Pick 'Em Video Poker

For players who are tired of the same old five-card draw video poker games, Pick 'Em poker brings a lot to the table. Luckily, the transition to Pick 'Em poker should be fairly smooth since you're still dealing with five-card poker hands and the hand rankings are exactly the same as a standard Jacks or Better game. The process is also slightly streamlined because you only have to make one simple decision between two options.

Before you do anything else, make sure you have an acceptable coin size selected. Because the bonus pay out for Royal Flushes only applies when five coins are played, you should pick a low enough denomination in order to feel comfortable betting all five coins per hand. Next, you can click the draw button to receive your cards; here's the Pick 'Em arrangement. The two cards on the left of the screen are going to be part of your final hand no matter what. The two cards sitting to the right of these are actually covering up two hidden cards (i.e. they each represent a stack of three). All you have to do is pick which of these stacks is the best mach for your two starting cards, and you will have built your complete five-card hand. Refer to the pay table below to see how some casinos value each hand in Pick 'Em Video Poker.

At first glance, Pick 'Em poker sounds like it's basically a guessing game. After all, almost half of your hand is hidden from you until the end. However, between the two starting cards and the visible card on the top of each stack, there is enough information to institute a very detailed optimum strategy within Pick 'Em poker. If you're playing with a full-pay Pick 'Em pay table and play with perfect strategy, this game can have a 99.9% payout percentage. Essentially, you can almost erase the house's mathematical advantage! Compared to nearly every other game in the casino, this is an ideal situation.