How to Play Video Poker

VideoPoker Tutorial

Video Poker - How to Play, and How to Play Well

The goal of this guide is to teach you how to play video poker.

Video poker plays differently from slot machines. Video poker is lots of fun, and the action is fast-paced, but more is expected from you as a player. What makes video poker such a great game is its decision-making aspect. How to play video poker isn't hard, but it's more interactive than putting a coin in a machine and pulling a lever.

Video poker is based on five card draw poker, which is pretty easy to learn. In video poker, just like in five card draw, you're dealt five playing cards and you choose which cards to keep and which ones to discard. On a video poker machine, you get paid out a certain amount based on how good your final hand is. If you pick the right game with the right pay table, and you make the right decisions, the payback percentage for this game is excellent.

Video Poker - How the Game is Played

The actual gameplay is simplicity itself: you insert your money, then push the "play" or "deal" button, and five playing card icons appear on your screen. You then select which cards you want to keep. You can opt to keep all five cards, or none of the five cards, or anything in between. When you push the hold button that corresponds to a given card, the word "hold" appears above the card you've chosen. Your goal is to get the highest ranking hand possible.

Video Poker Hand Rankings
Hand	Odds of Getting
Royal Flush	1 in 655,000
Straight Flush	1 in 73,000
Four of a Kind	1 in 4200
Full House	1 in 700
Flush	1 in 500
Straight	1 in 250
Three of a Kind	1 in 50
Two Pair	1 in 21
High Pair	1 in 8
Low Pair	1 in 3
No Pair	1 in 2

After you've chosen which cards you want to keep, you push (or "click") the "deal" button and new cards replace the cards you chose not to hold. If you have a winning hand, you're awarded credits based on the payout chart for that game. The payouts are listed in "units", which are the denomination of the game you're playing (25 cents, 50 cents, $1, $5 etc.)

Then you start over again and play another hand. When you've completed your session, just press the "collect" button to get your winnings.

That's all there really is to know about how to play video poker, but the strategies vary from game to game and from payout table to payout table. Be sure to also visit the following pages for specific tips for specific games: