Video poker is a fascinating game of poker. A lot of players worldwide plays this game very passionately. The game first came to the sight of gamblers in the ’70s who does not want to play poker around the table anymore. Despite having such a long history, people know the very least amount of facts about the game. So here in this article, we will discuss some facts about the game that you never knew.
Before that, here is a brief history of video poker.
A brief history of the VideoPoker game
As mentioned, the game of video poker was launched in the ’70s when some poker players got bored of playing around a table. This game is the pioneer of what we call online casinos today away. The boost it gave to the rise of these new era online casino games is unmatchable. Gamblers online have consistently voted for video poker being one of the most played online casino games, even now. It is also reflected in the statistics of the game.
The earlier video poker machines were big, black and white machines. Bally first developed these machines. Another rival company in just eight months after these large black and white machines have made a colored version of the machines that attracted much more people.
The game after being launched in the ’70s has kept continuing its journey upwards. But it was only the casinos in Las Vegas in 1979 that made the game even more popular. These casinos installed a variant made by SIRCOMA called Draw Poker. These machines, featuring the lowest possible pairs and thus, the players had more chances of winning the game. This was when the players considered to play the video poker more as this was the safer and more convenient version of the game for the players.
Nowadays, there are a lot more video poker modifications to the game. The payout schedules have also started varying. Nowadays, the players have a wide choice of variations of the game. However, one of the earliest versions of video poker called Jacks or Better has become one of the most popular and most played casino games nowadays.
The game is now in almost every casino of the world. Plenty of people likes the game because it is a lot more exciting and a lot less complicated than a usual poker game at the table. However, the game still tests your decision-making skills, as well.
Now, as we have the idea about the history of the video poker game, here are some facts about the game you may don’t know.
Some facts about the video poker game
Video Poker is NOT a slot machine: Video Poker machines look like slot machines as represented physically, but it is NOT a slot machine. The similarities of a video poker machine and a slot machine are only on the surface area. On most slot machine games, the player will have symbols only. Slot machines will make you money when you get a specific combination of these numbers. However, video poker also helps you win money with symbols and combinations, but the slot machine symbols are fruits sometimes or random nonsense. While a video poker game consists of symbols of playing cards. You cannot know what the probability of a particular symbol is. Therefore, although you know what is going to be the pot combination, you cannot know your winning percentage. However, in video poker, the probability of getting any particular card is 1 in 52.- It is a game of skill: When playing a slot machine, you have no decisions of any consequences to make. In slot machines, you choose a denomination to play your best and hope for the best. However, video poker is a game of skill. In video poker, you will deal a hand. You will then decide which cards to keep and which to giveaway. In any situation of a poker game, there is always a right way to play. Your correct decision will give you the highest expected value. This proper strategy varies with the variation of the game you are playing.
- One of the best places to play this game is on the boulder highways in Vegas: The casinos on the boulder highway of Vegas are one of the best areas of playing video poker in the world. What else would have been a better place to playing a video poker game with a chilled beer bottle in your hand than the casinos of the sin city? In most of the casinos of the world, you may not find games like Deuces Wild nowadays. However, in the boulder highways of Vegas, you may find some casinos offering these games even now. The Vegas casinos offer great pay tables on the other games of video poker such as Jacks or Better, Jokers Wild etc.
- You should always bet max coin: You as a player should always max coin. Why? Oh, it’s simple because you will get a higher payoff if you get a royal flush. Most of the video poker casino games offer a 250 to 1 payoff for the royal flush. However, if you are playing 5 coins per hand, the royal flush will become 800 to 1. This is something consistent in each of the video poker games irrespective of the variations.
- You can get an edge over the house: Some of the variations of a video poker game offers an edge over the house. The house edge in most of the video poker games is small. However, in some variations of the game, the player might have the edge over the house. Deuce Wild and Bonus Bonus Poker are the games that offer a small edge to the player over the house. In these video poker game, you may get a small edge of 0.3 per cent over the house.
So, these were some facts and a brief history of the video poker game. The video poker game with a really small house edge. What are you waiting for? Go and start playing.