Videopoker And Poker, What Are The Differences?
Since the early 2000s and the famous victory of Chris Moneymaker, the aptly named, at the World Series of Poker, which was the first big victory of a stranger against professional players, poker has experienced a boom and a exponential growth which does not weaken 20 years later. From now on, poker is everywhere, as well on television and on Internet as in the casinos or in the evenings between friends (e) s.
But if the rules of poker are relatively well known to all, and in particular those of Texas Hold’em, the most famous variant of poker, there is also another way of playing poker, also very popular but nevertheless less known to the great public, it is that of the videopoker. And there are several differences between poker and video poker that we will detail in this article.
Social game versus individual game
Video poker is a kind of mix between a game of classic poker and a slot machine. Here, it is not a question of facing other players but only a machine that will take the role of dealer, a little similar to a game of blackjack. Video poker is therefore played 1 against 1, and this is perhaps the biggest divergence from classic poker which generally takes place with 6 or 8 people around the table. In videopoker, therefore, no bluffing or pressure from other players, you can play quietly and at your own pace because your only opponent is a machine that will patiently wait for us.
Strategy vs. number of hands
But the rules also differ greatly from one version to another. If we will not repeat here in full the rules of Texas Hold’em, we will just remember that the game begins with 2 cards in hand, then to which are added 3 cards in the middle, and therefore common to all players, during the flop. , then a fourth center card on the turn and a fifth on the river , knowing that players must bet on each of these turns to be able to move on to the next stage.
In comparison, the rules of video poker are much simpler. First, there is usually only one round of betting, from the start and even before receiving your cards. We ourselves decide how much we are going to bet on this part, and the computer opposite will call regardless of the amount. Here again, wanting strategies intimidate his opponent with a big bet or discreet play by just checker are absent from video poker.
Once you have decided on your bet, you receive 5 cards at once, and the computer receives 5 as well. There is no community card, so you never know anything about the other’s game. During this first round, we decide which cards we want to keep for the second and last round, always with the aim, similar to both poker and video poker, to have the best possible hand. You can just as easily change your 5 cards as you can keep them all, even if you generally prefer to change 2 or 3.
Then, the cards that we have chosen to get rid of are replaced by others. We find ourselves again with 5 cards in hand, knowing that the computer-dealer has also made its own changes at the same time. And then comes the time for the revealing of the cards, and simply the best hand wins. The classification of hands is identical to poker and videopoker and follows the following order: Pair – Double Pair – Three of a kind – Straight – Color – Full – Square – Straight Flush – Royal Straight Flush.
We therefore understand the rapprochement between video poker and the world of slot machines, since the goal is often to chain the games with modest sums and to bet on his luck and probabilities in order to defeat the computer most often. possible.
On computer or at the casino, but also at home
On the Internet, videopoker is only played on specialized sites, which very often also offer different versions of videopoker with rules that can be slightly modified between each variant, just as there are other rules than those of Texas Hold’em.in classic poker. But it is also possible to play video poker within land-based casinos, on special terminals, once again similar to those of slot machines. On the other hand, and as its name suggests, there is no real croupier allowing to play the video poker in 1 against 1. It is on the other hand possible, if you are only 2, to use the rules of the video poker. to play between you. And these are also the rules that are in principle used in the crisp games of strip poker, because they are both simpler and faster than classic poker which is reserved for a more serious and more tactical audience. .
If poker and videopoker therefore have a number of dissimilarities, the ultimate goal remains the same in both versions: to have a better hand than the others, by bluffing and betting in poker and by making the right choices in videopoker.
