collage of video poker terms

Use These Video Poker Tips to Increase Your Wins and Enhance Your Gaming Fun

We talk a lot about the many great games on offer here at Everygame Casino.  The most popular games are slots, of course, followed by blackjack, table or casino poker such as the Caribbean poker variations, and then video poker.

Video poker is actually a great game with a very high return to player rate.  We feel that video poker deserves more attention as a go to online casino game.  Here we will talk about some tips that many gamers may not have thought about that make playing video poker a lot more fun.

Choose the Right Strategy

There are two basic strategies in video poker.  The more common one is when you play for a Royal Flush.  Players do this because the extra payout for a Royal Flush is very high.  In order to qualify for that high extra payment, the player has to bet the maximum on the hand.

Some players prefer to bet less than the maximum because they want to more carefully conserve their bankroll.  If you do so, you no longer play for the Royal Flush.  You will play for lesser hands that pay more than the 1-1 payment for a pair of Jacks or better but not for the Royal Flush.

Therefore, the correct strategy depends on whether or not you are betting the maximum on the hand.

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Play Multi-hand Video Poker

One reason some players prefer to bet less than the maximum is because they want to play multi-hand video poker but they can’t in all fairness to themselves bet the maximum.

The question then is why play multi-hand video poker?  There are two main reasons.  The first is that if you get lucky and get a very good hand to start with, you will rack up many sizable wins over the course of the many hands the computer draws for you.

Since the return to player rate is already close to 100%, it doesn’t take much to get that lucky hand that results in the player winning a lot of money on one hand.

The second reason many players play multi-hand video poker is because they love seeing the wins rack up as the many hands are drawn.  There are quite a few hands that result in many wins in multi-hand video poker.  A pair of high cards will result in every hand winning something and you’ll get a few three of a kind hands, two pairs, a full house perhaps, and maybe even four of a kind.

So, multi-hand video poker can make a gaming session quite profitable with a little bit of luck and playing the best strategy for the game you’re playing.

Return to Player Rate

The high return to player rate means that video [poker, even though it is a game of skill, is also a game that you can play for the fun it creates.  If you know in advance that in any given gaming session, you will either win a little or lose a little, you can play for the sheer pleasure of playing.

Many gamers prefer video poker over real poker against real opponents simply because there is no bluffing involved in video poker.  If you watch poker on YouTube, you come to realize that there is a bluff or the intimation of a bluff on almost every hand.

Many gamers love poker but don’t love the bluffing side so they play table poker or video poker.  In this way, they get the poker gaming they like without feeling that they are being fooled on every hand.

Is Video Poker All Skill?

No, of course not.  Even poker that the pros play is a game of high skill but also a game in which there is a lot of luck.  There are many benefits aside from the gaming pleasure that players can enjoy by playing video poker.

The skill aspect and the luck aspect both work to build self-confidence and character.  Luck teaches us to go with the flow, roll with the punches.  Daniel Negreanu stays positive even when he has a bad beat but Phil Helmuth can’t handle a bad beat and often blames the opponent when he loses.

In fact, Helmuth has been known to call an opponent stupid when he earns a lucky beat against Helmuth.   In the end, the player who accepts defeat on a bad beat develops a great deal of strength of character.

Video Poker Develops Poker Skills

To start, video poker helps players recognize poker hands.  What is a good hand and what is a poor hand.  Many players begin as video poker players with the intention of eventually playing poker against real opponents.  Playing video poker gives many of these players a hand up when they decide to venture forth into the world of real poker against real opponents.  The ability to quickly recognize the relative value of a hand helps new poker players win.

Play Several Variations

Learn the rules and the best strategy for each.  The more variations you play, the more comfortable you’ll feel when you play poker against real opponents.  Even if you only play Texas Hold’em against real opponents, every hand in Hold’em is like a new variation in video poker.

Learning the best strategy for several variations will take perseverance and that also puts poker players in a good position to win against real opponents.

Give Poker Your Complete Attention

Playing at home leads many players into a multi-tasking situation.  There are things that you can do to multi-task while you play video poker such as make soup.  It is not a good idea, however, to try to play video poker and to make a roux for gumbo!

Maybe you can fold the laundry but don’t try to balance your checkbook while you’re playing video poker.  We think that surfing the internet, painting the nursery, and vacuuming the carpet are things best left to do after you play video poker!

The key element here is that video poker requires keen attention in order to always make the best decision on every hand.  The high return to player rate goes only to those gamers who can really give their full attention to the game.

Increase Your Bet when You’re Ahead

This advice applies only to players who are not betting the maximum as a way of conserving their bankroll.  Some players will never bet the maximum because they want to stay in total control of their betting.  That is entirely justified.  Every player is an individual with their own unique needs including how to bet at video poker.

Having said that, we could still make the case for you to increase your bet to the maximum if you are a given amount ahead and you are close to ending the gaming session.  We are not encouraging extravagant betting but if you can bet the max for a few hands, you might just get a bigger win than you normally would get and end the session quite a bit ahead.

Try Video Poker Today

Most gamers do play slots and that’s fine.  We suggest that in this time of coronavirus isolation that we stretch our gaming horizons a bit.  Many gamers are coming to Everygame Casino Red from now closed land based casinos.  These gamers might not fully realize that at an online casino, they stay in their seats for all of the games.  There is no switching seats at Everygame Casino!

So, while we are all trying our utmost to stay physically healthy, may we recommend video poker as a great way to stay emotionally healthy?  The fun is in the playing!

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