To some people, the idea of video poker seems kind of silly. After all, there are already many forms of live and online poker available. However, those who haven’t really had a chance to play video poker probably wouldn’t think it was so silly if they actually took the time to try it. These games play something like a combination of slots and poker and are definitely something you can win if you make the right choices.

Before a person can make the right plays they need to truly understand the game as a fair amount of strategy must be employed before you will see any kind of real return on your bets. To aid in this process, Casino Effort has taken the time to provide some advice that will enable you to play good video poker.

 Video Poker Rules
The first step in the video poker rules is that a person will have the option to put a certain amount of money in the machine. The typical video poker machine will allow people to place anywhere from a one credit to a five credit bet. After you’ve decided how much money you’re going to put into the machine, the game will allow you to begin.

Once the game begins, you will be dealt a total of five cards. Depending on how many cards you want to keep, you will discard some and hold others. Your discards will then be replaced by new cards. Your goal—as with many other poker games—is to make the best hand possible out of five cards.

Payouts will be different depending on which type of machine you are playing. The general rule with video poker machines is that Jacks or Better makes a payout for any pair of jacks or better while Deuces Wild requires that a person has two pair (or sometimes even three of a kind) or better in order to get paid. With Deuces Wild machines you’ll also be able to use 2’s as any card you need to make a hand.

 Video Poker Strategy
Those who want to make major money playing video poker need to focus on one goal, and that is to hit the royal flush jackpot as frequently as possible. Of course you’ll want to pick up a little money along the way by making some smaller hands too, but the overall goal is to get the big royal flush as many times as possible.

In order to do this, you’re going to have to give up some of the hands that pay even odds. For instance, if you’ve got a pair of jacks but have four cards to a royal flush you’re going to need to get rid of one of the jacks so that you can take your shot at the royal flush. Even if you’ve only got three cards to a royal flush, it's better to chase the big combination if you’re only holding a pair of jacks.

 It’s usually best to keep any made straight, flush, or better as these will bring more quality payouts than the pairs. The only time you will break up these hands is when you have four cards to a royal flush. On the other hand, if you have a four of a kind or a straight flush you should never EVER break these up; they're simply worth too much money to throw away.