In poker you always play other, real, live people, but video poker is totally different. Here you do not play other people. Instead you'll be pitting you wits against a computer or a machine.

Unlike other slot machine games, winning isn't purely a matter of pure luck - there is a small element of skill and strategy involved. Perhaps that's why it's so popular.

This is how it works:

• First you place your bet by selecting a number of coins from a choice of denominations.
  
  
• Next, the computer or machine deals you a hand of five cards.
  
  
• You can now reject some, or all, of your cards. Obviously the decision as to which to keep and which to discard depends on the strength of your hand.
  
  
• Any cards you discard are immediately replaced by the computer, bringing the number of cards back up again to five. And that's basically it.

Whether you have a winning hand or not depends entirely on the payout scheme which should be clearly indicated, either on screen, or on the actual machine.

There are countless variants of video poker, although progressive poker is where you can win the most money.