Video Poker

Online video poker is perfect for any one that enjoys poker or any that likes to play card games online, since the games are virtually interchangeable. It's also a great game for those who like the idea of poker, but prefer not to play against live opponents, as well as for those who want a low House edge that will stretch their bankroll. If you play video poker correctly, you can reduce the House edge so that it is almost non-existent.

Basic Video Poker Strategy

Unlike live poker in which the actions of other players affect your strategy, video poker strategy is fixed. There is a right move to make in every situation. Fortunately, there are strategy charts online for online video poker players to follow. The basic idea is to try to retain cards that will most likely to result in a payoff, rather than to go with the highest payoff, although there are some exceptions.

Choosing Your Video Poker Machine

In order to maximize your chances, it's important to look for machines that offer the best pay tables. For a typical jacks or better machine requiring a pair of jacks at minimum, you should be looking to win six coins on a flush and nine coins on a full house. These are full pay, or 9/6 machines.

Other types of machines may have different full pay numbers. Do research on your video poker game of choice before starting to play.

Progressive Video Poker

Most video poker machines have a progressive jackpot, a large jackpot that grows with every coin put into any machine linked to the jackpot. To win the entire jackpot, you will need a royal flush. This is a rare occurrence and why the jackpot is often so large.

Be sure when playing one of these machines to place the maximum amount of coins on each deal. If you do not, you will not win the progressive pool if you hit the royal flush. This could be an error that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the level the pool has reached.