History of Video Poker

Video poker is a game based on five-card draw. The software deals and displays the cards. The player bets against the casino,which acts as the dealer and the banker. The object of the game is to make the highest ranking poker hand possible. Video poker differs from most other slot machines because the skill of the player affects the outcome of the game.

A winning hand is paid a fixed return. The payouts for winning hands are displayed on the casino’s website. The higher the ranking of the hand, the greater the returns. The payouts vary depending on the casinos rules.

Video poker differs from a traditional game of five-card draw in a number of ways:
•    There is only one player so it is not necessary to beat other players’ hands.
•    It is a much faster game.
•    The payout odds for particular hands are fixed.
•    It does not involve bluffing.

 

The history of video poker
Poker has been played on gaming machines since the 1800s. In 1891 Sittman and Pitt of Brooklyn began manufacturing poker card machines. They proved extremely popular and were installed in virtually all Brooklyn’s licensed liquor establishments, which at that time numbered over 3000. By 1901 the machines had been redesigned so that draw poker could be played.
In the mid-1970s video poker was invented. By 1976 the first black and white video poker machines appeared. They were superseded eight months later with a colour version. Nowadays, video poker is one of the most popular casino games.

 

Types of video poker
There are a number of different games with slight variations in the rules. The most popular games are jacks or better, deuces wild and joker wild. Games can also be played where three hands at a time are played. For beginners, jacks or better is a simpler game to play. The returns for a royal flush on some machines are fixed, on others there is a progressive jackpot, which accumulates each time a game is played.