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Video Poker Help
The Rules of Video Poker | GamePlay | Playing as Player | Playing as Dealer

The Rules of Video Poker

Albeit it's European origins, poker can be considered a true "All American" gambling game. What started as a simple five-card game evolved into many variations, up to today's popular Video Poker. Video Poker, or Draw Poker, is played the same way that poker is played. The dealer uses a single 52-card deck with no Joker, and the deck is reshuffled after each hand. Odds in Video Poker depend on player's ability. There is an element of skill in making the best decisions, of which cards to keep, which, unlike Slot Machines, will determine whether and how much you can win. The player is dealt one five-card poker hand. After the first draw, which is automatic, you may hold any of the cards and draw again, by pressing the 'Deal/Draw' button, to replace the cards that you haven't chosen to hold (to hold a card simply click on it and a "Hold" sign will appear). All winning hands and their payoffs are listed on the machine (at the top of the screen) and explained below. The object is to get the best possible combination so that you earn the highest payoff on the bet you placed. Our casino uses $0.25, $1 and $5 machines, up to five-coin bets each. Choose your denomination, either as Player or as Dealer, and start playing.

Playing Poker
In order to play you must first insert credits into the Video Poker machine. You do this by clicking on the $5, $25 or $100 buttons on the lower right side of the screen. You can also click on the Coin Slot to the right of the 'Deal/Draw' button to insert one coin at a time. Choose the amount you wish to bet by pressing the 'Bet One' or 'Bet Max' buttons. Pressing the 'Bet Max' button places 5 credits in the "Bet" text box and automatically deals the first draw. Pressing the 'Bet One' button places one credit in the "Bet" text box up to a maximum of 5 credits. Once there are credits in the "Bet" text box the 'Deal/Draw' button lights up and can be pressed to deal the cards. After the first draw you may keep any of the cards you want by clicking on them (a "Hold" sign will appear on the cards you wish to keep). After you have decided which cards to keep, press the 'Deal/Draw' button to replace the cards you decided to discard. Winnings are determined according to the winning combinations that are illustrated in the Payout Table at the upper part of the screen. If you have a winning hand the corresponding row to your winning combination will light up on the Payout Table. If there are any credits in the machine you can cash them all out by pressing the 'Cash Out' button. This will remove the bets and credits from the "Bet" and "Credit" text boxes and return them to your Balance.

Winning Combinations
Jacks or Better:
A pair pays off only if the cards in the pair are Jacks, Queens, Kings, or Aces. Lower pairs do not pay off.

Two Pair:
Two sets of pairs of the same card denomination (for example: Q,Q,3,6,6).

Three of a Kind:
Three cards of the same denomination (for example: K,K,K,Q,10).

Straight:
Five consecutive denomination cards of different suit (for example: 6,7,8,9,10. An Ace can be the starting card or the ending card - A,2,3,4,5 or 10,J,Q,K,A ).

Flush:
Five non-consecutive denomination cards of the same suit (for example: 2,5,10,J,A and all cards of the same suit - Spades, Hearts, Clubs or Diamonds).

Full House:
A set of three cards of the same denomination plus a set of two cards of the same denomination (for example: K,K,K,A,A).

Four of a kind:
Four cards of the same denomination (for example: 7,7,7,7,J).

Straight Flush:
Five consecutive denomination cards of the same suit (for example: 5,6,7,8,9 and all cards of the same suit - Spades, Hearts, Clubs or Diamonds).

Royal Flush:
Five consecutive denomination cards of the same suit, starting from 10 and ending with an Ace (for example: 10,J,Q,K,A and all cards of the same suit - Spades, Hearts, Clubs or Diamonds).

Payoff Table

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Gameplay

Video Poker Limits

General Text Boxes

Progressive Jackpot - When playing as Player, you can see the current progressive Jackpot. If you have 5 coins in the machine and you hit a Royal Flush, you win you the progressive Jackpot (there is a different progressive Jackpot for every denomination).

Message - This indicates whether 'You are the Player' or whether 'You are the Dealer'.

Opponent - This tells you the name (or nickname) of your current opponent.

Last Round - This tells you how much you've won or lost in the previous round.

Dealer Points - This is your current Dealer Points balance. As Player, you accumulate 1 Dealer Point on every dollar you place as a bet. As Dealer, 1 Dealer Point is deducted for every 1 dollar bet against you (see example below).

Fun Balance / Balance - This is your current Fun / Real-Money Balance (in US dollars).

Commission - When playing as Dealer, you pay a commission of 2% (1.5% + 0.5% because of the Progressive Jackpot) on the total bets placed against you (when playing as Player you do not pay commissions), see example below.

General Options
Back - Pressing 'Back' returns you to the Options Screen.

'?' (Help) - Pressing 'Help' opens the Help screen relevant to the room you're currently in. In this case, Video Poker.

'$' (Cashier) - Pressing '$' opens the Cashier screen.

Timer - This is the circle at the bottom-right corner of the screen. On every round, you have 40 seconds to make your decisions when playing as Player, and 35 seconds to make your decisions when playing as Dealer. The Timer indicates how much time you have left before reaching the time limit. If you haven't finished making your decisions during the specified time limit, you will exit the table. Back to top

Playing as Player

DealerChallenge Casino lets you play either as Player or as Dealer. Playing as Dealer is optional and is not mandatory. If you do not wish to play as Dealer, you can play the traditional role of the Player, knowing you can rely on the fairness and credibility of DealerChallenge Casino.

Video Poker Text Boxes
Payout - This tells you how many credits you've won on the current round.

Credits - Tells you how many credits are currently in the machine. The number of credits depends on the selected Video Poker denomination (for example, $5 equals 1 credit in the $5 machine, 5 credits in the $1 machine and 20 credits in the $0.25 machine).

Bets - This is your current bet (between 0 and 5).

Game Options
Cash Buttons: $5, $25 and $100
Pressing the Cash buttons inserts credits into the machine. The amount of credits depends on the machine's selected denomination (pressing the $5 Cash button in the $1 machine inserts 5 credits, etc.).

Coin Slot
Clicking on the Coin Slot to the right of the 'Deal/Draw' button inserts 1 credit at a time into the machine.

Deal/Draw
After you've entered your bet into the machine, press 'Deal/Draw' in order to deal the first 5 cards. After you decide which cards you want to keep, press 'Deal/Draw' again to replace the cards you wanted to discard.

Bet One
Pressing 'Bet One' adds 1 credit to the "Bet" text box up to a maximum of 5.

Bet Max
Pressing 'Bet Max' inserts 5 credits to the "Bet" text box and automatically deals the hand.

Cash Out
If you still have any credits or bets in the machine, pressing 'Cash Out' returns them to your balance.

Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with such incidents in a manner that our clients will be protected from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the possibility of intentional disconnections and/or system abuse.

Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the player placed credits in the "Credit" or "Bet" text boxes and the player has not yet pressed the 'Deal/Draw' button, then the credits are returned to the player's Balance.

Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the player pressed the 'Deal/Draw' button, but before the player had a chance to select the cards to be held, the round is considered as if the player had selected to hold all the cards. If that hand had a winning combination, the player's Balance is credited accordingly.

After connection is re-established the Player can enter the "History" page and see the results of the last round ("History" is available for Money mode only). Back to top

Playing as Dealer

DealerChallenge Casino offers you the unique option of playing the role of the Dealer. This option increases your chances of winning, since you gain some of the favorable odds reserved for the casino. At the end of every round the casino takes a commission of 2% (1.5% + 0.5% because of the Progressive Jackpot) of the total bets bet against the Dealer. In addition, casino pays all winnings in case the Player hits a Royal Flush.

Example
A Dealer chooses to play in Video Poker Machine II. This means that the Dealer meets the minimum requirements for playing in this machine type: a minimum of 5 Dealer Points and a minimum balance of $250. The system then matches a Player to the Dealer and after the Dealer 'Approves' the next round, the Player places his/her bets in the machine. Let's say the Player plays with a Bet of 4 credits. This means the player has inserted 4 credits into the machine as his/her bet (for a total bet of 4*1 = $4). The Player then presses 'Deal/Draw' and is dealt the first 5 cards. The Player receives the following as his/her first cards: J,3,5,3,9 of the corresponding suits: Diamonds (J), Spades (3), Spades (5), Hearts (3), Hearts (9). The Player decides to keep his/her pair of 3's and discards the rest of the cards. After the second hand is dealt the Player has 6,3,4,3,8 of corresponding suits: Spades (6), Spades (3), Diamonds (4), Hearts (3), Spades (8). The Player doesn't have a winning combination since he must reach Jacks or better. The Player loses his/her bet of $4. Since the bet against the Dealer was $4, the casino takes a commission of 2%*4 = $0.08, which means the Dealer wins 4-0.08 = $3.92 on this round. The casino's edge over the player in Video Poker is about 4.5% (bear in mind that this edge is how the casino makes a profit on Video Poker) so as the Dealer you actually gain an edge of about 2.5%.

Minimum Dealer Points and Balance
You can play as Dealer once you have accumulated enough Dealer Points and in addition you need to have enough money in your Balance, according to the game's limits described in the Game Options page.

The Minimum Balance required is a bit higher than the total winnings of the Player in a given round, which are: (Video Poker denomination: $0.25, $1 or $5) * 249(Maximum number of credits that can be won) + 2%(Casino commission) * ( 5(Maximum number of credits in the machine) * (Machine Denomination: $0.25, $1 or $5) )

Game Options
"Approve" Button / 'Auto-Approve' Feature
When playing as Dealer, before each round commences you must 'Approve' the next round. After you approve the round, the Player can place his/her bets and play the round. The 'Auto-Approve' feature lets you automatically approve the next rounds, without having to approve every round individually.

Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with such incidents in a manner that our clients will be protected from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the possibility of intentional disconnections and/or system abuse.

Should a disconnection occur after the Dealer pressed the 'Approve' button, play will continue until the Player has finished his/her turn. This has no effect on the Dealer, since the Dealer is played automatically according to the rules of the game.

After connection is re-established the Dealer can enter the "History" page and see the results of the last round ("History" is available for Money mode only). Back to top