Video Poker Strategies & Video Poker Tips to play Video Poker

Online Video Poker is many gamers idea of casino heaven, you can enjoy poker while having a break from bingo and relaxing for a while. Video Poker combines elements of both Poker and Slot Machines and is loved by all players. Video Poker Strategies are really simple to learn, you can learn the basics with classic poker, and progress to multi-hand poker where you can play more hands than ever before.

There's a number of different types of Online Video Poker games but in all the games, the objective is to complete the game with the strongest hand. The hands are based on standard poker hands, with a few twists for each type of Video Poker. The higher the ranking of your hand, the greater your payout will be and you'll find super-gamble bonus gamble features where you can double your winnings again and again.

You play Video Poker against a Dealer. You are initially dealt five cards and you then have to choose which cards you wish to keep or "hold" and which cards you don't like and wish to remove, or "discard". You can remove any number of cards, you can keep all 5 if you like them or change them all from your hand. The cards you remove are replaced with new ones from the deck.

After you've made the decision to change cards and are left with your final hand, if your hand is a winning poker hand, the win is highlighted on the payout table. The payout table is based on the number of coins you have chosen to bet before the first deal.

If your hand is a winning hand, you then have the option to either Double or Collect your winnings.

To Double your winnings you have to play the Double feature, which in most cases is simply a game of higher or lower. The goal of the Double feature is to draw a higher value card than the Dealer's. If you are successful your win amount is doubled, you then have the choice to repeat the Doubling feature again, or to collect your winnings. If your card is lower than the Dealer's, then you have lost all winnings from the previous game and you are returned to the game to continue to play.

Most Online Video Poker games offer you an AutoHold feature, which will automatically hold the best cards from your initially dealt cards, based on the Optimal Video Poker Strategies, designed to give you the best possible return on your hand.

To play optimal Video Poker Strategies it is essential that you are able to to differentiate between which hands can earn you the most in Video Poker. While each game variation has their own payout table, we will take the example of Jacks or Better, as this is the most popular Video Poker Game.

Ranking from highest to lowest, these are the hands you need to look out for:
Royal Flush - The highest hand in poker, consists of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten all of the same suit.
Straight Flush - Combination of 5 cards in sequence and all of the same suit.
Four of a Kind - Combination of 4 cards of the same denomination, one in each suit.
Full House - Combination of 3 cards of one denomination and 2 cards of another denomination.
Flush - Five cards of the same suit.
Straight - Five cards in sequence of any suit.
Three of a Kind - Three cards of the same denomination, plus 2 unmatched cards.
Two Pair - Two different denomination Pairs and any fifth card.
One Pair - Two cards of the same denomination, and three unmatched cards.
High Card - In the absence of any of the above hands, the highest card held by a player gives the hand its value. In the examples below, the hands are ranked as Ace-high.

Another good tip for Video Poker players is Don't get too greedy, there aren't too many worse feelings in gaming then when you get a great win playing Video Poker and then instead of collecting, you see the Double feature, let the flashing currency signs take over, and you end up losing it all. It is important to decide upon a strategy before you start playing, when it comes to Doubling, and more importantly it's very important that you stick to it. Either you always double, you never double or you only double if the win is less than a certain amount. Decide on your best strategy and stick to it.