When casinos finally added some video poker machines to their lineup of games a new world opened up for a lot of gamblers who loved the game of poker but had the heart of a slot player. Not wanting to sit down at a high stakes <!--more-->poker tables or enter into poker tournaments, video poker made it possible for this unique type of gambler to enjoy their game of preference but wager in coins the way a slot  player does, so now the casinos and the gamblers have the best of both worlds!

Video poker machines are straight forward and easy to understand as long as you know the makeup of poker hands and how to play the game. Most poker machines online or land based have their hand payouts listed right on the screen of the poker machine itself which helps to remind the player which hands are the best and how much they pay. Poker machines are run off a random number generator just like slot machines are because they are powered by reels which are randomly numbered and this makes for fair and secure game play. Now let’s talk about winning hands on a video poker game.

Pair – 2 Jacks, queens, kings or aces
2 pair – 2 sets of pairs ranging from any number of cards. Some video poker machines do not recognize this as a winning hand so make sure to check the payout list for two pairs.
3 of a kind – Three of any cards of the same rank, they do not have to be of the same color.
Straight – Any five cards in a row, they do not have to be of the same color or suit.
Flush – five cards of the same suit, they do not have to be in order
Full House – Three of a kind + a pair.
Four of a  Kind  - Four of  any cards of the same rank
Straight Flush - 5 cards of the same suit and in a row. One of the highest paying poker hands
Royal Flush – A 5 card straight starting from the 10 to Ace all in the same suit. Best hand to get on most video poker games

Now there are also video poker games that offer wild symbols such as deuces wild or joker poker and these games have the same poker hands as listed above but because you can use wild cards to help make these hands they pay off less. But added to these video poker machines are the 4 Deuces hands or joker hands which are the top hands and worth big prizes.

Coin denomination on video poker games vary from 1 penny per hand up to $100 per hand. A vast array of wagering options are offered and on top of that there are also multi hand games where you can play more than one hand at a time. Some of these games offer up to 100 hands of poker at a time!

These are the basics of video poker and enough to get you started on your way to becoming the next poker king, or queen!

Happy Gaming!