Video Poker. Retrospective. Insight

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Ever since the hip 70’s of the last century, video poker has steadily been conquering the weak poker-crushed hearts of casino patrons. Video poker is ranked the second most popular casino game, losing only to slot machines and winning over real-life poker.

There was an innovative evolution that traditional poker practices had to undergo before the first video poker machines, the devices for playing video poker, were introduced to the gambling world. We suspect you’ve wondered about how video poker emerged in the realm of casino circuits. Therefore, we will provide an in-depth outline of the development of video poker, from its very first appearance in the smoke-packed casinos of Nevada’s Sin City to the gradual advancement of this game into the lives of finicky “play-or-die” faddist gamblers.

How It All Began

As you must’ve already tumbled to, a video poker machine is a more elaborate and advanced version of a poker machine from which it originated. The first poker machine appeared in 1891 owing to the Sittman and Pitt company. It comprised five drums each containing ten images of playing cards. Later in 1898, Charles Fey, a mechanic from San Francisco, created the poker machine he named “Card Bell.” This machine paid ten coins for a royal flush.

Charles Fey kept experimenting with gambling gadgets and moved on to invent the poker machine he named “Skill Draw.” It contained a hold feature allowing the player to hold one or more cards and is now considered to be the first five card poker machine. From that time up to the 70’s, the history of gambling witnessed a significant business trend toward the manufacturing of poker machines produced one by one in extreme multitudes. It wasn’t until the beginning of the seventies that a company called Dale Electronics came up with a brilliant idea to upgrade the performance of poker machines by adding a video feature in their operational mechanism.

The World Welcomes a Video Poker Machine

The pioneering video poker machine was called “Poker-Matic.” It didn’t take long for similar video poker gears to proliferate across Vegas casinos thereby hallmarking the successful onset of a brand-new era in gambling. However, the further explosion of video poker frenzy, along with the hype surrounding video poker machines wouldn’t have taken on such a tremendous shape if it hadn’t been for a guy named Si Redd. Making a living as a distributor for Bally’s Gaming, he introduced his bosses to a new game called “Video Poker” aiming to lead the company into the newly born trend of modern gambling.

Little did those bosses know about how trendy the lucky ticket they could get adopting this game, and hence neglected Redd’s offer. Their reaction was probably due to some conservative principles they were following in their business strategy. Instead, the executives suggested Redd himself take the patent. Moreover, the guy was smart enough to grab that opportunity and push his start-up project through, but this time Redd made a deal with the Fortune Coin Company. In the end, Redd founded his own company, Si Redd’s Coin Machines. Right after, Si Redd started establishing his company’s dramatic name by manufacturing his video poker games. This manufacturing began the mass production of video poker machines.

The Perks of Playing Video Poker

There are many substantial reasons why video poker machines have been attracting billions of gamblers ever since. Here are the most common causes.

1. Well, first of all, video poker machines took over the players’ passion and time at the expense of the cons of other old-school gambling games: many gamblers were sick and tired of the original set of rules they had to follow when playing at a casino table. These same gamblers were utterly enticed by an innovational video-based game. It’s no wonder many of them switched to video poker machines that could offer them something beyond the usual.

2. Another highlight of these machines is the high percentage of their payout. The high rate of disbursement can be explained by the main distinctive feature of video poker – a player’s rival is not a real player, but a machine with artificial intelligence that covers neither analytical thinking nor an in-depth understanding of what’s going on. Moreover, most video games use the Jack or Better system which implies that once a gambler has acquired a pair of Jacks or Betters, they’ll certainly get paid.

3. Video poker machines are famous for their low house advantage. Furthermore, you can narrow it down even more with a winning strategy and sufficient knowledge and luck. The matter of technique in video poker gaming will briefly be covered next.

4. The favorable outcome of video poker is mainly contingent on a proper strategy. So, picking a win-win strategy or developing one by yourself is the top component of the hierarchy that establishes your preparedness for a game.

5. You can keep track of the game quality while playing video poker. All the information you need to know, including how much you earned, how much the house takes, what its edge is, and so on is located on the screen of the game.

6. Choosing the pace, you will be playing at is all up to you, while in blackjack, roulette, casino table games this part is left to the dealer. Moreover, because there’s no dealer inside video poker machines, you get to determine the pace all by yourself and for yourself. Long live self-rule.

How Video Poker Is Doing Today

The extensive distribution of video poker into nearly every segment of the commercial sphere has broadened the access to video poker machines making it possible for gamblers to let their guard down at a rural train station or international airport. The growing number of these devices has dramatically facilitated players’ tedious journeys to the nearest gambling location because such places can now be found within reach. Who knows, maybe in a few years, there will be the latest version of video poker machines installed in big city malls. Alternatively, these poker machines could be set up in popular franchise fast-food cafes like McDonald’s or Starbucks. Given such a steady and galloping advancement of this gambling sector growing red-hot right from the steamy seventies, it’s entirely reasonable to expect the best when it comes to video poker.