Video poker combines five-card poker hands with a machine’s pay table. You choose which cards to keep and which to replace; the final hand determines whether you receive a payout.
Unlike table poker, video poker does not involve bluffing or competing against other players. This guide explains the basic round, how games differ and what to check before playing.
Video poker machines display the available games, stakes and payouts. Read the basic rules before starting: holding decisions matter, but they do not guarantee a winning hand.
A little bit of history
Video poker brought draw-poker hands to electronic casino machines in the 1970s. It shares the machine format of a slot machine, while giving the player a choice of which cards to hold.
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A basic explanation of the game
Most standard games use a 52-card deck; joker variants add wild cards. Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and bonus-poker games have different rules and pay tables, so the same holding strategy will not suit every version.
Learn hand categories and use a strategy suited to the exact game and pay table. There is no need to memorise every possible five-card combination. Better decisions can improve expected returns, but individual results remain uncertain.
The random number generator selects cards in standard random-deal video poker. This differs from video lottery products that may use another outcome system; check the game’s rules rather than judging it by its appearance.
