Choosing a Winning Video Poker Machine

Las Vegas isn't the only place to find video poker machines, but it's certainly one of the most popular places for this hot game. But how can you pick the right machine for you to give you a better chance to win the big bucks? Follow these few simple rules and increase the odds in your favor to walk away from the video poker machine with a jingle in your pocket and a profit in your wallet!

First, let's get familiar with the video poker machine and what the game's all about. It's just like playing regular poker with your friends; with the screen set up to "deal" you five cards and allowing you to choose which cards to keep and which ones to toss away. While there are variations on the basic poker gameplay usually you get one single chance to toss away bad cards and then have new ones dealt to you – and then your winnings are decided on what's on the screen.

Below each virtual card you'll see a small button, allowing you to either "hold" the card or "discard" it for a new one. Most machines take a single quarter, but there are plenty of video poker machines out there that take pennies, nickels and even up to a dollar a hand and more! For our strategy we're going to deal with a quarter machine, the most common video poker machine out there so far.

Above the actual screen itself is listed the payout schedule, detailing what you'll get back if you meet certain requirements. Of course with poker you're dealing with various hands, from a royal flush to three of a kind to a straight. But here is where you can pick a good machine from a not-so-good machine and up your odds of walking away a winner!

Let's look over the payout schedule of a video poker machine and interpret the numbers. First it'll list the hands that the machine pays out for – Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair and finally Jacks or better (a single pair). These are classic poker hands and you should already be familiar with what you need to qualify for each hand.