Knowing the Video Poker Hand Rankings

Playing the video poker machine is very easy. It is a game involving a lower house edge. This nature of video poker provides the chance to its players the better opportunity to win the game.

The key towards playing the game right is to know the basic mechanics of playing the game and to know how the video poker machine works. Aside from these areas to learn it is also essential for a video poker player to understand the different video poker hand rankings.

Learning the various combinations of hand ranking give video poker players the chance to determine the expected payout for their hand. There are video poker machines that offer double bonus for a bigger pay based on the hand ranking played by the player. An example would be a double bonus pay for four of a kind or deuces wild.

The royal flush consists of hand ranking with the best possible hand and with the highest payout. This should be in ascending card order from a Ten to King which should be of the same suit.

The straight flush consists of five consecutive cards of the same suit. It could be from any number as long the cards are of the same suit at a consecutive order. A card of hearts from 6,7,8,9 and 10 can win a player a straight flush for instance or a card of diamonds from card values of 3,4,5,6 and 7 can still win a player a straight flush.

The four of a kind is a card ranking involving four cards of the same card value. An example would be getting 4 cards of queen or 4 cards of Jack or 4 cards of 10 as long as the 4 cards of the player has the same value. The fifth card of the player is insignificant in this type of hand ranking.

The full house hand ranking involves one pair and three of a kind card. An example would be having a pair of ace and three seven card value.

A flush would be getting 5 non-consecutive cards of the same suit. The player should target to complete their hands of any card value as long as all cards belong to one suit.

Getting a straight hand ranking will involve getting five cards that are in consecutive orders regardless which suit each card belongs.

A three of a kind hand ranking will include getting three cards that should be of the same value and another two cards of different values.

A two pair hand ranking involves getting cards of two sets with the same value. An example would be getting two aces and two 7 card values. The value of the 5th card is negligible.

The Jack or Better is another hand ranking that gives the lowest payout. It consists of getting a pair of cards with card values of Jacks or higher. This would mean a player needs to get any pair of Jack, Queen, King and Ace. The three remaining cards are not important.

Being able to know the different hand rankings in video poker helps a player make a decision when made to choose which card to discard or to hold thereby giving them the chance to execute a good hand selection when playing the video poker machine.