Video Poker

Realtime Gaming video poker games are found in 73 online casinos which accept players from the United Kingdom and cater to English speaking gamblers. Because the parent company for RTG is based out of the Netherlands Antilles, you’ll find many of these casino operations are licensed in that small Caribbean nation. Several others are licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, while the local jurisdiction for some of these casino sites are the United Kingdom, Cyprus, and Costa Rica (where RTG is headquartered).

RTG is one of the five large and widespread software development companies for Internet gambling, so their menu of games includes all of the famous video poker games you’ll want to play, along with a few of the obscure gaming options. Most of the games are based on some version of wild card poker you may have played around the kitchen table as a kid, though a few appear to have one-off game mechanics that no one is likely to have played for penny-ante. This may be getting ahead of ourselves for those who are brand new to video poker in either live settings or the Interent, so let me lay some groundwork.

Video Poker Explained

When you first stroll into a gambling establishment, you might confuse video poker row with slots row. Both are gaming machines with bright lights and funny sounds. Both have gamblers grinding away at the machines, hitting “Spin” or “Deal” over and over. That’s where the similarities end. Slot machines have some of the worst odds in casino gambling, while video poker offers some of the best odds this side of blackjack. Furthermore, strategy enters into this game, while the one-armed bandits are low impact, no-strategy propositions.

The game itself is much like 5-card draw. You’re dealt five cards in a hand. Then you’re given the choice to keep any of those five dealt cards. When you make your decision, you click the button and a re-draw is given to you (if you so choose). After this refresh, you compare your hand against the machine’s pay table to see what you won–if you won anything. In the basic game, you’ll need a hand with a pair of jacks or better to win. If you hold two 10s or less, you lose outright. If you hold a pair of queens or three 2s or any other hand which is better in the standard poker hand ranks, you win.

The better your hand, the more money you win. Usually, the royal flush is the big jackpot hand. Other video poker games have different scoring systems, often with wild cards. In the games where wilds are allowed, you’ll often have to build better hands than the basic game. Also, you should know that (as an example) two different Deuces Wild machines might have different payout schedules for certain hands, often the full house and the flush. If you get paid 8/1 for a full house and 5/1 for a flush, this is called the 8/5 version of the game. It can get tricky finding the best version of a game, because many times, payouts on other hands are increased when the flush and full house are decreased, but those are the key hands to notice on most variations.

Comparison of Game Selections

Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s take a look at the RTG video poker types you’re likely to find in the electronic casinos. I’ve chosen a couple of the best Realtime Gaming casinos to highlight a few points: Win Palace and Casino Titan. These websites are both featured on Casino-City and are ranked 4th and 15th out of the 376 Netherlands Antilles sites listed. That means these are big, well-known, legitimate casino operations.

WinPalace Casino Video Poker

This site has a 19 game selection and multiple versions of the most popular games. This is where you need to be careful in choosing your game, because the wrong choice means you’re throwing money away. Many new players tend to be confused by all the variations with “double double” in their title, though this only refers to the fact that all four 4-of-a-kind combinations come with different payouts. Not only will you find two types of Jacks or Better, you’ll find two Loose Deuces, two Joker Poker titles, and two Deuces Wild variants. These are the most popular games, but you can also play 7 Stud Poker, Bonus Deuces, Jackpot Poker, and several of those aforementioned double-double and double-bonus variants.

Casino Titan Video Poker: A Comparison

Casino Titan has fewer games (12) than WinPalace Casino, but it also has a few selections you won’t find elsewhere. Notice games like Aces & Eights, Sevens Wild, and All American Poker are listed, while you won’t find these at many of the other RTG casinos. Keep in mind these are two excellent online casinos and they each have the same selection of RTG games to choose from, but their make totally different decisions on which vp games to feature. It really does pay to shop around when you’re searching for casinos.

Realtime Gaming Video Poker Games

This is how you’re going to need to shop for the latest RTG video poker offerings. I wish the official RTG site had a comprehensive list of titles, but many of the software design companies have incredibly sparse official sites. I’m guessing it’s just a good policy to stay under the radar. You’ll need to do some online casino shopping to find the full scope of the video poker games Realtime Gaming has to offer. Since most virtual casino operations advertise their games prominently with no need of a download or a deposit, it’s all window shopping.