Video Poker offers the best mobile gambling experience

Video Poker offers the best mobile gambling experience

Poker has been an integral part of casino gaming for many years and it is synonymous with the casino industry, both online and offline. Of course, the game started as a card game played between several opponents where the winner of each pot would take all.

Casinos quickly realised that this type of poker wasn't ideal as customers were just effectively winning money from each other, giving the casino no profit, which is why casino's poker rooms have been operating on 'rake' (a scaled commission fee) on each round of hands giving the casino a small percentage of the pot. They also charge a fee for hosting sit & go tournaments, multi-table tournaments, and satellites, and other types of tournaments.

These charges ensured that the casino can host and operate traditional poker tables profitably. However they still were not the most profitable form of entertainments for casinos to offer poker players.

Given that poker has a clearly identifiable structure and ranking order when it comes to deciding what is the winning hands, it didn't take casinos long to realise that hand rankings could form the basis of a poker-based slots game, without the need to actually play poker against a human opponent.

The result of that eventually transformed into the game of video poker.

What is Video Poker?

Video Poker is a game based on the hand rankings in poker. Although the general aim of both video poker and traditional forms of the game is the same, to get the best hand possible, in video poker you do not win cash from an opponent.

Instead, the hand rankings that offer a payout are displayed on the screen and next to each is displayed how much cash or coins you will win if your final hand is above a certain ranking.

The winning hands you'll usually find in video poker are as follows:

  • Pair - Usually above a certain value of card. Pairs of Jacks or higher are often the minimum payout level you will find on a video poker game, though this may vary depending on the type of game you play. This is often known as 'Jacks or Better' e.g. J, J, 6, 3, 2.
  • Two Pairs - When you have two pairs of cards of different values within your five cards, e.g. 10, 10, J, J, 5.
  • Three of a Kind - When you have three cards of the same value, e.g. A, A, A, 5, 7.
  • Straight - Any five cards, of mixed suits, that run consecutively, e.g. 5 Spades, 6 Clubs, 7 Diamonds, 8 Clubs, 9 Spades.
  • Flush - Any five cards of the same suit that do not run consecutively, e.g. 5, 6, 9, J, Q, all of Hearts.
  • Full House - Three of a Kind with a pair of different cards, e.g. Q, Q, Q, 10, 10.
  • Four of a Kind - Four cards of the same value within your five card hand, e.g. K, K, K, K, 7.
  • Straight Flush - All five cards of the same suit and running consecutively, e.g. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 all of Hearts.
  • Royal Flush - The top five cards all of the same suit, e.g. 10, J, Q, K, A, all of Clubs.

For example, you would only win a very small amount of money (usually your stake back), if you achieve a Pair, however you would win considerably more if you achieved a Royal Flush.

Perhaps what is most misleading bit of information about video poker is while from the name people would tend to assume that it is a card game, the actual mechanics of the game means that it actually plays more like a slot game. Despite this, video poker does require more skill than a slot game.

Many casino experts often remark that given the much better house edge for players in video poker compared to slots, that slots players should be willing to give video poker a try. Essentially, the games are very similar, it is about matching winning paylines and there's maths behind video poker that anyone can learn.

How to play Video Poker

Playing video poker is exceptionally easy even if you are not familiar with the game of poker itself as you will see what the winning hands are on screen and furthermore, if you are dealt a winning hand immediately, the game will recognise this and 'hold' these cards for you.

Once you have decided how many coins you are going to play (and in video poker, the accepted strategy is that you should always play the maximum number of coins on each game) you are then dealt five cards.

All you need to do is make the best possible hand from the cards that you have been dealt. In some cases, the hand you have been dealt may already have a winning hand in, but in many cases, you will find that you should hold some cards and replace others to make a winning hand.

So what you can do is discard some or all of your cards and draw new cards randomly from the pack in the hope of improving your hand.

This is best shown via an example:

Let's say you have been dealt the following hand:

Queen of Clubs, Ace of Hearts, Ten of Hearts, 6 of Spades, King of Spades

As you can see, you do not yet have a winning hand as you have not reached the minimum payout of a Pair.

So what you can now do is select which card or cards to discard from the pack in the hope of changing this into a winning hand. To keep a card, click the "Hold" button and this will mean that the card stays in your hand. Those cards that are not held, will be discarded and replaced with new cards from the pack.

So in the example above, let's say that we discard the 6 of Spades we might hit a straight with a Jack and thus earn a payout.

If we land a Jack then we have hit a Straight, and we would be paid out at the as listed in the payout table.

Once the cards are drawn, the hand is then analysed and if you have won, you receive your payout. The game then progresses with the cards shuffled and a new wager made and five new cards dealt to the player.

What are my chances when playing Video Poker?

Perhaps the most surprising thing about video poker is just how much the odds are in favour of the player compared to other casino games.

The upshot of this is, that if you play video poker, you are statistically more likely to win more often than you would playing almost all other casino games, with the exception (perhaps) of blackjack.

However, there are certain strategies you should follow when playing video poker to help you maximise your chances of winning and also how much you win when you do hit a winning hand.

Firstly, players should always bet the maximum coin amount on each hand. This is perhaps the golden rule of video poker.

Secondly, players should take time to learn the hand rankings and to then apply a strategy where you always try for the hand that pays out the most.

Let's say you have been dealt the hand 6 Clubs, 6 Diamonds, 8 Clubs, 3 Clubs, K of Clubs.

Now, your options here are to hold the 6 Clubs and 6 Diamonds and discard the remaining three cards in the hope you will hit another six, or possibly two sixes to land a three of a kind or (rarely) a four of a kind. You have a 2/49 chance of landing a six in this situation.

However, a better option here is to discard the 6 Diamonds as you have a further 9 cards in the pack of the remaining 49 cards that are all Clubs.

Statistically, you have a much better chance of landing a Club, than another 6, and a Flush pays out more than a Three of a Kind, hence in this situation, discarding the 6 of Diamonds is the right call.

This does get more complex when more and more hands are possible, but learning the hand rankings in video poker is the fundamental skill you'll need to maximise your chances of winning at this popular, fast-paced and enjoyable casino game.

BTW playing video poker is a great way to learn hand rankings and progressing to the cash tables at poker rooms.

Which Video Poker games are now available on mobile?

On mobile (smartphone and tablet) the following video poker games are available:

Aces and Faces
Bonus Deuces Wild
Aces and Eights
Double Double Bonus Poker

You can now claim $10 free on any of these games and try them without deposit.

Byline: This article was written and published by Henry Regal.