Video poker is a card game that is played on electronic machines even in land casinos. It a game that requires skill and you should learn the optimum strategy before wagering. Video poker offers average returns of over 99% with optimum strategy. We list below the top Australian online casinos offering video poker games.
In single hand online video poker you bet on one hand at a time. After you have placed your wager you are dealt a hand of five cards. You must click on the cards that you want to hold. Some Australian online casinos automatically mark the cards that you should hold when they form a paying hand ranking. After the selection is made you should click on the Draw button. The cards not selected will be replaced by others from the same deck. This means that a rejected card cannot be repeated. Your final hand will automatically be compared to the payout table for the particular video poker variant that you are playing. If you have managed to get a paying hand then the corresponding payout will be credited to your account. While playing online video poker you must take care to always bet five coins. This entitles you to jackpot payouts for a royal flush.
In multi hand online video poker you can play a number of hands at the same time. These usually range from 4 to 100 in selected denominations. Microgaming Australian online casinos offer multi hand video poker games as independent games titled Power Poker. Playtech casinos allow you to choose the number of hands from within the game.
Multi hand online video poker begins the same way as the single hand version. You select the cards that you want to hold from the first hand dealt. Then these cards are replicated in all the other hands. When you click the Draw button the cards are replaced in the first hand and cards are dealt to the empty slots in the other hands. Each hand is played with a separate and independent complete deck of cards. At the end each hand is independently compared with the payout table. All the payouts are aggregated and credited to your account.
Jacks or Better is the most common and popular online video poker variant. The game play is the same as for other video poker games described earlier. Jacks or Better is different from other video poker games because of its unique payout table.
The lowest paying poker hand ranking is a pair of jacks or a higher pair. This gives the game its name. All our recommended Australian online casinos offer the following payout table for Jacks or Better: Jacks or Better 1, Two Pairs 2, Three of a Kind 3, Straight 4, Flush 6, Full House 9, Four of a Kind 25, Straight Flush 50, Royal Flush 250. When you wager five coins, then the payout for Royal Flush increases to 800. The other payouts remain unchanged.
Jacks or Better, like other online video poker variants, offers a gamble game. You can try to double your payout in this game. But if you lose then your payout is lost.
Just as there are wild symbols in online pokies, Deuces Wild video poker is played with wild cards. All four twos act as wild cards and can substitute as any other card that will make up the highest possible poker hand ranking.
Because wild cards make it easier for you to get higher ranked poker hands, the payout table does not start with jacks or better. Instead it starts with three of a kind. The full payout table for five coins wagered is as follows: Three of a Kind 1, Straight 2, Flush 2, Full House 3, Four of a Kind 4, Straight Flush 9, Five of a Kind 15, Wild Royal 40, Four Deuces 200, Royal Flush 800.
There are some new hand rankings introduced in Deuces Wild online video poker. A five of a kind hand can be made using four like cards and a two. A royal flush in which a two is used as a wild card is a wild royal.
There are many video poker variants are available at Australian online casinos. They are different mainly in the payout tables offered. Some of these games are more volatile. The payout tables are adjusted so that some hands with lower probabilities have very large payouts. Some of the other video poker variants are discussed below.
With the wild card theme are two online video poker variants Joker Poker and Double Joker Poker. The first game is played with one extra joker in the pack and the second one with two extra jokers. Players who like volatility can go for All American Poker. Straight flush pays 200 in this game as compared to 50 in Jacks or Better. Another popular video poker variation is Bonus Poker. In this game the normal four of a kind hand ranking is split into three different hand rankings, some of them with high payouts.
If you want a really challenging video poker variant check out the Level Up series at Microgaming online casinos. You get to play four hands in sequence, moving to the higher level provided you win at the lower level. The higher levels offer the attraction of higher payouts, but you pay for all hands up front.
