How to play Video Poker - casinocaptain.com

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How to Play
Video Poker

Video poker is just like five card draw except that ye are not trying to beat other players hands. Instead, the goal is to make the best possible five-card hand in order to collect winnings as determined by the games payout schedule. Winning (payable) hands depend on the game type (see Variations below). Here is an example of a payout schedule fer "Jacks or Better:" (Machine Type 9/6)

Number of Coins	1	2	3	4	5
Royal Flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight Flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a Kind	25	50	75	100	125
Full House	9	18	27	36	45
Flush	6	12	18	24	30
Straight	4	8	12	16	20
Three of a Kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two Pairs	2	4	6	8	10
Pair of Jacks or Better	1	2	3	4	5

Note that ye have the option to "Bet 1," "Bet 2," and so on. The "Bet" varies from machine to machine. The most popular games are quarter or dollar machines. Some games offer lower or much higher bets.

Once ye find a machine that offers bets in yer 'comfort range,' yer ready to begin! To start, ye must first make a deposit. Once ye have money (credits) available, the next decision ye need to make is how many 'bets' ye want to make. This bet can be anywhere from one to five 'coins' or 'credits.' Fer example, on a quarter machine, ye can bet one quarter or as much as five quarters per hand. The more money wagered, the more money ye can win when ye land a winning (payable) hand. Therefore, ye need to familiarize yerself with the ranking of hands, starting from highest to lowest:

Five of a Kind*
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
A Pair
*possible when using a Joker or Wild Card

Once ye decide how many credits to bet, hit the "Deal/Draw" button to receive five cards, all face up. At this point, ye have the option of keeping or replacing any of these cards. Once ye have designated each card to 'hold' or 'draw', ye hit the "Deal/Draw" button again and all cards ye designated as 'draw' will be replaced to form yer final hand. If yer final hand is reflected on the payout schedule, ye've got yerself a winner and will be paid according to the payout schedule. Using the payout schedule above, if yer playing a quarter machine, and ye 'bet 3' (75 cents) and yer final hand is 'two pair' ye'll collect 2 x 75 cents. ($1.50)

Captains Tip: Placing 5 bets or "max credits" typically results in a larger payout when ye hit a 'big hand.' In the example above, note that the payout increases substantially if ye bet 'max credits' and hit a royal flush.

Strategy. Yer goal is to get a "payable" hand. That is, ye want to get at least the minimum payout hand possible. Fer example, in " Jacks or Better" yer lookin to get at least a pair of jacks or better to at least get yer bet back. To increase yer chances of 'beating the house,' ye want to play with a good strategy. Playing with good (perfect) strategy avoids guessing and therefore increases yer chances of winning! It is important to note that the strategy fer video poker is different from the strategy in live poker. Basic strategy is easy to learn and yer well-advised to take advantage of this resource and apply it to yer play. Check out me strategy fer Jacks or Better...

Captains Tip: Once ye are dealt yer initial five cards, look at the list below to determine which cards to hold. Keep in mind that these are ranked from best to worst case scenario. If ye got more than one of these situations in yer hand, go for the one closest to the top o' the list, matey!

Jacks or Better Strategy

*Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind*

4 cards of a Royal Flush

*Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind*

4 cards of a Straight Flush

Two Pair

A pair of Jacks or higher

3 cards of a Royal Flush

4 cards of the same suit

A pair of Tens or lower

4 cards in a row

2 cards that are Jacks or higher and the same suit

3 cards of a Straight Flush

2 cards that are Jacks or higher, but not the same suit

A 10/J, 10/Q, or 10/K of the same suit

One Jack or higher

*None of the above*

*Hold all cards in these hands and go collect yer winnings ye lucky dog!
*Rotten luck. Discard everything, say a prayer and take five new ones

Captains Tip: My top rated site, Golden Palace has the perfect strategy fer every game variation - it tells ye which cards to hold and which cards to draw every time ye play!

Machine Odds. Look fer the best type of machine to play - the ones that give ye the best odds! Here is a listing: (Note: "9/6" means the machine pays 9 coins on a Full House and 6 coins on a Flush.)

Machine Type	Payout
9/7	100.7%
10/7 (double bonus)	100.2%
9/6	99.5%
8/5	97.3%
7/5	96.3%
6/5	95.2%

Hand Odds. To give ye a sense of the math, there are 2,598,960 different hand combination possibilities in video poker. Avast! Not to worry mate. How often a specific hand appears will vary depending on the type of machine ye are playing as well. Deuces Wild will be different from Jokers Wild which will be different from Jacks or Better. Here are the odds fer the 9/6 Jacks or Better machine to give ye an idea:

Hand	Odds
Royal Flush	1 in 40,390
Straight Flush	1 in 9,148
Four of a Kind	1 in 423
Full House	1 in 86
Flush	1 in 90
Straight	1 in 89
Three of a Kind	1 in 13
Two Pairs	1 in 7
Jacks or Better	1 in 4

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