From a few yards, playing Video Poker, online or in a land casino looks like a bit of a no-brainer and also a bit too much like hard work. All this holding reels and pressing buttons seems very unreasonable, when you consider that in slot games all you have to press one button or pull one lever and everything is taken care of.
Yet if you were to take a minute or two to watch a video poker session, you would quickly realize that there is so much more to it than meets the eye, and the player pushing the buttons and holding the bars is actually locked in a serious tactical battle to extract the maximum return for each hand that they play.
Video Poker Different Formats
Video Poker can be played in a variety of formats, with skill and strategy levels required rising in line with the profits that can be earned from each spin. Like any game of poker players have to make a hand to win something, and as there is no bluffing a video poker machine, prizes can be pretty low in the minimum value games, and pretty high the more the difficulty level bars are raised. Most regular players prefer a warm place in the middle, and that's why aces and eights have earned their spot as the most popular version of video poker.
It is not because the name rolls off the tongue, that Aces and Eights is the most widely played version of Video Poker, but probably because it provides players with a simple but not too simple and user-friendly playing experience that can generate loads of excitement and a lot of profit if everything falls into place.
Betting at Aces and Eights
Betting at Aces and Eights runs at a maximum of five coins per hand, with unit bets ranging from pretty low up to fairly high depending on the casino limits. In most cases, players kick off their play session with low-denomination coins and generally increase or decrease the ante as their session pans out. Part of the strategy of playing and winning at Aces and Eights is to know when to adjust bet values as their session pans out.
Each hand at aces and eights begins with the player being "dealt" five cards, and in any version of poker, the chances of them hitting a winning hand from the first deal are pretty slim, even though any eights or aces in the hand are floaters. Players have to decide if their hand has any potential, and if they do they can hold a minimum of two cards and see if they can make a hand out of the remaining three. Experienced players who see making potential will not be afraid to invest a large chunk of money to hit a big bet, all the time calculating the possible returns on their investment.
Payouts in Aces and Eights
In Aces and Eights, because the chances of winning a hand are pretty high, then payouts on traditional high poker hands are reasonable. For example, hitting a straight flush pays out only 50-1, while in the low difficulty levels of Video Poker, the minimum payout is 200-1 and the more advanced versions payout odds that are almost insultingly low. The odds for winning a hand at Aces and Eights usually run as follows:
| Royal Flush (natural) | 800-1 |
| Royal Flush (with floaters) | 100-1 |
| Four of a Kind (natural) | 500-1 |
| Four of a Kind (with floaters) | 80-1 |
| Straight flush | 50-1 |
| Four of a Kind (Sevens) | 50-1 |
| Four of a Kind (Others) | 25-1 |
Final Thoughts
Playing aces and eights video poker sits well for most players with a bit of imagination, neither too risky nor too safe, with the chance of making a reasonable profit and having a bit of excitement at the same time.