Video Poker Beginners Guide

New to video poker? In this Beginners Guide we cover the basics for newbies and give some tips to play winning video poker.

The History of Video Poker

Video Poker was created by casinos in the mid-1970′s to cater for the players that didn’t feel comfortable at the poker tables and gained real popularity in the 1980′s. It can be seen as a combination between poker and a slot machine. The succes can be explained by the fact that you can play on your own pace and don’t need to adapt to other players while still being a much more strategic game than slots games or other casino games.

The Basics

There are many variations on video poker, but the basics are pretty much the same. After placing a bet, a player get dealt five cards. The players then has to decide which and how many cards to discard for which he gets new cards. The hand rankings are similar to a regular poker game. If you don’t know the hand rankings, go to our poker rules page. Jacks-or-better is the most simple form of video poker, so if you never played and like to get used to the game, we advice you to start with this game. Variations on video poker include games with Jokers (for example Jokers Wild) or games with extra payouts for certain combinations like ‘Aces and Eights’.

Tips to play winning video poker

We assume you like to win with poker so here are our tips to play winning video poker:

-Make sure you get the best payouts

Video poker machines differ in their payout for Flushes, Full Houses and Royal flushes. Always look for the high payouts for these hands. Compare different casinos and if you play live videopoker make sure you walk around the casino and look for the high payouts. If we take Jacks-or-Better as an example, look for a machine that pays out 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush.

-Play maximum coins

To stimulate playing maximum coins, a video poker machine gives exponantially higher payouts for a Royal Flush. The result is that playing maximum coins is the most profitable. The chances on a Royal Flush are slim: 1 in 40,000 but the presence of the Royal Flush is the reason you can play winning video poker.

-Look at the long-term

In addition to the last point, looking at the long term is of most importance with video poker. Because the chances on a Royal Flush are not that big playing winning video poker is possible if you just play long enough. This is also the basis for the existence of ‘video poker teams’ who operate together to play more hands and win Royal Flushes and jackpots faster to gain a bigger edge.

-Play the Progressive Jackpots

By playing the right videopoker machines (both live and online) with progressive jackpots it can be very profitable to play. This was illustrated not long ago by professional poker player Huck Seed who won a $670,000 jackpot with a sound strategy directed at winning this specific jackpot.

Where to play video poker?

We hope you found our video poker beginners guide useful and got some things out of it. Now it’s time to play some video poker! Our preferred place to play is 888Casino. They have great software and special tournaments for videopoker players. Every 8th and 9th of the month a video poker tournament is held with a first prize of up to $3,300 and 55 winners! Click on the banner below to go to 888Casino and grab a great bonus: