Video poker is a popular games category at Australian online casinos. In land casinos it is played on computer consoles just like pokie machines. But unlike pokie machines, video poker is a game of skill. If you master the optimum strategy then you can achieve long term average returns of over 99%. This article is a primer on the different types of video poker games offered at Microgaming powered Australian online casinos.
The most common format of online video poker is described as Standard in the Microgaming games menu. There are currently 14 variants in this format, the most popular being Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Joker Poker. The variants differ in the payout table but have the same game play. After you place the wager, five cards are dealt form a single deck. You have the option of replacing as many of these cards as you want. You mark the cards that you want to hold. Microgaming video poker variants offer a facility called Auto Hold. This automatically marks the cards to hold according to optimum strategy. The remaining cards are replaced and the final hand compared with the payout table. If the hand matches with a hand ranking on the payout table then you receive the corresponding payout.
The next online video poker category at Microgaming online casinos is Power Poker. It is the name given to multi hand video poker variants. You have the option of playing 4, 10, 50 or 100 hands at a time. You place the wager for the selected number of hands up front. Then five cards are dealt as in the standard variant and you select the cards you want to hold. These cards are transferred to the same positions in all the hands. The remaining cards are replaced in the main hand and remaining cards are dealt in the other hands. Each hand is played with a separate single deck. Each hand is compared with the payout table and the awarded payouts are accumulated and credited to your account.
Level-Up video poker is unique to Microgaming online casinos. You place a wager for four hands. You play the first one as the usual single hand video poker game. If you are not able to manage a paying hand ranking then you lose all bets. If you win in the first round then you play the second round. Here the payouts are doubled if you win and you proceed to the third round. If you do not win, you collect your payout from the first round and the game ends. You continue in this fashion till you play all four hands with payouts doubled over the previous round or lose along the way.