• Pair of Jacks or Better - Pair of Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces. Achieveing this will return whatever you have bet.
• Two Pairs - A hand that contains two pairs such as two 3's and two 7's. Achieving this pays double your bet.
• Three Of A Kind - Three cards that are the same numberwise. Achieving this pays 3X your bet.
• Straight - All 5 cards consecutive but not in the same suit. For example, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Achieving this pays 3X your bet.
• Flush - Any 5 cards of the same suit, the numbers do not matter. Achieving this pays 5 to 6X your bet.
• Full House - Two cards of the same value and three cards of the same value such as 7, 7, Queen, Queen, Queen. Achieving this pays 6-9X your bet.
• Four Of A Kind - Four cards of the same numerical value such as four 10's. Achieving this pays 25X your bet.
• Straight Flush - Five cards of the same suit in numerical order such as 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of hearts. Achieving this pays 50X your bet.
• Royal Flush - Five cards of the same suit, MUST be 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. Achieving this pays 250X your bet if you bet 1 to 4 coins and 4000X your bet if you bet 5 coins.

Choosing An Online Casino
Source : Max Drayman (www.winneronline.com)

You'd think that picking a casino site would be a pretty simple affair: where do I win the most? Or maybe: who's got the highest stakes? These are certainly relevant questions and do keep them in mind when surfing around to make your choice. But there are other things to consider, not all of which may be immediately obviousBiggest Payouts This is pretty difficult to determine because everyone wants to be in the list of "top 10" or whatever. The best thing to do is visit player resource sites, like this one for example, and read reviews.Another helpful source, though by no means fool-proof, is to check out the winner lists at your favourite casino site. All the better sites have these lists. If they're an IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) member then they're supposed to be truthful in their advertising, which gives you a little more confidence in their reported payouts.Look First, Download Later Nobody wants to spend 30-120 minutes downloading software without having some idea of what you're going to get. Better casino sites have a "Preview" section that shows you snapshots of what their games look like, maybe even provide you with a description of how to play. The software you download can get pretty annoying if you don't like its appearance or play action, so look for the "Preview" section and take a few minutes to check it out.How quickly can you receive your winnings? Believe it or not, there are sites that only make their payouts on the last Friday of the month, for example. Or they may require that you send them email expressly requesting your winnings. Or maybe your withdrawal transactions have to be pre-approved and the site advises that that can take up to two weeks. These are examples of actual casino sites! The last Friday of the month?! Are they for real?Support All the better online casinos have a support page at their website. They'll list the ways that you can reach them. Almost everybody offers an email address that you can mail to for assistance. Is that good enough? Not for my money it isn't. I want service numbers I can call, hopefully 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And toll-free too, please and thank you. Better yet, give me two toll free numbers, just in case. Can you assume that your casino provides this? Certainly not! Go look, check the details. Hell, I'd even call the toll free number just to make sure it's not an answering machine that's got so many messages on it that it can't accept yours. Sound outlandish? Not a chance! Been there, seen that. It's your money, so you decide how much this matters.Licensing Etc This is a pretty slippery issue but it boils down to this: online casino regulation is a "voluntary compliance" issue. In other words, the casino plays fair if it wants to play fair. A license in Antigua costs a site $100,000, for example, and then they can say they are "licensed". There is no follow-up required and no compliance issues to obey. If they advertise that they are audited, that's nice, but they don't have to do this.

Things To Do Before You Gamble Online
Source : Steve Adkins (Online Players Association)

While this multibillion dollar industry grows at a substantial rate, it does remain non-regulated. The industry depends solely on self-regulation.Before whipping out your gold Visa card there are a few things that you should know first. When looking for an online casino to play, I recommend that you follow the ten points below.

1. Is the casino licensed by a sovereign government? If no, find another casino.


2. Does the casino have a toll free customer service number that is answered 24 hours a day? If no, find another casino.
   
3. Do they allow you to play for free? This is very important: it gives you the chance to check out their software before you spend any money. If they do not, find another casino.
   
4. What is the smallest denomination of their poker and slot machines? You're looking for a wide variety of denominations, such as nickels, quarters, dollars and five-dollar machines.
   
5. How many different versions of video poker do they have? You're looking for at least three. That tells you that the operator has spent a lot of money on the software. Beware of those casinos that tell you they only have one version of video poker.
   
6. What is the smallest and largest bet that they accept on craps or blackjack? This is mainly for your own betting information.
   
7. Does the casino have a place where they keep track of your purchases and cashouts?
   
8. How is the customer service? There's an easy way to test this: Send them an email with a question and see how long it takes them to reply.
   
9. What is the reputation of the software maker involved in the casino? There is no sense in gambling online if you do not know how you will collect your winnings.
   
10. Make sure you read all the rules on bonuses and cashing out procedures. Do your homework before you gamble online, not after.

It may seem that video poker play is similar to regular slot machine play, but the two are actually quite different. You being the games the same way by inserting a coin into the machine and pressing the play button, but this is where it changes. Cards appear on the screen and it's up to you decide which cards to hold, ranging from none to all five. The choice is completely yours. There are also five buttons on the front of the machine. When you push these buttons, the word "hold" will appear above those cards selected. Your objective in video poker is to get the best or highest hand possible.

The next thing you do is press the "deal" button and a new set of cards will appear, replacing the ones you chose not to hold. If a winning combination results, the machine will award you with credits based on the payout schedule. After the credits are awarded, the "player paid" sign will appear on the screen. A machine that requires $.25 to play would record each credit as 25, so basically the credits will equal the value required to play the machine.

With this hand over, you start the process all over again. You bet how many units or coins you wish to play on the next hand and then hit the "deal" button. When you decide you want to end your video poker session, all you do is press the "collect" button and the machine will give you your credits. The object of the game is to end each round with a winning combination.

Betting is quite straightforward with Video Poker. You can typically choose $0.25, $0.50, $1, or $5 games on which to bet. And the bets are 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x, which is the maximum bet. If you're playing a $1 game, you can place bets of $1, $2, $3, $4, or $5.