Poker and Video Poker – a little bit of history

Poker and Video Poker – a little bit of history

Poker’s origins are not exactly known. Over a thousand years ago, the Chinese had playing cards that were used in conjunction with dominoes. There is a Persian game known as "as nas" that has a very similar structure to poker. Five players would play this Persian variety using a 25-card deck that had five different suits. The development of "as nas" dates back hundreds of years. In Europe, a German card game by the name of pochspeil was introduced. The French brought a game known as poque with them when they settled in New Orleans. This game was structured around particular betting practices, and bluffing was encouraged.

In the States, poker evolved into a variety of manifestations. Poker became wildly popular on the gambling boats of the Mississippi River. As transportation and industrial technology advanced, poker’s influence was sprinkled across the country. Railroads brought the game to frontier locations. In the West, poker was soon played in almost every saloon.

When anti-gambling laws were passed, the attorney general for California carved out a special niche for the game of poker. Five-card draw, he argued, was a game that required skill. When five-card draw was exempted from anti-gambling laws, it really began to take off. Variations of draw poker began to sprout up in card rooms throughout the country. And the game became one of the most commonly played games in the World.

Video Poker
Video poker is a basic video version of five-card draw. The game plays almost like a slot machine, but unlike slots, video poker is a game of skill. In video poker, a RNG (random number generator) is used to simulate the actual odds of five-card draw. The RNG generates random hands based the game’s 2,598,960 possible five-card outcomes. If you follow the appropriate strategy, video poker is a game that has extremely favorable player odds.

Video Poker first began to appear in casinos in the late 1970s. It was a compromise between slots and table games. Slots can get a bit repetitive after a while, and for some players, table games can be very intimidating. Video poker is an accessible way for players to enjoy the classic game of poker in a streamlined, video environment.

Jacks or Better
Jacks or Better was the first video poker game to hit the market. There are now more than a hundred video poker variations out there, but Jacks or Better was the original. Each different video poker variant has its own strategy. If you take the time to learn the appropriate tactics, you can make a lot of money playing video poker.

Payout Tables
When searching for a video poker game, make sure that you check the payout tables before you start playing. Your aim should be to find the machine, or online video poker game, that offers the highest possible payout.