Online Video Poker

If you ever stepped on a casino floor, you’ve surely come across video poker machines. Ever since Dale Electronics introduced the world’s first-ever video poker machine in 1970, they’ve become an essential addition to almost every land-based and online casino. 

What makes video poker games so sought after? Our guess is because these games have something slot machines don’t have — an element of skill. Video poker games provide an exciting alternative to slots and come in hundreds of different varieties. The fact that they’re based on five-card draw poker makes them even more appealing. 

Five-card draw is considered to be the original poker version, and the easiest to learn and play. This is often the first variant learned by beginners, before switching to Texas Hold’em or Omaha. Five-card draw is the type of poker all of us have played in home games.

Video poker games may not be as colorful and flashy as slots, but they are certainly more generous. Video poker has one of the lowest house edge of all casino games, and can be as low as 0.5%. This means that players have a real opportunity to win more than they lose. 

If we managed to capture your interest with this mini video poker intro, keep reading the article below. You’ll find a detailed guide that will teach you how video poker games are played, what are different types of video poker games, and more. Reading this article will help ensure that you fully understand what’s involved with online video poker gaming, and how it all works. Stay tuned!

Essentially, online video poker is a computerized version of video slots that can be found at brick-and-mortar casinos. The game is based on draw poker, which is by far the simplest poker variant. 

In video poker, players are dealt five cards, and they have an option of discarding one (or more) cards for a chance to draw new ones, and form a better combination. The difference between five-card and video poker is that in video poker players can swap all five of the initially dealt cards. 

The key objective of the game is to form the best possible poker hand combination, and then you get paid based on the payout table, which is presented somewhere on the playing screen. The hand rankings are identical to five-card draw so players familiar with the classic game should quickly understand the basics of video poker. 

Classic video poker games are referred to as 9/6 variations as they have a 9:1 payout for Full House, and 6:1 payout for Flush. But there are certain variations with a higher house edge in which the payouts are reduced from 9:1 to 8( or less):1, and from 6:1 to 5:1. 

Different video poker varieties have different rules. Some feature Wild Cards, which substitute for any other card, making it easier to form a winning combination. There are some variations labeled as ‘Bonus’, which provide a higher payout for a certain Four of a Kind. In some multi-hand variations, you can play several hands simultaneously. Last but not least, there are jackpot variations of video poker, where a certain hand will pay a hefty jackpot.

Below, we provided brief explanations for the most commonly played video poker variations. 

Most poker video machines offer the highest percentage only when playing with the maximum stake. And even then, you have to play perfectly and hope to receive the highest theoretical payout.

Below is a list of the payout schedule for the most popular video poker games.  

Finding the right video poker variety is a daunting task on its own, and to make things more tricky, players often have to find out about payout percentages of a particular game by themselves as these figures are rarely advertised by the casinos. 

Essentially, there are two types of video poker games — full pay and low pay games. As the name suggests, the first type has a solid payout percentage, whereas the second type comes with a reduced payout percentage. Naturally, low pay video poker versions have a higher house edge than the high-pay ones. 

For instance, the Jacks or Better has a 9:6 payout ratio when played in full-pay mode (9:1 for Full House and 6:1 for Flush). But there are also several low-paying varieties of Jacks or Better in which the payouts for Flushes and Full Houses are lower. So, in online casinos, you can find 9/5 Jacks or Better, 8/6 Jacks or Better, and even 6/5 Jacks or Better. 

The same goes for other video poker games. For example, a full- pay Joker Poker has a theoretical payout percentage of 100.64%,and pays 20x the stake for Four of a Kind.. However, the low-paying versions have lower payouts for Four of a Kind (18x, 17x or lower), thus a lower RTP (usually it’s around 98.6%). 

The Full Pay Loose Deuces has an RTP of 100.97% and provides a 10x the stake payout for Straight Flush. The low-pay version of the same game comes with a reduced RTP (99.42) due to the fact that the Straight Flush payout is ‘only’ 6x. 

The Full Pay (25/6/5) Tens or Better poker boasts a solid RTP of 99.14% and a 25x the stake payout for Four of a Kind. In the 20/6/5 version (low-pay), the RTP is reduced to 97.96% and players get paid 20x the stake for Four of a Kind instead of 25x.

Standard video poker games are also called single-play, because players are playing only one game at a time. In multi-hand video poker, it’s possible to play 3, 10, 50 and even 100 hands of video poker games. 

Multi-hand video poker games are played the same way as single-play games. The pay tables are also the same, so you players won’t need to figure out a separate strategy. Major advantage of multi-hand games is that they offer much higher payouts. Let’s take 52 hand Deuces Wild poker, for example. Here, players will receive a massive 4000x payout for the Natural Royal Flush, when playing on five coins.

The biggest downside to multi-hand games is that they require a higher total bet This means that the variance is higher than for a single hand game. 

For example, the variance in 50 hand Jacks or Better is 115.8, which is 490% higher than in single-hand mode. The same rule applies to other video poker varieties.

New players find it difficult picking the right video poker game, simply because there are hundreds of them out there, and they all come with different rules and payouts. But, there are no right or wrong choices here — it all depends on the player’s preferences. 

Some players like easy games, like Jacks or Better, that have simple rules and no wild cards/bonuses to worry about. Others prefer variations that come with a twist and bonus payouts like in Deuces Wild and Bonus Poker. 

The best possible advice we can give you is to try finding a profitable video poker game, the one that has a 100%+ RTP. This is obviously easier said than done and requires a lot of time and effort, but making money on casino games is never easy. To determine whether or not a certain video slot is high or low-paying, you need to browse through the pay table of that particular game. 

Our team of experts has set aside a couple of online casinos with the best video poker offerings. All of these sites have been tried and tested for security, safety, regulation, and other significant aspects. Some of them will even allow you to play video poker games for free, in demo mode. You can try free Deuces Wild video poker without risking a penny, and learn the game’s mechanics before switching to real-play mode.

The first-ever poker machines were invented in 1891 by Sittman and Pitt Company. These served as precursors to modern video poker machines. In 1901, Charles Fey, a mechanic from San Francisco invented the first draw poker machine. 

In 1970, Dale Electronics created the first video poker machine. Although it was not particularly popular at the time, it prepared the gambling community for future similar inventions. Nowadays, video poker machines are a key ingredient of every land-based and online casino. Hundreds of different varieties were developed, but the core principles have remained the same.

If you’re interested in learning how video poker games work, along with all the tools to improve and analyze your gameplay, you should try obtaining the following video poker books: 

That’s it folks! Hopefully, our extensive guide has teached you the fundamentals of video poker. Now, you can register in an online casino fully prepared to take on the challenge of beating the house. We know that the house always wins, but in video poker, that doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Industry-low house edge on these games makes them potentially lucrative, and give you the best chance to walk away with some extra cash on your account. 

We wish you all the best and remember to always gamble responsibly!