A Brief History of Video Poker
The first video poker machine was first created around the same time as the first slot in the late 1800’s. These machines used five drums and a fifty card system. Once the first modern day version of slot machine was invented the card system was replaced with symbols and it wasn’t until the 1970’s that the idea of poker hands were again used in machines. In 1979 the first modern type of video poker machine graced the floors of land based casinos and to this day there are a variety of video poker variations all based on the five card draw. Jacks or Better is one of the versions of video poker available both in land based casinos and online.
About Jacks or Better Video Poker
The leading software developers like Playtech, Microgaming and Net Entertainment have created their own versions of the game but the rules are generally the same across the board. Jacks or Better is a five card draw version of video poker that requires the standard poker hands to win except the minimum winning hand is a pair of jacks. Any pairs with a lesser value than the jack will not count as a winning poker hand. Jacks or Better has additional poker hands being a pair of Jacks, a pair of queens, a pair of kings and a pair of aces. The two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and the royal flush standard poker hands are required to win a hand with higher values than the pair of jacks.
How to Play Jacks or Better
The number of Jack or Better hands need to be selected and a bet placed on each hand. If multiple hands are selected then the first one will be the main hand that will be played with. Any actions taken with this hand are duplicated onto the additional hands. Once all bets are in place the deal button is clicked to deal the first five cards. Any promising cards in the hand can be clicked on to hold and the deal button will discard the rest of the cards and deal additional cards to make up the five card hand. This is then the final hand and the cards can be evaluated to see if there are any winning Jacks or Better poker hands. If any winning hands occur in any of the hands the winning amounts are tallied and added to the account balance.
The Double Your Money Gamble Feature
When the gamble button blinks the Jacks or Better video slots double your money gamble feature is available to play. Any winning amount can be gambled and doubled on a win or completely lost. When opting to play the gamble feature five cards will be displayed with only one face up. The aim of the gamble feature is to select one of the face down cards which must be of higher value than the card that is displayed face up. If the card is of a higher value the gambled amount is doubled. If the card is of a lower value the gambled amount is lost. The suits are ranked in the order of diamonds, hearts, clubs and then spades so that two cards with the same number value will not result in a tie.
