Online slots

Video Poker - Back your own skills and judgement against the machine.

So you think you’re a hot-shot poker player. How about trying your skills against a machine? You may have looked at the conventional online slots and thought, “Boring!” Well, try Video Poker slots. It has the same fun element as the usual online slots, but you can shade the odds if you have the know-how. Play poker the virtual way and find out whether you can be as big a winner as in the real world.

So, what’s this Video Poker slots?

Well, Video Poker gives you the best of both poker and slots worlds. It’s as easy to play as a slot machine but, if you’re a good poker player, you can apply your know-how and shade the odds in your favour. Some people get really involved with ordinary online slots. Video poker is a more serious challenge. For the beginning you can play free slots. Are you up for it?

What is this pay table and how do you work out the returns?

Whenever you want, you can check the pay table for each online slots game. The table lists all the winning card combinations for the game you’re playing. Most games assume a virtual deck with the usual 52 cards. But there are other versions where, for example, you play with one or two Jokers or the deuces are wild cards.  This adds significantly to the number of potential winning card combinations. When you read the table, you’ll see the payout for each winning card combination. Most games start with a payout for two jacks and work up to the statistically less likely combinations. So, when you see your original deal, you can calculate what the hand is worth as it stands (if anything) and then decide what the odds are on drawing the right cards to improve it. Most online casinos propose playing free slots – it means that you can test playing video poker without depositing money.

Calculating the permutations, there are 2,598,960 possible 5-card hands in each deck of 52 cards. The software algorithm of online slots simulates the probability of dealing or drawing any of these hands. In one sense, a software system is more “honest”. When human beings shuffle a deck of cards, they often do a bad job. If players have folded hands sorted by suits or in numerical order, these runs can remain untouched. But a machine actually produces a random deal so there are fewer variables to affect your calculation of the probabilities.

When the pay table is put in place, the House adjusts the pay side of the table to give itself a percentage. There are a number of online packages available to help you work out what that percentage is on each pay table. If you prefer to learn about the underlying math, there are books and courses you can take to learn how to work out the odds and percentages. The more you learn, the better the chances of your winning. With the right knowledge, you can always pick the slots games with the best rate of return and give yourself the best odds.