The Video Poker Strategy

Video Poker is a favorite game among online casino goers, and is becoming increasingly so as graphics technology gets better every year. But how to actually win at video poker has been a point of contention among video poker players for as long as the game itself has been around. It seems as though video poker fans just cannot agree on a failsafe strategy that will provide video poker players with a reliable and consistent edge. Well I have been playing video poker for a few years now and while I don't have the Rosetta stone of video poker strategies I do have some advice on the topic and hopefully you'll take something useful away from this article.

My first thing to say about video poker is that there are two types of video poker, progressive and non-progressive video poker. Perhaps one reason why video poker has produced so many different playing styles and conflicting strategies over the years is that beginner players and even some mid range players often confuse whether they are playing at a progressive or a non-progressive game, and this has a big affect on what kind of strategy will win you success at a video poker game. There is one strategy that I have been using for years that seems to work. I have used it off and on and have tried, at times, other strategies although there are some other strategies out there that are no doubt good; I find this one works best for me.

The basic video poker progressive strategy I use is not complicated. After I sign into the casino and make a deposit I start my betting very low. I know a lot of video poker players don't like to bet low because it kind of takes the excitement out of video poker but believe me if you have the patience to use the strategy properly, that low betting will pay off in the long run. The idea here is that by betting low on the first six or seven hands, and then suddenly increasing your bets quickly on the eighth or ninth hand, you will be increasing the chances that when you do increase your bet you will be more likely to get good cards. I have used this same strategy in other games, like slots, as well actually. In essence this strategy could work for any game of chance where repetition plays a big roll. You won't see a benefit immediately or even in the first hundred hands or so, but if you play say, over a thousand hands you will over the long term see a considerable increase in your winnings at the end of that period.

In progressive video poker this strategy even has more value because as you stall increasing your bets as you play, you are also increasing your chances of getting a royal flush and hitting the jackpot, so if you are willing to pump a few hundred into a video poker machine and really play for a long time, as long as you do not spend more than what the jackpot is, your chances of hitting the jackpot will be relatively higher than if you were just betting randomly in the video poker game or betting on your knowledge of the cards. Actually this is a good point to talk about too. You might be asking how this strategy gels with simply using your knowledge of poker to get ahead in video poker. Well the fact is, it gels quite well but the reality of poker, and more especially video poker, is that no matter how good your poker skills are you often cannot tell what the best decision to do is or what your actual chances are of getting good cards, so in these situations where you use your poker skills and decide that you are uncertain about what to do, you can always fall back on this stall strategy. So I guess the rule would be, use you video poker skills first, and the stall strategy second, when you do not know for sure that you have a good chance of getting good cards, then the stall strategy is a good way to increase your chances.

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