Spend any amount of time at online casinos and you'll surely come across a selection of video poker games to choose from.
Video poker is now one of the classic online casino games that riffs off the idea of original table-based poker. These digital games, however, tend to be quite different from the likes of the famous Texas Hold 'Em that many of us know and love.
Instead, it's based on quick-fire gameplay and much simpler rules. This can make it a little easier to lose track of how much money one is spending.
The good news is that there's a wide range of free video poker games that we can play if we don't feel like spending money.
Note: This is a good idea for several reasons, but it also means we can do two other useful things: train ourselves to play free video poker well for if we do eventually play for money, and simply enjoy the games for what they are: entertainment.
Yet with so many free video poker games to choose from, how do we know which are the best to go for?
Casino Universe has created this page to answer this question for you by showing how to choose the best free video poker games for you, how to play the game, and more useful information to bear in mind.
In case you try playing online video poker for free and find that it is not for you, Casino Universe offers you a variety of other free casino games, such as free slots, blackjack, or roulette, that you can play for free in demo mode.
Most forms of free video poker have a basic rule system in common. This is why we might refer to it as a mix of a game of luck and a game of chance. While it demands strategizing and decision-making skills, it also relies on the randomness of the drawn cards.
We can summarize these basic rules as follows:
There are also hundreds of video poker variations that add to these rules with their own style.
To give you a better idea of which free video poker versions to expect, here's a summary of a few of the most popular.
In Deuces Wild, all the twos (deuces) act as wild cards, which can substitute for any other card to form a winning hand. This increases the potential for strong hands, and the paytable usually adjusts to reflect this.
The minimum winning hand is typically three of a kind.
Double Bonus is a variation of video poker where certain four-of-a-kind hands offer enhanced payouts, or 'bonuses'.
Players receive increased rewards for specific four-of-a-kind hands, typically aces, 2s, 3s, and 4s, and sometimes for other combinations of cards. This variation often requires a different strategy from the standard Jacks or Better game.
Pick 'Em Poker is a video poker variant where players are dealt two cards, and two separate three-card stacks, each with one face-up card, are displayed. Players then pick one of the displayed hands, and the chosen hand combines with the initial two cards to form the final five-card hand.
The objective is to create the highest-ranking poker hand possible to receive a payout.
Jacks or Better is one of the most popular video poker variations. The game requires a pair of Jacks or a better hand to receive a payout. It follows the standard poker hand rankings, with Royal Flush being the highest-ranking hand.
The paytable usually begins with a pair of Jacks and increases in value for stronger hands.
Note: Bear in mind that these are just general guidelines for video poker rules and some providers may adjust the rules for their own games. To get the best idea of how to play each game, make sure you read the rules before you play.
If you're sitting in front of this list of free online video poker games and are not sure which one to go for then don't worry. In this section, we will show you how to narrow down the selection to find the best video poker games that will suit your preferences.
When the 'Recommended' tab is selected, you'll see the games that our experts recommend at the top of the list. If you want to go with the expert opinion then just start with these.
You can also change the setting to 'Recently Added' if you want to see the latest video poker games added to our database. 'Recently reviewed' or 'Highest RTP', too, will rearrange the games according to these two attributes.
Note: If you'd like to see free online video poker casino games with certain features, make use of the advanced filtering system.
Let's say you only want mobile video poker games, for example. Selecting the 'Mobile device supported' filter will give you just these. Or, if you are searching for games from a specific game provider, you can do that simply by clicking their name on the list.
The result will be a personalized selection of free video poker games.
Here's how to start playing free video poker games:
Remember, if you want to play for real money, pick a top-rated video poker casino and read the reviews carefully.