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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
1 Coin 2 Coin 3 Coin 4 Coin 5 Coin
Royal Flush 250 500 750 1000 JACKPOT
Straight Flush 50 100 150 200 250
4 of a Kind 25 50 75 100 125
Full House 8 16 24 32 40
Flush 5 10 15 20 25
Straight 4 8 12 16 20
3 of a Kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two Pair 2 4 6 8 10
Jacks or Better 1 2 3 4 5
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Gameplay
Video Poker Limits
Video Poker Type Minimum Bet Maximum Bet
I $0.25 $1.25
II $1 $5
III $5 $25
General Text Boxes
Progressive Jackpot - When playing as Player, you can see the current
progressive Jackpot. If you have 5 coins in the machine and you hit
a Royal Flush, you win you the progressive Jackpot (there is a different
progressive Jackpot for every denomination).
Message - This indicates whether 'You
are the Player' or whether 'You are the Dealer'.
Opponent - This tells you the name (or
nickname) of your current opponent.
Last Round - This tells you how much
you've won or lost in the previous round.
Credit Points - This is your current
Credit Points balance. As Player, you accumulate 1 Credit Point on every
dollar you place as a bet. As Dealer, 1 Credit Point is deducted for
every 1 dollar bet against you (see example below).
Fun Balance / Balance - This is your
current Fun / Real-Money Balance (in US dollars).
Commission - When playing as Dealer,
you pay a commission of 2% (1.5% + 0.5% because of the Progressive Jackpot)
on the total bets placed against you (when playing as Player you do
not pay commissions), see example below.
General Options
Back - Pressing 'Back' returns you to the Options Screen.
'?' (Help) - Pressing 'Help' opens the
Help screen relevant to the room you're currently in. In this case,
Video Poker.
'$' (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.
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Playing
as Player
BeTheDealer 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 BeTheDealer 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).
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Playing
as Dealer
BeTheDealer 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 Credit 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 Credit Points and Balance
You can play as Dealer once you have accumulated enough Credit 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).
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