Q1: Is it possible to gain an advantage at Video Poker?

A1: The video poker strategy discussed here is for the common "8/5" machines. They are called 8/5 because of the 8-for-1 payoff for a full house and 5-for-1 payoff for a flush. "Joker's Wild" and "Deuces Wild" machines will require a much different strategy.

In order to have an advantage over the house, you must find a machine with a progressive jackpot that is larger than about 1750 maximum bets. ($8750 for $1 machines, $2200 for $.25 machines, $440 for $.05 machines) This level only makes the game even with the house. The jackpot must be higher than this in order to gain an advantage. The player's edge increases by about 1% for each addition of 350 maximum bets into the progressive jackpot.

Q2: Is playing five coins always better than playing one coin?

A2: Not necessarily. In fact, you’re usually better off playing one coin than playing five. The ratio of coins returned for winning hands is the same whether you play one coin or five, except when you hit a royal. For example, if a machine returns one coin for a pair of Jacks with one coin in, it will pay two for two coins, three for three, four for four, and five for max-coin play. This 1:1 ratio remains constant. Usually, though, a royal flush will return 250 coins for one coin, 500 for two, 750 for three, and 1,000 for four, then jump to 4,000 for five, which raises the per-coin ratio from 250:1 to 800:1. The shot at the bonus jackpot explains the popular advice to always play the maximum five coins.

Q3: When the cards are dealt, are the next five cards already lined up behind the first cards?

A3: No, they’re not lined up behind the first cards, but they have already been selected. When the random number generator selects the cards for a hand, it actually takes ten cards, not five.

Q4: What is the best video poker game to play?

A4: This answer depends on the denomination of coin you want to play with. You must learn to distinguish between good and bad pay schedules and play only the good. Furthermore, another factor in deciding which game to play is the game which you know how to play the best. Playing video poker well requires a high degree of skill, so if you don’t know how to play Deuces Wild, but you do know how to play Jacks or Better, then you are better off sticking with Jacks or Better. But it's always a good idea to learn the strategy of the other games, as the more games you learn, the more options you’ll have.

Q5: How big a bankroll do you need to play video poker?

A5: A bankroll is an amount of money set aside for gambling. If you’re going to play on a full-time basis, we recommend having at least a three-royal-flush bankroll. For casual players, we recommend a more psychological approach as there will be days where you’ll lose half a royal, or more. If losing just $500 scares you, you do not have the psychological bankroll for playing quarters. If losing $2,000 makes you late for the rent, forget about playing for dollars.

Q6: What's the best way to learn how to play successfully?

A6: You have to work at it. Video poker is a game where every hand has one best play and the strategies are complicated. Learning what these are takes time and effort. And the time and effort is rewarded by better results when you play.

Well roulette has met the final frontier. No not space, I mean the Internet, the final earthly frontier! Online roulette is pretty much exploding right now, as are most other casino games that have migrated into online casino software over the past five years or so. There are many reasons people try out online gambling, the most obvious one being the fact that not many people can afford to fly to Vegas as often as they might like. Bringing real gambling online has many would be Vegas frequenters saving some money on plane tickets. I've truly come to enjoy playing roulette online. It's virtually the same as playing in a real casino, and if you're a serious player it even holds some advantages. The casinos throw as much distraction as they can at you while you gamble. They feed you free booze, keep lots of mirrors around so you're never really sure where you are, constantly send beautiful girls walking by the table, clang coins and buzzers and bells and whistles all around you, all in a rather effective attempt to take your money in as smooth a way as possible. Playing online eliminates all but a few of these nasty distractions. A great number of people prefer to play in a real casino of course, because all of the distraction is elegantly disguised as entertainment. And of course to many it is, the glitz and glamour of a Vegas casino can hardly be beaten. So you would expect that online roulette is more for those who like the game itself, but I've found many different types of people enjoy it right off the bat. I think the main reason for this is the fact that there is no intimidation factor, no dealers to make you nervous, no high rollers making you feel puny, no cigar smoke, and no worries about embarrassing yourself by making a wrong move. These may not seem like huge reasons, but actually, those are some pretty powerful negatives. Many friends I have hate cigar smoke so much they often find it difficult to find a table to play at in the casino. Countless others have never actually walked up to the roulette table, however much they would have liked to, because they don't know if they may do something wrong. So playing online roulette garners as much benefit to the new and inexperienced player as it does the serious one who is interested in the game more than the casino hoopla. Most people who ask me about online roulette ask the same question. Are the odds the same playing online as playing at the casino? Well, if you've read our roulette odds page, you'll know that American roulette has a rather incontrovertible house edge and that certainly couldn't change. Unless a game has been blatantly fixed, you'll find you have as much success and failure at the online roulette tables as in the casino. The beautiful thing about playing online though, is the abundance of European roulette wheels available. Playing on a European (single zero) roulette table automatically cuts the house edge down to almost half of it's American cousin. This is by far the most convincing reason to play roulette online, unless you're lucky enough to have a European roulette wheel just down the street.

Today the largest group of casino players are playing slots. It wasn't always this way, as late as the mid-seventies slots were not thought of serious games of chance. They were often played by the female companions of male table players, husbands were often seen giving their wives money to play the slots with while they went off to play the more serious table games. In those days a "respectable" table player wouldn't be caught playing the slots.The original slot machines were mechanical devices and some cheats tried various ways to beat the house. People tried everything from the use of magnets to drilling a hole through the side of the machines, all in an attempt to influence the mechanism. There was even a legal method discovered by a few that involved a style of pulling the handle that controlled the drop of one or more of the reels. This increased the players odds greatly, and caused the casino operators some concern until a method was devised to remove this advantage. The manufacturers have kept modifying and refining the machines to keep the games honest. Today the vast majority of slot machines are electronic and computer controlled so that outside manipulating of the machines by cheaters is now just a part of slot machine history.It was the introduction and rapid acceptance of video games that changed the slot machine forever, the casino operators developed a new line of electronic slot machines, ones that offered vivid graphics and exciting sound effects. The casino operators also added further refinements such as connecting several machines together and taking a small percentage of every play and adding it to a jackpot total. If no one hits the jackpot for some time it can grow into a huge amount, and although the odds are small it will payoff and one lucky player will win big. These "jackpots" also helped to increase slot popularity to where it is today.Today slots are the most popular form of casino gambling, with up to 40% of casino revenue originating from these "one armed bandits".