The Many Versions of Video Poker Reviewed

In the world of video poker, there exists an argument. There are those that say that video poker offers a wide variety of games for you to choose from. Then there are those that say that all of these many varieties can really be categorised in only 2 different types of video poker, namely ‘Jacks or Better’ and ‘Deuces Wild’. Both views make their points and are understandable. That aside, the player should know the many different types of video poker, even if the only differences are on sight value.

Jacks or Better

Irrespective of the arguments surrounding the amount of video poker games, everyone can agree that ‘Jacks or Better’ was certainly the first version of video poker to be established. Sometimes this video poker game is also called ‘Draw Poker’. It works very much on the same principal as an ordinary slot machine. Five sets of cards appear on the screen and randomly give you five cards dealt. You however only win if you have a pair of jacks or better, hence the name.

What makes this different from a standard slot machine is that even though slots also have a set number of symbols, the combinations are endless due to the fact that there is no limit to the amount of times that the symbols can be shuffled through. In Jacks or Better the game works you through a standard set of cards that consists of 52 cards in a deck. This allows you to more or less figure out which combinations could still happen, based on the cards that have already been dealt.

Joker Poker and Tens or Better

 Joker Poker works exactly the same way as what Jacks or Better works. The only difference between the two is that in Joker Poker they have added the two jokers in the standard deck of cards to your game play. These jokers act as wild cards and can be used as any card in the deck. As you can see, Joker Poker then naturally betters your odds at winning.

As you guessed Tens or better again works exactly the same way as Jacks or Better. The only difference being that in Tens or Better you can see a win with a pair of tens or anything higher. This doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but any difference to better your odds is worth mentioning.

Deuces Wild

This is probably the most popular video poker game today. It takes the same base play as Joker Poker where the jokers act as wild cards. However, in Deuces Wild the number 2 cards have also been given the quality of being a wild card. Therefore, if you have a 4, 5, 6, 7, of hearts and then a 2, the 2 can count as your 3 or 9 of hearts giving you a straight flush. Adding a joker instead of the 5 (for example), will still give you the same straight flush. Here your odds have increased significantly.

There are many more versions of video poker, but these are probably the 4 most popular ones.