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This article might seem out of place at Everygame Online Casino Red. We have a fantastic theme: how playing video poker can help people become better poker players. Let’s see if we can pull it off!
What is Video Poker?
If you have never played video poker, you might need to look up some of the terminology we will use here. Video poker is an online version of five card draw poker. Instead of playing against the other players, you play against the pay table
The dealer’s only job is to deal. Since all online games are digital, the dealer is also digital. Every video poker hand is a unique hand as the cards are automatically “shuffled” after each deal.
You Get to Draw Cards
In online video poker, you can all five cards if you want to. In most hands, a player will draw three cards.
There is a large extra payout for a Royal Flush so most gamers bet the maximum on every hand in order to qualify for the big payout if a Royal Flush appears.
Since you are ultimately trying for higher paying hands after the draw, you will sometimes break a winning pair in order to go for that higher hand.
This is all part of video poker strategy. Using video poker to become better at regular poker involves taking the much lower risk in video poker and channeling it into getting better at poker.
Why is the Risk in Video Poker Low?
Simply put, the best strategy on every hand inn video poker is known because computers have studied millions of video poker hands. So, we know how to best play any hand in video poker.
The return to player rate in standard Jacks or Better video poker is about 99.5% assuming that you follow the statistics and play correctly.
This means that playing video poker as a tune up for regular poker has almost no risk. Regular poker, even at low stakes, involves a large measure of risk.
How Can a Video Poker Player Use the Game to practice for Regular Poker?
This is the essence of this article. You get five cards. Now, visualize that the first two cards are your hole cards and the next three are the flop. You can use this to simulate a Texas Holdem hand.
If you do this exercise correctly, you will first evaluate the two “hole cards” and then evaluate the hand “after the flop”.
This is the basic exercise to train for regular poker using video poker. On the next hand, imagine that your position has moved. In this way, you will be simulating a Texas Holdem hand in all positions.
How would you play a given hand if you were the big blind and someone raised?
Learn to Evaluate Your Hand Quickly
At the poker table, you don’t have to rush but you do have to have a good idea of where the hand you are holding is going. There is really no limit to the number of real poker scenarios you can imagine from a hand in video poker.
Trade in Cards
In video poker you now exchange cards to see what your new hand will look like. In video poker, the hand ends here. In real poker, the hand is just getting going. There are two more rounds of betting after the flop. Try to imagine how you would proceed from this point forward if these were your cards in a real game of Texas Holdem.
Now Imagine That These are an Opponent’s Cards
You have a completely different set of hole cards but the flop is for everyone. If your opponent bets, you need to imagine what he or she might have to justify a bet.
There are only two possible reasons for a player to bet after the flop: either they have a good hand or they are bluffing. Imagine that the player is bluffing. How would you know?
Monitor Your Reactions to a Good Hand
There are any number of scenarios in which you get good cards before the flop or improve tremendously after the flop. When you play video poker just for the fun of playing, you can exult all you want but when you play as training for real poker, you need top keep the same poker face whether you have a good hand, a great hand, or a poor hand.
Controlling how you react to a good hand is a very important part of success in real poker.
In Poker You Need a Great Deal of Patience
If it is your nature to react angrily when luck goes against you, then real poker is most definitely not your game! Even with that high return to player rate in video poker, you will have sessions in which your return is much lower. In real poker, the player who tilts when his or her luck is next to non-present is a player ready to be taken for a financial ride.
Video poker, with its own ups and downs is a very good venue for practicing calmness and patience.
Video Poker is a Good Stepping Stone to Good Money Management
You don’t need a large bankroll to paly video poker. You do need a substantial bankroll to play regular poker. Playing video poker is a good exercise in money management.
Everygame Casino Offers Many Variations of Video Poker
A lot of video poker players enjoy playing several variations. Now, speaking strictly about video poker, we strongly recommend that you learn the best strategy for every variation you want to play.
In real poker terms, this is the same as learning how to play in every position and against every type of bet. We say that you should never go into any game unprepared from the strategy standpoint.
Everygame Casino Offers Hundreds of Games
We carry over 300 games. Just as video poker involves cold calculation and has a very high return to player rate for the strategy minded player, other games are more in the pure entertainment category.
A lot of gamers love slots play at Everygame and there is no real strategy in slots. We might recommend that after a session of video poker, you take a few minutes to unwind with a selection of slots.
Many thousand of gamers enjoy Everygame Casino Red often.