History of Video Poker

Where Did Video Poker Come From?

Video poker was first sighted back in the 1970s when the computer was in its infancy. Casinos were eager to take advantage of new technologies and with the conversion of slots to electronic processors, game manufacturers wanted to create an ‘all digital’ game.

Thus video poker was born, and the earliest recorded version, was known as Draw Poker. This dealer-game slowly became more and more popular as players found it a great deal easier to play, and it allowed for people to ‘learn’ the basics about hands etc. without being intimidated by playing at a poker table.

Essentially, video poker is the evolution of the ‘classical’ slot machine. Way back when, in the 1890s, slot machines were based around playing cards as well. The earliest incarnation of video poker was actually – a slot machine.

Slots and Video Poker

Since that time, slots and video poker have held a close relationship. Some may even call them siblings, as many slot machines were based to some degree on poker, based on the same hands and the same games that many people loved during the time. Believe it or not, in 1901, the first ever skill-based video poker game was invented. It didn’t involve microprocessors or computers, but instead it had a ‘hold’ feature. It was this ‘hold’ feature that was to make the game of video poker so popular.

Fast Forward

Back into the 1970s, the electronic game of video poker evolved into Draw Poker. This was the dawn of the modern game of video poker and machines were to say the least, unsightly and huge.
However, as time moved on, more casinos realized the popularity of the machines, and they were growing rapidly from the limited placements along the Las Vegas strip.

Video poker soon grew to be tremendously famous, almost as popular as slot machines, and when the first progressive slot machine was invented, its creators saw that there was also a market for progressive video poker. Thanks to its cult
following, progressive video poker did not only become highly successful, but also a revolution in online gaming.

Today’s Video Poker

Video Poker today has grown in popularity. There are now many, many variations of the game with the most popular variations being “Jacks or Better,” “Deuces Wild” and even “Double Bonus.”

Thanks to developments in technology, video poker is now tremendously fun and enjoyable. It also requires a degree of skill if you want to beat the house.

Not many people will tell you this, but video poker is actually one of those few games in which you CAN beat the house. Whilst it does take in excess of 2,000 spins, with many variations of the games if you know the correct strategy, you can beat the house with payouts of around 100.1%.

It is not a lot, but it is definitely the difference between breaking even and going home broke!

But you didn’t hear it from us, right?