Online Video Poker for Beginners

Video poker is a combination of two popular casino games – the card game, poker and slots. In particular, it is a poker-style game played on a slots-type machine.  The game has become very popular at online casinos, with some casinos offering dozens of variants of the game for players to choose from.

Many people prefer free poker online with no download option over slot games as there is an element of control and skill required for video poker that is lacking in the random slot game. Many players also prefer it to table poker for its simplicity and its speed.

South African players can enjoy video poker games at some top South African online casinos. You can try our Video Poker game for free, with no download, no registration and no deposit plus visit some of the top video poker online casinos to play in South African Rand from the table below.

The precursor to the slots machine and the first machine on which poker could be played was developed by Sittman and Pitt in 1891. The machine included five drums with 50 playing card symbols (a deck minus the Jack of Hearts and the Ten of Spades). A coin was inserted into the machine and a lever was pulled to start the drums spinning. When the drums came to a stop, players were paid out for any winning poker hand created by the symbols.

In 1895, when Charles Fey developed the Liberty Bell slots machine, which replaced card symbols with other symbols, poker machines lost their popularity for the new slot machines. The first true video poker machine was developed in 1970 when Dale Electronics launched their Poker-Matic machine. The games did not become popular until 1979 when SIRCOMA (now IGT) developed the hold and draw feature on video poker machines to create a game known as Draw Poker. The game grew in popularity and more variations of the game were released. Online Casinos now offer a wide range of variations.

The aim of a free poker online game is to create the best paying 5-card poker hand possible. Different variations of the game have different minimum paying hands and other slight differences in their payout table so it is worthwhile to consult a video poker guide before you begin to play.

To begin the game, you will need to place a bet and then click on the button to deal with your cards. You will be dealt five playing cards. You will then have the opportunity to hold any or all of your cards and have the remaining cards discarded and re-dealed. This will become your final five-card poker hand and you will be paid out according to the payout table on the screen. Different variations of the game will have slight differences in the payout table and these will impact the strategy you choose to use in deciding which cards to hold and which to discard.

There are many different variations of the game of video poker. The most common variation of the game is Jacks or Better, which pays out for a minimum hand of a pair of Jacks. Other common variations include 10s or Better, Aces and Faces, Joker Poker, Deuces Wild and American video poker.

There are some interesting variations of the game, such as Double Bonus, which pays out a bonus payment for four Aces, Double Double Bonus, which pays out bonuses for four-of-a-kind hands; Double Joker, Mega Jacks and more. There are also multi-hand video poker games & tournaments that have become very popular and are offered at almost all online casinos. These play multiple hands (usually up to 50) at one time.