Video Poker Terminology

The game of video poker has many variants and within those, you find unique terminology to describe the cards that are dealt and the hand you hold. The strategies applied will also no doubt vary from one Online Casino to another. Our strategy cards make use of some of this terminology to specifically describe a hand to hold and a hand to fold. You will need to be au fait with the terminology to use the strategy properly.

Open - A hand that has from 2 to 4 cards is called open when the cards you hold are consecutive. Take for example a 4, 5, and 6. It's open because you don't need cards between those you hold to complete the straight.
Closed - That's right, you are now talking about 2 to 4 cards where an "inside" card is needed to complete the straight. 4, 5, 7 is an example. A 3 or 8 are the one requirement but you will have to have the 6 before you are in with a shout.
Double - You can also have 2 gaps in your hand of 2 to 3 cards. A hand of say 3, 4, 7 is a good example. Here you would need the 5 and 6 to complete the straight.
Triple - In an extreme case you could find yourself holding 2 cards with 3 gaps between them. An example here would be 10, A. You need the J, Q, an K to complete the hand.
Aces High or Aces Low. Pretty simple really, the ace plays 2 roles in straights. Either the Ace in A, 2, 3, 4, 5 or the Ace in 10, J, Q, K, A
Sequential Royal. 10, Q, J, K, A of the same suite is a Royal Flush but it is NOT a sequential Royal. 10, J, Q, K, A is a sequential Royal.
Kicker - In the normal course of video poker, a kicker is a usually a high card that is held in the hope of raising a pair. In our strategy though the kicker is a card that has special relevance to a 4 of a kind hand.

Our strategy charts present the strongest hand first and the weakest (draw 5) hand last. In some cases the charts are simple but with wild card games, the variations are many and the strategy table more difficult to manage. Some of these games are rewarding though so it will pay you to learn the strategy table.

When going through the strategy table, please use your imagination. We can't write everything out or the table would be ugly and difficult to use. If we are holding 10, J, Q to the Royal it follows of course that we want the K and A of that suite to be dealt. We also define the range of cards that suit the situation. I we require a high card to be included then it must be included and if we say you need 2 of them, so be it. If we want a range of say 8 through to kings then that is what must be held to qualify for that strategy.

Still have questions? Mail us at irene <at> terrimendous.com and we will see to it that your questions are answered.

The terminology of the video poker game