Online Video Poker

Fans of Video Poker have found that playing online beats the long drive to the casino, and the odds in many cases are much better at online casinos than land based casinos. There is also a bigger selection of games to choose from. What we'd like to do here is to give you an idea of some of the most popular online video poker games that you'll find, a bit about the rules and some simple strategies for playing. There are as many varieties as you can imagine, including Bonus Video Poker and Multi Hand Video Poker where you can play 50 or even 100 hands at a time.

Video Poker Games:

Jacks or Better is the first and probably most popular video poker game. In this game, you use the standard hand ranking and attempt to draw a Pair of Jacks or Better to win. Five cards are dealt and you have the option of holding or discarding any of the five, with one draw. After the draw, you make the best hand with the cards you're holding and you are paid according to the paytable. Credits are automatically added to your account and you're ready to play again.

Deuces Wild has all four of the deuces as Wild Cards, making more winning hands possible and changing the paytable to reflect the additional hands you can make. The lowest ranking hand in this game is Three of a Kind, a Natural Royal Flush is the highest and getting all four deuces ranks next. With a wild card game you'll notice more winning hand rankings and usually the addition of at least one more high ranking hand.

Joker Poker adds one Wild to the game and has as it's lowest winning hand a Pair of Kings or better. In addition to getting a Natural Royal Flush, you can get Five of a Kind as the top paying hands in this game.

Aces and Faces rewards nicely for different Four of a Kind combinations, with Four Aces being just under the Royal Flush for highest ranking hand. Getting Four of a Kind any of the Face Cards pays just under the Straight Flush, then comes the Four of a Kind for Deuces through Tens.

One of the biggest tips to playing Video Poker is to play at online casinos that offer the highest consistent payouts. And when you select a 'machine' look for a full pay machine, you have a higher payout on the winning hands. Full pay simply means that the Full House pays 9 coins on a max bet and a Flush pays 6 coins on a max bet. There are games that pay less, for example 8/5, so try to avoid these.

The paytable is visible at the top of each game and you can at a glance see what the payouts are. It's also very important to always bet the max on the coin denomination that you've chosen. If you're playing a quarter game, max bet is five coins, or $1.25. Many times players have wanted to stretch out those last few dollars and reduced their bet, only to hit the high paying hands like the Royal Flush and end up with a much lower payout or miss the 'Jackpot' payout. Don't let this happen to you and spoil a good time.