Video poker is a favorite of mine because it combines two of my favorite games (slots and poker) and can be played quickly and easily (it’s pretty much self-explanatory). After writing so extensively about online and mobile casino games, the lines between them sometimes get blurry, which is something I may have said before. However, I thought it would be appropriate to briefly discuss the origins of video poker as I am about to discuss the popular game Aces and Eights.
When and why did electronic versions of poker first appear?
A group of computer science students in the 1970s came up with the idea for video poker while playing on what are now considered primitive computers. The game was an unintended consequence of the burgeoning personal computer industry of the time. The screens were dot-matrix displays, and the images were so basic that I’m not even sure they could be considered graphics back then. Think ping pong: two planks and a center point.
However, it was under these circumstances that video poker was born. The game’s success and rapid expansion meant that it had made its way onto casino floors by the mid-1980s. Online video poker was one of the first games to be taken up and made available when the online casino movement initially got started. Video poker’s success has prompted the development of other variants, including Aces and Eights.
Having fun with a game of Video Poker
Both the original online video poker version and the more modern mobile video poker version of Aces and Eights are accessible to players today. You and the dealer face off using a standard 52-card deck to choose the winner. Everything is extremely simple. All the hands and their payments will be displayed on the screen, so all you have to do is compare your hand to the list and check if it wins. The dealer deals out five cards, you examine them to see if any of them can help you win, and if not, you select the ones you want to keep by clicking or touching them. After you decide which cards to keep, the dealer will replace them with fresh ones. At that point, you must fold your hand. The typical payout table for Aces and Eights Video Poker is shown below.
Odds and EvensCoin 250 500 750 1 2 3 4 5 Royal Flush 1 2 3 4 51,000 4,000
Two Pair (Ace and Eight)80 160 240 320 400
A natural flush70 140 210 280 350
Full House (four sevens)50 100 150 200 250
Full House (Others)20 40 60 80 100
At capacity8 16 24 32 40 Flush 5 10 15 20 25 Straight 4 8 12 16 20
Straight Flush3 6 9 12 15
Double PairsJacks or Better (2-4-6-8-10).1 2 3 4 5
And that’s pretty much the end of it. Eights and Aces No casino game is genuinely complicated, and neither is video poker. It’s only in your mind that casino games seem complicated if that’s how you’ve been thinking about them. Everything shifts if you take a look at the regulations. Depending on the cards you’re dealt, you can employ several small strategies. Just do a search for them on Google; there are tons of them out there, and you never know if any of them will help your game.