Video poker is one of the oldest forms of online poker. When it first appeared in the 1970s, it was very much digital, and very basic. However, unlike many other online games, video poker hasn’t really changed since it was created. The graphics are still lacklustre, and this has now become their “thing”. They are much loved because of it. If you were going to find a way to evolve the video poker category, then it would be in the gameplay itself. Indeed, this is exactly what has happened to the category of gambling games.
Video poker now comes in many variants over many genres. The most common video poker games are Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild. In the former, Jacks or Better, the objective is basic video poker. You are tasked with created a five card one (with only one exchange of cards), and that hand is then compared against a paytable, to determine what you have been paid. There is no dealer, and no opposition here. It is about hand building, pure and simple. The reason it is called Jacks or Better, is because in order to win, you need to have a Pair of Jacks or a better hand.
The latter titles, Deuces Wild is arguably the second biggest video poker hit. By making the 2s wild, this video poker titles includes more hands that aren’t ordinarily available in traditional video poker, although the lower standard hands (Pair and Two Pair) are sacrificed in the process, meaning that players must have a Three of a Kind or more to win.
There are many other versions of video poker out there too, such as multi-hand video poker, which enables you to play with up to 100 hands at once. The way that this works, is that the cards that the player chooses to hold in their hand, will appear in all other hands too, and the new cards dealt will be different in every hand. The player wins on every scoring hand, although the wager understandably costs more.
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Other video poker variants include a wide range of other wild titles, as well as Level Up video poker, and other big variants, which have become popular in recent years.