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How to Gain the Advantage in Video Poker
It’s so easy to “walk into” an online casino like Everygame Casino: all you need to do is enter your login code. Then you figuratively go in, walk around, take in the sights and sounds, and eventually, you sit down—or, more likely, you curl up— to play.
What actually happens when you enter your Everygame casino login? Well, your account is automatically triggered. Your comp points account is readied so with your very first bet you start collecting more comp points. And you get to play as many games as you wish without giving up your seat since cyberspace is not “furnished” with seats. Instead, cyberspace is furnished with comfort and convenience!
Do Players at Land-based Casinos Play All of the Games Offered?
Not at all! Gamers at land-based casinos jealously protect the game they are playing at that moment. They might play a single slot for hours at a time!
Players at Everygame Casino can play all of our games at their (and your) convenience. In this way, gamers at Everygame find some hidden gems among the more than 300 games we have on offer!
One of the hidden gems—that is gaining in popularity so quickly that it might no longer be a “hidden” gem—is video poker.
What is Video Poker?
This is a variation of 5-card draw poker. At a land-based casino, you play it seated at a terminal. When you play video poker at Everygame Casino, you are more likely to be curled up on your extra-comfy sofa!
In video poker, you get five cards. You actually play against the pay table. You don’t play against the dealer or any other players. The pay table tells you how much you will win if you get a winning hand after you discard cards and receive new cards.
Five-card draw poker is popular in poker games with friends where the dealer “calls” the game. As we said, in online casino video poker, there are no opponents, no betting after your bet to play, no bluffing, and you win if your hand is good enough to win based on the pay table.
In the most popular form of video poker, Jacks or Better, you need at least a pair of jacks to win the hand. A pair of tens is not good enough. So a good part of the strategy is to try to get at least a high pair.
Let’s take one hand as an example. If you are playing Jacks or Better and you get no pairs on the deal but you have two high cards, the best strategy is to discard four cards and keep only one of the high cards. A lot of video poker players would keep both high cards but statistically speaking keeping just one is better.
You Can Discard Four or Five Cards
In at home five-card draw poker games, players can draw four cards only if they show an ace. They can never draw five cards. So, on most hands, players will draw three cards.
In video poker, you can draw as many cards as you wish, obviously up to and including five cards!
Be Careful What You Touch
Here is one technical nuance in video poker that new players have to be aware of. In at-home games, you touch the cards you want to discard. In video poker, the cards you touch on the screen are the cards you want to hold onto! So, take care until you get the hang of it!
Going for a Royal Flush
There is a big extra payout for a Royal Flush provided the gamer bet the maximum on the hand. So, if you do bet the maximum, there will be a few hands where you play for the Royal Flush even if, in order to do that, you have to give up a winning pair.
In most cases, you won’t draw to a Royal Flush. However, it is a lot more likely that you will draw to a flush or a straight and in some situations you will also give up a winning pair in order to go for the flush or straight!
Why is Video Poker Gaining in Popularity?
There are two main reasons for this growing phenomenon. First, a lot of people love to play poker but don’t like to play against so-called professionals. The internet and all land-based poker rooms are widely populated with poker pros or poker pro wannabes.
Video poker gives players who love poker, but who want to play a much quieter version of it, a chance to play without the tension that playing against bluffers creates.
The second reason is that video poker has a return to player rate of almost 100% in most versions. The ability to draw four or five cards is a contributing factor in the high return to player rate. The 9-6 pay table is another factor in the high payout rate.
Deuces Wild Has a Payout Rate above 100%
As amazing as it seems, if you play with the very best strategy from the statistical point of view, Deuces Wild has a return to player rate of just a shade higher than 100%!
The reason the return to player rate is high with Deuces Wild is simply that there are winning hands that can’t happen in regular video poker without wild cards. There are four deuces. That makes a Royal Flush with a wild card a lot more likely than a Royal Flush with all regular cards. It makes five of a kind possible. It makes a straight flush a lot more likely.
The pay scale reflects all of these unusual hands. It is also true that to balance the top of the winning hand ranks, the payouts for one high pair and for two pair are eliminated. That brings the return to player rate back down to almost 100% but in this case the edge actually sits with the players.
The addition of four wild cards offsets the elimination of wins for a high pair and for two pair.
Video Poker is Perfect for Multi-Hand Games
There is actually a third reason why video poker is so popular but we decided to talk about it here at the end of the article. Simply put, players can play as many as 100 hands at a time in video poker here at Everygame Casino Red. However, if you are betting the maximum, multi-hand video poker can be an expensive way to play the game.
So, we urge gamers to proceed with caution when you want to play multi-hand video poker. Of course, if you play 100 hands and get a really good hand to start, before discarding and getting new cards, you will rack up a lot of exciting wins!
Play over 300 Games at Everygame Casino
We have hundreds of games on offer! We are sure that all gamers will find many games they enjoy playing here at Everygame. Our Welcome Package is four deposit bonuses stopped off by a no deposit bonus and it is all worth as much as $5555!
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