A Historical Peek At Video Poker

Draw poker and 5 card stud were the usual gambling card games on the paddle wheel boats of the Mississippi as well as in the bars of the long forgotten West in the era of the 1800's. By the time the 1900's rolled around, folks all over the United States were playing similar games of poker on weekend nights with family and friends.
Despite the growing popularity, you had to have played poker quite frequently and have a clear understanding of the game before you would go into a card room. That image probably remained true until video poker was brought onto the scene in the late 1970's. Here was a up-to-date, entertaining and quite simple computer driven game that you could play alone without being intimidated. It immediately became an enormous hit with patrons of casinos across the country.
The initial video machines showed up in Las Vegas in about 1976. These fresh machines had limited payouts but did offer a $1,500 payout for a royal flush on the dollar machines if the maximum five coins were inserted. As soon as the machine manufacturers increased the payouts (for instance, to full house payout levels of 8 or 9 coins), player interest improved considerably and popularity of the video poker games began to skyrocket.
Today, casino floor managers are moving mature slots out and installing fresh video games on a regular basis. Video poker machines have evolved into scores of different games from the simple draw poker beginnings. Wild card versions such as Joker Poker and Deuces Wild are now offered as well as many bonus games which pay higher amounts for various 4 of a kind combinations.
Video poker is not only quite popular with casino customers; it's also one of the less risky games in the casino for players, since winning does not rely entirely on luck.

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An Introduction to Community Poker

Community poker is perhaps one of the most played groups of poker games today. The name community poker is derived from the fact that some cards are shared by all the players. Quite obviously, these are the community cards. Though there are many different kinds of community poker games, the basic idea behind them is the same.
A specific number of cards are first dealt to each player - the number of which depends on the type of community poker. After the players get their cards, a certain number of cards are then laid out on the table. These are the community cards. Once again, the number of community cards would depend on the type of community poker being played. The cards can be flipped one at a time or several at a time, with a round of betting going on after each card is flipped. When all the cards are flipped, there is one last round of betting. What happens is that some or all of the community cards may be used by any player to compliment his own hand.
So what are the differences between community poker games?
Some say that it is basically in the layout of the community cards. To make the games more varied and exciting, different community poker games have evolved to include different rules.
Let's take a look at some of the most common types of community poker according to the geometrical layout of the community cards. The most commonly employed shape is the line and the most popular poker game that falls under this category is Texas Hold 'Em Poker. We will talk about Texas Hold 'Em in future posts. Another popular line game is the Cincinnati. While only 2 cards are dealt out to each player in Texas Hold 'Em, up to 3 cards can be dealt out in Cincinnati. More so, the community cards in Cincinnati add up to 4, making a total of 7 cards from which a player may make a hand of 5.
Another layout of community cards is the cross. There are several variations as to how this is carried out but the Iron Cross is the most popular. The card in the intersection of the cross adds spice to the game as different stipulations may be centered around it. It is usually flipped open last.
The circle is not as common as the other two geometrical patterns in community poker. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the community cards are placed in a circle. Cards may be flipped one at a time or several at a time, depending on the dealer. An additional stipulation is that players should only use cards which are adjacent to each other.
Perhaps the most exciting element of community games is the betting. Betting occurs in between the flipping of cards. Betting structures differ with every type of game but the norm is that the betting is started by the player to the left of the dealer.

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