In recent years video poker has become one of the top online casino games, and probably the first developed specially to be played online. Behind the success of video poker is Microgaming, the undoubted masters of software development for the online gaming industry. Thanks to the tremendous interest in playing poker online, the people at Microgaming recognized that there could be tremendous interest in playing poker in its various formats against the house and not against other players. And so, video poker began to develop. In a few short years video poker has developed to tremendous extents with Microgaming never letting up in their goal to provide ever more exciting and challenging versions of this now firmly established top online casino favourite.
Followers of video poker can get quite upset when playing video poker compared to playing slots. And they might well have a case. While spinning slots requires very little skills, loads of patience and lots of luck, playing video poker requires skills and strategies. Building a hand at video poker can be even more difficult than building one at table poker, since with certain permutations of video poker it is even possible to build hands that are “five of a kind”. That is something that you will never see in a table game of poker.
Bets at video poker usually range from 50 cents to five dollars. With the simpler forms of video poker, players wager with coins of the highest denomination, because of the high possibility of hitting a winning hand with lower odds. As the versions of video poker become more complex then the odds on a winning hand actually get lower, meaning that players will play in lower denominations. Microgaming video online casino games can be found on all of the top online casinos that use their software, among the many being Captain Cooks casino, Vegas Slots casino and Casino Action.
Many beginners to Video Poker join a top online casino as a guest to give themselves time to get to know how to play the game and even hang on to their guest account even when they begin to play for real money. This allows them to test out all the latest versions of video poker before putting their own money down. And when they do make their move into playing for real money, they will soon discover that Microgaming often release new versions of video poker with a generous match deposit bonus.
Like traditional table poker, the most popular version of video poker in the list of online casino games played at the top online casinos goes by the name of “Jacks or better”. Jacks or better means that, a player can only win with a hand containing at least a pair of Jacks. There are no floating cards in this version of Video Poker which means that the pay outs are usually higher.
As the versions of video poker evolve, and the elements of floating cards come into play, then the chances of hitting a winning hand gets better, while the payouts get lower. And with versions of Video Poker around such as deuces wild, aces and eights, double bonus and even double; double bonus the chances of hitting an exotic winning hand goes as far as five aces increase. The more the floaters the less the pay- out rule applies all the way through.
It’s little wonder that Video Poker has become so popular because it contains all the thrills of table poker without the human element of bluffing. There is no need to find an opponent for a heads up or to make up a table, and play action can be as fast or slow as the player commands. Microgaming has certainly got it right with Video Poker.
