker playing guide below:
Video Poker Game Types
Let us start by showing you just what types of online casino games you will come across when playing online, below are the different structures and playing formats found on these types of games and further down the page we have added the different variants you can easy access and play online.
Single Hand Video Poker Games – You will find the most commonly played Video Poker games found online are those games which allow you to play just one single hand per game, but be aware that if you choose to play these games that you opt to put into play the maximum number of coins per hand played.
You will find that the vast majority of all single hand Video Poker games have an enhanced payout awarded for the highest paying hand combination that can be formed on that variant, and by playing maximum coin hands you should expect to get as close as possible to the long term payout percentage that variant offers over your life time play.
Multi Hand Video Poker Games – You will find that all of the major online gaming platforms will have a suite of what is known as Multi Hand video Poker games, and when playing these games you are going to be able to play many hands all in one single game.
Whilst you can find 4 hand games along with 10 and 50 hand video Poker games, some online casinos have variants on which you can play 100 hands per game! This means that it can be possible, with a great deal or luck, however, to get dealt out 100 Royal Flushed on a single game, which should see a player managing to be awarded a very large winning payout!
Level Up Poker Games – If you come across some of the brand new Level Up Poker games that are available online, then there are several things that you will need to be aware of before putting these games into play because they can be very expensive Video Poker games!
The way a Level-Up Poker game differs from all other variants is that before you start to play one of them you have to pay four different stakes, and these stakes cover each potential stage of the game you may end up playing.
Your first stake covers the initial hand combination dealt out to you and if that hand is a losing one then you lose all four stakes wagered. However, if the initial hand is a winning one, then you will move up to the next level of the game and your second stake then cover that particular hand, and any winning combination on that hand is boosted in value by x2.
However, if the initial hand is a winning one, then you will move up to the next level of the game and your second stake then cover that particular hand, and any winning combination on that hand is boosted in value by x2.
If the second hand loses you only get the winnings from the first hand paid out to you and the other three stakes are lost. If you keep getting a winning hand combination first one stage one, then on stage two you then move up to the third levels where any winning hand combinations value is boosted by x4 and if that hand wins you then move onto the third and final level of the game where any winning hand combinations value is boosted by x8 its normal value!
Fortunately, when playing this variant online you will be able to choose from lots of different coin values, and as such placing four different wagers per game played may not be as expensive as you would have imagined! You can, of course, play this game for free to get to grips with the unique multi-level playing structure, and that is how we would advise you play it until you have fully mastered the way it plays and pays out!
Progressive Video Poker Games – You may be tempted to give some of the Video Poker game variants a try that have a progressive jackpot attached to them, however, be aware that you are not going to win those jackpots regularly, and in fact many players may play these types of games repeatedly and never win a progressive jackpot!
However, if you do come across such a Video Poker game then there are some aspects of playing them that you do need to be fully aware of. For a start, you will usually be required to play maximum bet hands when playing a progressive game to have any chance of being dealt out that jackpot paying hand combination and often the coin values on these types of progressive Video Poker games are fixed.
When you are playing fixed coin value Video Poker game they can often be too expensive to play for many low rolling players, so do keep that in mind and if you only have a limited playing budget then maybe you should play another variants of Video Poker instead to allow you to get an enjoyable and longer playing session than you will probably end up getting by playing progressive Video Poker games!
Video Poker Game Variants
Below you will find an overview of which are the most played Video Poker game variants available online, it should be noted that each game will often come with a whole host of unique payouts listed on its pay table and that some games have special cards in play in the deck such as Wild Cards.
Have a look at each of the following Video Poker game variants for alongside each of them we have also listed the payout percentage that you will find each game offers when you play that game perfectly and also play maximum bet hands!
Jacks or Better – The most played online Video Poker game is the Jacks or Better variant, we have yet to see one online casino that does not offer this particular variant and as such you are going to find it available at virtually all casino sites!
One important aspect of playing Jacks or Better Video Poker is that you want to be playing a game which has the highest pay table attached to it, and the one industry standard pay table to look out for is the one on which you will get a long term expected payout percentage of 99.54%.
Be aware that some multi-hand variants of this Jacks or Better game may have a slightly reduced pay table attached to them and as such always compare the pay tables on any variant you do play for if you opt for a lower paying variant your winning chances will naturally decrease!
All Aces – Should you be looking for the very highest paying Video Poker game variant, and by highest paying we do mean the one which when played optionally is going to offer you a very high long term payout percentage, then you need to visit a Microgaming software powered casino site and give their All Aces game some play time.
This game has a huge payout percentage of 99.92% which no other online Video Poke r game variant comes close to, however, do be aware that when you play this variant make sure you play all five coins per hand, and when the gamble option is offered to you, which it will be once a winning combination has been spun in, never take it!
Taking the gamble game option on any Video poker game variant is a risky proposition and it will not take that many losing outcomes when you gamble a winning hands value for them losses to affect the expected long-term payout percentage of that particular game!
Deuces Wild – One video Poker game that you will certainly come across when playing at most online casino sites is the Deuces Wild Video Poker game variant, now what player always find attractive about this game is that when playing it you will find whenever a 2 valued card is dealt out to you it become a Wild card.
By having all of the 2 cards designed as Wild cards then you will notice be glancing at the game spay table that there are a lot of additional payouts listed on the pay table including five of a kind hand combinations plus a bonus payout is awarded should your final hand combination each of the four different 2 cards.
When you are playing Deuces Wild online then once again it has to be noted the pay tables attached to each game can vary depending on where you choose to play this game and the most commonly found pay table will return a long term expected payout percentage of 99.37%, but do compare those pay tables for several sites have some very low paying variants of this game on offer and you do need to avoid those games!
Aces and Faces – Getting access to a set of bonus payout when you are playing different variants of Video Poker online is part of the fun or swapping and changing the games you play, and if you fancy playing one game which does have quite a number of additional payouts listed on its pay table then do give the Aces and Faces Video Poker game a try.
This game has some enhanced winning payouts attached to the four of a kind Aces and Picture Card hand combinations the latter, of course, being the Jacks, Queens, and Kings, so when playing it you do need to play it slightly different than most other Video Poker variants as it is those enhanced paying hand combinations you will be playing the game for!
Should this be a game you are interested in playing then as always do select a stake option that will allow you to activate 5 coins per hand subject to your current gaming budget and look out for pay table that will return the industry standard payouts which ensures the long term expected payout percentage of this game is 99.26%.
Playing Video Poker Games Optimally
We have mentioned several times above that one of the ways to play Video Poker games is to always play with the maximum number of coins in play for that guarantees you benefit from any and all enhanced winning payouts attached to various hand combinations including the jackpot paying one.
Also always ensure you are playing the variant which comes with the best pay table to get access to the highest paying games. However, there is one other aspect of playing Video Poker games online that will ensure you are playing all variants of Video Poker optimally and this is to click on the option settings when you have launched the Video Poker game you are playing.
When you have the option settings displayed look out for an option called Auto Hold, and make sure you activate that option and have it turned on, for this will guarantee that you always play that variant perfectly and never make a single game playing strategy error!
The Auto Hold option automatically scans all of your initial five cards and based on the perfect strategy for that variant will hold the best cards for you, meaning that you no longer have to guess which the best cards are to hold and/or discard after those cards they have been dealt out to you!
In order to secure a win while playing Video Poker, there are a few tips that players should consider 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.
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