POKER, THE Video VERSION How video poker offers a proficient player the opportunity to obtain the perfect break at any betting machine… Video poker is not reside poker, and outside of how you evaluate the hands, it bears small resemblance to the table game. Video poker can be a fairly latest phenomenon, dating back to only the mid Seventies. Even though early slot machines used cards and poker hands as payoff symbols, players had no choices to produce; the reels stopped wherever the machine determined they would. The increasing popularity of video poker might be traced to many factors and characteristics it has in common with many of the additional well-liked casino games.

For instance:

� It is really fast (like craps).
� It provides players the opportunity to generate decisions and a reasonable control over the results (like chemin de fer).
� It is comparable to poker (like numerous of the newest casino games).
� It offers the possibility of a large payoff and just isn’t intimidating (like slot machines).
� You may bet on it for a low minimum, an investment as modest as five cents.

Perhaps what tends to make it even far more well-liked is that it returns your investment for a pair of Jacks to Aces, in effect, this tends to make the player really feel like a push (a tie) can be a win. This is an crucial psychological factor that can make it appear like you’re succeeding a lot more than you in fact are. Possibly it’s because when you drop a coin into the machine, you think about that a lost Coin, so that when it reappears on an even-money payoff, you really feel like you happen to be a winner. It is really a subtle point, except a powerful one.

STRATEGIC Errors The next step would be to use professional strategy. Never expect to wager on flawlessly the initial time you sit down. Because the unique machines all have their own unique methods, you ought to stick with one type of device until you have thoroughly understood and mastered its particular knowledgeable strategies. Once once more, Jacks-or-better could be the most basic choice, and by mastering its knowledgeable method, you’ll possess a much better chance in the much more complex techniques of other electronic poker machines. The subsequent tactics will be used for progressive Jacks-or-better and even bonus poker with out losing significantly of an edge. Essentially the most vital concept to grasp in the beginning may be the need to eliminate costly mistakes. Most of those errors are produced by confusing electronic poker with live poker, and can be generalized as follows:

� Don’t hold a kicker. A kicker is an unpaired great card that you’d hold along with a lower pair. When betting live poker, that wager on may be made occasionally to throw your competitors off the trail, except you can’t bluff a machine. Holding a kicker reduces the chances to improve the pair which is more valuable.

� Will not draw to an inside straight. This really is good advice regardless of whether you’re playing reside or electronic poker. It seems to be a specific failing of electronic poker players.

� Never bet on two-card connectors.

MAKING IT COUNT With more than twenty-five varieties of high-pair machines-10s, Jacks and Kings or better-documented in the past 5 years, it really is hard to designate an overall specialist strategy, but you will discover a number of widespread suggestions that can keep you in the game much longer than if you simply "fly by the seat of your pants". These are applicable to most of the Jacks-or-better and bonus poker games, and will give you the very best probability to walk away a winner.

� Hold any pair, great or low, as opposed to keeping one or 2 good cards, even if they’re suited.

� Should you never have a pair, hold any card above a Ten to a maximum of two.