Video Poker is a favored game that can be played in casinos across the world, or alternatively at your house on your home computer, through a web connection. The game rules are very straightforward and involve the player trying to achieve the best combination of cards possible in order to acquire money. In this respect it is very similar as a regular game of poker, without the line of contact with any other players. Of course, methods used in a physical game of poker, like tricking, will be irrelevant in Video Poker.

The game of Video Poker starts when the enthusiast puts credits (either tokens, tickets or cash) into the machine and pushes the play button. A hand of 5 cards will be "distributed" on the screen.

The Video Poker machine also has buttons with ‘hold’ written on them, and enthusiasts should now pick which cards to hold and which to throw away. For the cards the gambler would like to retain, the ‘hold’ buttons need to be pressed so that they illuminate. The player can decide to keep any number of cards they wish, whether it’s all or none.

After the enthusiast has decided on which cards he or she would like to retain, they should press ‘deal’, at which point any fresh cards are given out if desired. The hand is now completed, with the Electronic Poker machine analyzing the cards to see if it is the same as any of the winning hands shown on the payment schedule.

Normally, the lowest succeeding hand on a Video Poker machine is a pair of jacks with the prize money growing for each better hand. A common list of winning hands starts with jacks or better, moving on to 2 pairs, 3 of a kinds, straights, flushes, full houses, four of a kinds, straight flushes and last but not least royal flushes. It should be known that the pay out schedule can range from machine to machine, so that discerning enthusiasts are agile enough to choose the most profitable ones every instance.

As soon as the initial round has played out, the player can either choose to stay on in an attempt to increase their earnings, or they can press the ‘collect’ button to cash out any credits that might been won. Additionally, some versions of the game allow the gambler a chance to increase their wins, in which situation a further hand is played. There are also differences among individual machines, with some decks of cards including wild cards and other varying characteristics to increase playability.