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Video poker games are different from poker games. table poker . In the latter, you play against other players at home, in a casino or in a online casino . Video poker games are most similar to slot games. You play all the time alone, bet against the casino and the game is quite automated, governed by a random number generator that controls the arbitrariness of the cards that are dealt.
The aim of the game is to form the best possible hand of five cards. If your hand forms a combination (pair, two pairs, three of a kind, straight, four of a kind, flush, straight, full house, straight flush or royal flush), you win a certain percentage of your bet. To play video poker, therefore, you must know the poker hands and understand some basic rules, but much simpler than the rules of table poker. There are different types of video poker that you can find at online casinos, some using wilds and bonuses, others not.
Like pokies, the payout of video poker machines is stipulated before you start playing. Some machines pay more than others. In this guide, we provide you with everything you need to know to play online video poker from New Zealand. Here, you will check out the rules of the game, the types of games, strategies, tips and which are the best sites to play betting money.
Table of contents
Best casinos to play video poker
There are today hundreds of gaming site options to play video poker. However, it is enough to have brief experiences with some of them to know that most are not worthy of your time or money. Many take advantage of players, do not pay profits, make withdrawals difficult, use altered games in favor of the casino, among many other problems. To avoid this kind of thing, never bet on a site you don't know.
But how to find reliable online casinos? Our team is dedicated to evaluating and testing casinos impartially and based on various criteria that we have previously selected. So you know which ones are safe and which ones are not. As not all sites accept New Zealand players, we only rate those that do. Throughout our platform, you will find many recommendations of sites to play.
Here we have separated our best recommendations for playing online video poker. Read our reviews before registering to check out all the advantages of each site!
The best casinos offer the following amenities:
- Best casinos to play video Poker Online
Free games, to train and have fun;
Games to bet money;
Comfortable payment options for players;
Online support at flexible hours;
Website and information in English.
Most important tips from this guide
This article offers basic but detailed information about online video poker games. If you find it necessary, visit our other guides about the game. Below, see the main information you will find here:
- Before playing video poker, learn the rules of the game and poker hands.
- There are several variations of video poker, the most common being Joker's Wild, Deuces Wild and Jacks or Better.
- Video poker is different from texas Hold'em poker, which is played between several people at a table.
- In video poker, you always play alone against the casino on a machine similar to the slot machines .
- Video poker machines have a fixed payout percentage. Thus, you already know how much you can profit if you win the round with a combination of Cards. The better your hand, the more you profit.
- Table poker is not a game entirely based on luck. However, in video poker luck plays an important role, since you play against the machine, and not against other players.
- Strategy and luck in the game are essential to make a profit in video poker.
- Video poker is an interesting option for those who are just learning to play and do not want to go straight to the online poker tables.
Video poker and its variations
The first video poker games were created by Microgaming . It didn't take long for other providers to develop their own versions. Dollar (NZD) video poker machines resemble the slot machines in land-based casinos. In online casinos, you will find video poker in the table games section, next to games like black jack or 21 , Kingdom and baccarat , which are also video games.
It is rare for a casino not to offer video poker games with several variations. Each variation of the game usually has different rules, either by adding cards, or by being bonus-style games, which reward players more.
There are more variations of the game than we can count, that's for sure. Each developer has the freedom to modify the game as they wish. As with slots, this ends up becoming more fun for the player, who has several different games at his disposal and, consequently, when he gets tired of one he can immediately move on to the next.
At first quite robust and not flashy, video poker games have been modernizing as new technologies have been implemented in online casino games. Today, whether playing for free or betting money, you enjoy games with amazing animations, high-tech graphics and sounds.
Below, see what are the main versions of video poker that you can find in online casinos.
Jacks or Better
This is the best known variation of video poker. To profit, you need to have a hand with at least a pair of jacks, nothing less than that counts. If you have a full house, you win 9 times the amount of your bet. For a hand with a flush, you win 6 times the amount of your bet.
Jacks or Better is played with a deck of 52 cards with no Joker. The rules of the game are very similar to the rules of the usual poker. Players need to improve their hand of cards and the goal is to get a winning hand.
In video poker – and this goes for all its variations – intangible factors like bluffs and the act of reading your opponents don't work, of course, since you're playing against a machine. Who deals the Cards is a random system, so it takes luck to get a good hand.
Joker ' s Wild
Joker's Wild is the variation that adds a joker card to the poker deck. The Joker can replace any card in the game to form the best hands in the game. In this way, the deck contains 53 cards, and the goal remains to form the best possible hand. The inclusion of the Joker also adds to the game another possible hand, which is the fifth (five of a kind), four cards of the same rank and the Joker, similar to the four (four of a kind), which is the hand with four cards of the same rank and a different one.
Deuces Wild
Deuces Wild is a variation of video poker in which all number 2 cards are jokers. They can replace any card in the deck to form the best possible hands.
How to play video poker online
Registration made at the casino. Deposit of credits in the air. Then what? How to play? In our guide on how to play video poker, we explain in detail the step by step to play. Here, we explain everything to you too, but in a more summarized way.
To get started, you will select an amount you want to bet. This amount can be cents or Dollar (NZD). After that, you click on the “Give cards” button or something similar. In every online video poker game you will be dealt five cards. Your Cards are face up. In most games, you can discard one or more cards if they don't suit you.
After receiving your cards, you will be able to see if any hand has occurred. If you managed to form a hand in the game, you profit according to the game payout, which varies from machine to machine. This information about the profit that each hand generates you can check within the game itself.
Payment is made according to the rarity of the hands. Thus, a full house pays much more than a pair, for example. Video poker hands are the same hands you play with in table poker, including a pair, two pairs, three of a kind, straight flush, full house, Court, straight flush, and royal flush. If you do not know what they are, you can see in this article a table that shows this hierarchy.
Some machines offer progressive jackpots, which are typically triggered when the player lands a royal flush.
Rules of the game
Playing video poker is certainly much easier than playing table poker. There are fewer variables to calculate, and the game is nothing more than a game of chance, like a slot machine. You may or may not be lucky enough to get a good hand. Unlike table poker, where even with a bad hand, you can hint at a good game and maybe beat your opponents through bluffing.
Your goal in video poker is to get the best combination of Cards possible. What combinations are these? They are the same rules that govern table poker. See below.
Video Poker hands
| In English | In English | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | Royal Flush | Sequence of 10, J, Q, K and a of the same suit. |
| Straight Flush | Straight Flush | Five cards of the same suit, in sequence. |
| Court | Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same rank, and a fifth different card. |
| Full House | Full House | A three-piece (three cards of the same rank) and a pair (two cards of the same rank). |
| Flush | Flush | Five cards of the same suit, which do not form a sequence. |
| Sequence | Straight | Five cards in a row, of any suit. |
| Kind | Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same rank and two others different from each other. |
| Two Pairs | Two Pair | Two cards of the same rank and two of the same rank. |
| Pair | One Pair | Two cards of the same rank and another three different from each other. |
Step by step to play
- Choose an online casino to play at or play for free right here at New ZealandCasinos on our casino page. free games .
- Choose a game. There are several variations of video poker for you to play.
- Whichever version you choose, the next step is to choose the bet amount. You can also choose to bet the minimum or maximum allowed.
- Having chosen the amount of your bet, click on "Deal" or” Deal", if the game is in English. Soon, the game will deal five cards to you.
- You can keep your hand as it came, or discard one or more cards to receive new cards. You discard the cards by clicking on them and pressing "discard”, “swap”or "Release". If you have exchanged any cards, click "deal cards" again to receive other cards.
- When you are satisfied with your five-card hand (you can only switch cards once), you can see if it has formed any combinations of those shown in the table above.
- If the formed hand performs one of the necessary combinations, you receive a profit above your bet according to the paytable of the game in question.
- After that, you repeat the procedure to play another round.
Each game will give a different profit for each hand. You can check how much the profit is in the game information or settings. Even though the machines pay different amounts to each other, the combinations are always the same, maintaining the hierarchy. In this way, a flush will always pay more than a three and a royal flush will always pay more than a flush.
Free games
There are tons of free video poker games for you to take advantage of if you don't want to bet money. Both in online casinos, on our free video poker games page, and also on free gaming sites, you will find games that you can play for free.
Playing this way is a great way to get to Know video poker before you risk a dime. We recommend everyone to practice with the free games before betting.
How to guarantee a victory?
There is no surefire way to guarantee a win in video poker games. Unlike table poker games, where strategies are required and can influence your win, video poker is purely a game of chance, such as the craps , to scratch cards and the other casino games.
The advantage of playing video poker is that you don't depend on anyone else to play, unlike table poker, which you need the players table to be filled. Video poker is also a much faster game, and you can play dozens of rounds in a matter of half an hour.
Another advantage is that in video poker games you can enjoy various bonuses that online casinos usually offer.
Strategies
The strategies to profit in video poker are very similar to the strategies that can be used in slots or poker. lottery games . See below.
Payout percentage
Before playing, you should know what the payout percentage (payout rate) of each machine, choosing to play on the one that gives the most return to the player. You can access this information directly in the games. That way, you maximize your bets by placing them where they have the greatest chance of paying off.
Discard cards
A good strategy is to never discard a high card (such as ace, king, queen, and Jack cards). These are the cards that make up the best hands in the game, so you never want to say goodbye to them! Discard cards of lower value if they do not form anything.
Never discard a pair hoping you can make a better hand. The probability of coming out with a better hand is very low, so it is better to at least guarantee the value of your bet than to lose it by trying something better.
8 game tips to keep in mind
- Try to keep high cards in your hand and discard low Cards.
- Do not discard high cards that are of the same suit.
- The smallest hand in video poker (the pair) does not bring profit, it only pays the amount of your bet.
- You can analyze your hand well and think carefully about which cards to keep and which to discard. There is no time limit for this.
- Play video poker games for free before playing by betting money. So you have a chance to see how the game works and how your luck goes.
- Video poker games are gambling and the casino always has an advantage over the player. You lose more times than you win. Keep this in mind when betting.
- Never bet more than you can afford to lose.
- Do not try to recover lost money. This almost never works.
Glossary-most common video poker terms
- Bet or Bet: It is the amount you decide to bet on the round. It can change from round to round, you decide. You can choose amounts between the minimum bet and the maximum bet, which varies from game to game.
- Before: This is how the bets necessary for the start of the game are called.
- Bonus round: It's called the bonus round triggered by a winning hand. Not all games offer it. In the bonus round, you will be able to profit even more from a new hand, or lose everything, including the previous hand.
- Bust: It is called the hand that does not form any combination at the end of the round. You lose the bet.
- House: This is called the casino you are betting against.
- Credits: It is the amount that the player has to bet on the game. It depends on the deposit you made at the online casino. In free games, “fake " credits are available for you to play as much as you want.
- Disposal: It is called the cards that the player received but decided not to keep in that round.
- Flush: Poker hand. Five cards of the same suit that do not form a sequence.
- Four of a Kind: Quadra, in English, also called Quads, in English. It is the poker hand with four cards of the same rank and a fifth different card.
- Full House: A poker hand consisting of a three of a kind (three cards of the same rank) and a pair (two cards of the same rank).
- Random Number Generator: Also known as Random Number Generator, it is the technology used by video poker and slots games to arbitrarily determine the cards that will be dealt to the player.
- Hold: Hold, in English, means that you will not discard that card or that hand.
- Progressive Jackpots: Some video poker machines offer progressive jackpots. These accumulate over the days a percentage of each spin, and when the game's maximum combination comes out (usually the royal flush), the player wins the accumulated jackpot amount.
- Hand: It is the playing cards that form the player's hand. They are distributed by the video poker machine. It's always five.
- Pair: Poker hand. Par, in English. It consists of two cards of the same rank.
- Payout rate: It is the payout percentage of video poker machines. Each machine presents its own return value to the player.
- Payment: It is your profit, that is, what you got from the video poker game while betting.
- Royal Flush: Poker hand, consisting of a sequence of 10, J, Q, K and Ace of the same suit.
- Straight: Poker hand, in English is called sequence. It consists of five cards in a row, of any suit.
- Straight Flush: Poker hand, consisting of five cards of the same suit, in sequence.
- Three of a Kind: Poker hand. In English, trinca. In English, it can also be called Trips. It consists of three cards of the same rank and two different ones.
- Two Pair: Poker hand. Two pairs, in English. It consists of two cards of the same rank and two of the same rank.
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Increase your luck!
To maximize your chances of winning at online video poker machines, check out our other articles on the game and read our reviews of the best poker sites to play online. So you learn everything you can to turn the odds in your favor!
We also recommend our guides on responsible gambling and on trusted casinos you can bet at from New Zealand. Enjoy the best online casino content in English for free!
(New Zealand lawyer, 36 years experience)
Read and approved: July 23
Updated: July 23
Joseph Kelly is the legal advisor of the creativegiants.co.nz the content of the website has been reviewed and is in accordance with current New Zealand legislation.
The informative and educational content of this portal complies with New Zealand legislation.
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