Before any cards are dealt, the player must wager. He does this by placing his bet in the designated space in front of his table position. The dealer then deals two cards to each of the players, and two to himself (one of the dealer's cards is dealt face up and one is dealt facing down) Face cards (kings, queens and jacks) count as 10, ace counts as one or 11 (as the player chooses) and all other cards are counted at their face value. BLACKJACK - If the player's first two cards are an ace and a 10 or face card, he wins. However, if the dealer also has a blackjack, it is a standoff, as are all ties or pushes. A winning blackjack pays the player 3 to 2.HIT or STAND - Hit means to draw another card (which the player signifies by scraping the table with his cards or a similar hand motion) Stand means no more cards (which the player signals by placing his cards under his wager or moving his hand in a horizontal direction. If the player hits and busts (goes over 21), he immediately turns his cards over and his wager is lost. DOUBLE DOWN - The player is allowed to double the bet on his first two cards and draw one additional card only to improve his hand. SPLITTING PAIRS - If the first two cards a player is dealt are a pair, he may split them into two separate hands, bet the same amount on each and then play them separately. Aces receive only one additional card. After splitting, A-10 counts as 21 and not as blackjack. INSURANCE - If the dealer's up card is an ace, the player may take insurance, a bet not exceeding one-half his original bet. If the dealer's down card is a 10 or any face card, the player wins 2 to 1. Any other card means a win for the dealer.SURRENDER - Where permitted, a player may give up his first two cards and lose only one-half his original bet. The dealer must draw on 16 and stand on 17.

In order to become a master video poker player, there are a few things you need to know. The first is how to read a payout schedule, so you know the difference between short, partial play and full-pay versions. And second, you need to know the strategies for all the kinds of video poker games.

First we will discuss Pay Schedules, and once we’ve established everything you need to know about that topic, we’ll move onto Strategies for two challenging games, Deuces Wild and Joker's Wild.

PAY SCHEDULES

Typically, a 9/6 video poker game will hit the royal flush every 40,000 hands played, which is equivalent to approximately 80 to 100 hours of game time. Other games, such as the 8/5 will hit the royal flush every 45,000 hands, the 7/5's will hit each 50,000 hands, and the 6/5's will hit approximately every 70,000 hands played.

You should always bet the maximum number of coins that are allowed. For example, if you bet 5 coins, all winning hands are paid out multiplied by a factor of 5, except for the royal flush.

DEUCES WILD STRATEGIES

Full-pay Deuces Wild Versions will be 9/5's 9 coins for a straight flush and 5 coins for 4-of-a-kind.

You should not be reluctant to throw away your five cards. You want to make room for additional cards that could be deuces, and holding that Ace or King is not going to help you if the next hand coming up could be four or five sevens. This is why…

Most Jacks or Better players will throw away complete hands-5 cards only 3% of the time, while Deuces Wild players almost 20% of the time, which is approximately every fifth hand.

You should not keep two pairs. You should select one or the other, as 3-of-a-kind is the minimum scheduled payout. Inside straights should be held only if they present the best possible return from your initial five cards dealt. Therefore, a 5, 6, 8, 9 hand can produce a 7 or wild card in this video poker version.

Strategies for this game are determined by the number of deuces or absence of deuces that are dealt in your initial hand, and approximately every 5000 hands will hit four deuces. This is a secondary jackpot that will keep you in the game or allow you to pocket some winnings.

The excitement of all or nothing in Deuces makes it an awesome game to play. You can go for hours without seeing one Deuce, but then hit a Royal with Deuces, and four-of-a-kind is easy to get.

JOKER's WILD STRATEGIES

The full-pay Joker's Wild pay schedule will be 7/5 machines, 7 coins for a full house and 5 coins for a flush. There are two versions of the game out there: one returns money on a pair of Kings or better, while the other requires at least two pairs before there is a payout. This first game is obviously the more desirable full-pay version.

These strategies for Jokers, unlike Jacks, reflect the wild card, a 53-card deck, and the different payouts. If you do not hold the Joker, keep three cards to a royal over a pair of Aces or Kings because of the higher payout. You could catch another Ace or King and still be paid.

If three cards are consecutive cards for a straight flush, for example, the 5, 6, and 7 of hearts, discard other cards for the higher payback. If not consecutive, keep the small pair.

Don't be afraid to hold the Joker alone. More than 3% of the time, you won't be able to connect with a straight, flush, straight flush, or a high pair; however, holding the Joker only can give you four new cards, and a win.

• Play Carefully - Take your time and make wise decisions. It's you against the machine and there is no need to rush things.
  
  
• Know the Paytables - This is one of, if not the most important keys to success in video poker. You need to understand the paytables for each machine - understanding these will potentially allow you to maximize your winnings.
  
  
• Play each hand like a new game - Since you are playing a machine try and forget about the last hand played. The machine has no memory of the last hand - the random number generator assures this, so don't fret over what happened last hand - focus on the next.
  
  
• Practice makes perfect - the more you play the better you will be. Learning which cards to keep and which cards to discard is very important if you are to take full advantage of the payout tables. If you use your knowledge consistently i.e. utilize a strategy, it will help assure that you will meet the payout percentages of a particular machine.
  
  
• Never keep a kicker with any pair. Holding a kicker to any pair reduces your return by 5%.
  
  
• Never draw four cards if you can draw three to a royal flush.
  
  
• Always keep five card winning pat hands with one exception: if you can, draw one card to a royal.
  
  
• Don't break a flush even if you can draw one to a straight flush, but always break a flush to draw to a royal.
  
  
• Never break a straight to draw to a straight flush.
  
  
• Never draw five if you have a jack or better.
  
  
• Don't keep a ten for a four card draw.
  
  

There are lots of different versions of poker but most have a lot of similarities the first is the object of the game. Which is to win the centre pot of money. Poker is Played with a communal pot and the pot contains all money contributed during a hand, including antes which are used to seed the pot before each hand begins.

All poker games consist of 52 cards from four different suits, which are clubs, hearts, diamonds and spades of thirteen cards each. The thirteen cards rank from lowest to highest as 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 then jack, queen, king, ace (in many variations ace can also rank as the lowest card)

A poker hand begins with the dealer dealing out cards to each player (the amount varies with the type of poker being played) The game moves round clock-wise from the dealer the first player has two options check (also known as pass equivalent to a bet of $0) or bet. The second player can either call (a nonzero bet that matches the previous bet), check (a zero bet that can only be done if there were no previous bets on the table), bet or raise (a non-zero bet that all successive players must match) or to fold which is done when the player does not wish to match the previous bets made. A player that folds forfeits their interest in the pot. Betting proceeds until either all bets have been called or all but one player has folded. The poker rules for the specific game may limit the number of raises allowed. However if only two players are in the pot they can keep raising each other indefinitely. At the end of the last betting round, all players who are left in the hand have a showdown in which the player with the best hand is awarded the pot. It is normally the player who made the last bet or raise to show his hand first in the showdown. The other remaining players then show their hands in a clockwise fashion. Players that have folded do not need to show their hands, players that know they are beaten can just concede the pot. Very often a hand won't reach the showdown stage as all the other players fold before it reaches that stage.

If two hands are exactly equal with all five cards matching then it is a tie with the pot being split evenly among the winning hands. Suits are not used to distinguish between the hands.