Texas Holdem Video Poker

If you are a fan of the game of poker in any of its variations, then you have probably taken advantage of the plentiful opportunities to try out video poker. Most of the time, you will find that video terminals that offer the chance to play poker are based on draw poker games and texas holdem video poker is less conventional; the common Jacks or Better machines are examples of this. Draw is the oldest version of poker and also offers machines the best chances at beating a player when it comes to the cards played during a game, so it’s natural that these are the video displays most common in casinos both online and off that offer video poker.

One thing that has come to the attention of most casinos, perhaps inevitably, is that draw poker is seeing a marked decrease in popularity in relation to other kinds of poker. The current king of the ring in the poker world is Texas hold ‘em; it’s what new players are most likely learning and what most poker players are comfortable with. The trick for casinos and other places that offer video poker was to figure out how to channel this passion for hold ‘em with the appeal of the game and still ensure that the house has the edge.

It might seem at first blush that this is too tall of an order for anyone; after all, part of the big appeal of hold ‘em is that it requires a certain amount of skill. Any variation that tries to create a house edge is bound to detract from that part of the game.

Well, that is what has happened with texas hold ‘em video poker terminals. If you’re a hold ‘em purist you can’t expect to find all the best elements of the game on a video display, but if you do like the quick play and easy options of a video poker terminal every once in a while, you may find that Texas hold ‘em video poker is a nice change up. Like other video poker games that use the same ranking with cards as variations of poker, the odds are paid out according to the hand that you achieve. Instead of four rounds of betting, there are only three, and of course you will only be playing the dealer, not several different players.

Another key difference in many hold ‘em poker video games is that you are able to choose your hole cards at the beginning, and many video terminals available online will even include the odds of a win with the hand you select in relation to the flop. That’s a big part of the illusion of control that all casino games have; the trade off is that the pay outs do not match the odds of a certain hand turning up.

There are reasons to play a Texas hold ‘em version of video poker outside of the chance at a money win. Many players find that the percentages offered and the way the hands play out are very useful when it comes to calculating odds for a real game of cards; once you see combinations enough, the odds will be second nature to you and you will be able to translate that into success against other players. The rapid nature of play means that you can get a lot of games into one session as well.