In many casinos throughout the United States, 8-5 machines, paying 8-for-1 on the full house and 5-for-1 on the flush, and 7-5 machines are offered instead of the 9-6 games. Why do casinos offer games that can be beaten? Full-pay 9-6 machines are most common in Nevada, but they can be found in Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri — indeed, nearly anywhere there is competition for players. A four-card open straight is one that has space open at either end to complete the hand; for example, a hand of 4-5-6-7 can use either a 3 at one end or an 8 at the other to complete the straight. Attempts have been made to introduce machines based on seven-card stud, and a few machines based on five-card stud are in use. Players have decisions to make that affect the outcome. As gambling markets mature and players become more experienced, the demand for video poker has tended to become stronger. In Nevada, casinos with a clientele of locals devote more than 50 percent of slot space to video poker, and there are video poker bars that offer few other gambling options. Be smarter than they are with some Casino Gambling Basics. Though video poker machines pay back a high percentage of the money put into them, the payouts are volatile.
Casinos usually change the machines’ payout percentages by lowering the payouts on the flush and full house. It is not unusual to go five or ten or more consecutive hands with no payout. Other machines, especially some versions of Deuces Wild, offer a positive expectation to the player — that is, over the long haul, they’ll return more than 100 percent with optimal play. Once you’re used to the quick strategy, you may want to move on to a version that is more complex, but more accurate. Move on to the next section to learn the anatomy of a video poker machine. Today IGT and Bally’s both produce video poker machines, and their machines take up most of the floor space devoted to electronic gaming devices across the country. Now that you know how to win, let’s take a look at the device that you’ll be playing on. If you are sitting down to play with $20, you don’t belong at a $1 machine that will take up to $5 at a time. Be sure to read the pay table before sitting down to play.
It is better to play five quarters at a time than one dollar at a time. These five cards are the final hand. Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank; for example, 6 of hearts, 6 of clubs, 6 of diamonds. With one exception, payoffs are proportional to the number of coins played; that is, three of a kind returns three coins with one coin played, six for two, nine for three, 12 for four, or 15 for five. Remember, keep a royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, three of a kind, or two pair. For example, if your hand includes jack of spades, jack of diamonds, 10 of diamonds, 9 of diamonds, and 8 of diamonds, you have four cards to an open straight flush in diamonds, and you also have a pair of jacks or better. Four of a kind: Four cards of the same rank; for example, ace of hearts, ace of spades, ace of clubs, ace of diamonds.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit; for example, ace, 10, 7, 4, 3, all of diamonds. Straight: Five consecutive cards of mixed suits; for example, 2 of diamonds, 3 of hearts, 4 of diamonds, 5 of clubs, 6 of spades. The four-card open straight flush is higher on the list than the pair of jacks or better, so you would discard the jack of spades and draw to the four-card straight flush. That still leaves open the possibility of a flush with any other club, a straight with any other 10, and a pair of jacks or better with any ace, king, queen, or jack. Keep a low pair instead of a single high card (jack, queen, king, or ace). Card combinations, like slot reels, are governed by a random-number generator. If you like your card games on a screen, you might enjoy learning How to Play Poker Online. Enough Americans have an easy familiarity with the rank of poker hands that video poker has become one of the most popular casino games. You have the option of holding or discarding any or all of the cards. The exception comes on a royal flush, which pays 250 coins for one, 500 for two, 750 for three, 1,000 for four, but on the fifth coin jumps to a return of 4,000 coins.
