Video Poker is a popular game that is able to be played in casinos across the globe, or alternatively at your house on your personal computer, through an Internet connection. The regulations are absolutely simple and involve the player trying to achieve the greatest mixture of cards as you can in order to come away with money. In this respect it is very similar as a normal game of poker, apart from the line of contact with other players. Of course, techniques used in a physical game of poker, like bluffing, will be irrelevant here.

The game of Video Poker starts when the gambler inserts credits (either tokens, tickets or money) into the video poker machine and pushes the deal button. A hand of 5 cards will then be "distributed" on the screen.

The Video Poker game also has hold buttons, and players should now choose which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the player wishes to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons should be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can choose to keep any amount of cards they wish, from all to none.

After the player has selected which cards he would like to keep, they should press ‘draw’, which will mean that any fresh cards will be dealt if desired. The game is now finished, with the Video Poker machine scanning the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands listed in the pay out schedule.

Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money getting larger for each better hand. A common list of winning hands begins with jacks or better, and moves on to 2 pairs, three of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and finally royal flushes. It is obvious that the payment schedule can range from machine to machine, so that discerning players are agile enough to choose the most profitable ones each instance.

As soon as the initial round has played out, the player can either decide to continue on in an attempt to maximize their earnings, or press the ‘collect’ button to retrieve any credits that have been won. Further, some styles of the game give the enthusiast an opportunity to double their winnings, in which instance another round is played. There are also differences among individual games, with some virtual decks having wild cards and other varying elements to enhance playability.