Whether you want to play one or just learn more about the mysterious video poker machine, we've got you covered. So what's all the fuss about, what exactly is this video poker machine?

Gaining a little bit of knowledge about the machine we're putting our money into may help stretch our budget, so it's worth looking at. The video poker machine itself is a pretty straightforward piece of engineering. Physically modeled after the slot machines that came before them, your typical video poker machine looks a lot like your typical video game console.

It's origins stemming from classic poker, though only loosely related by game-play, video poker is a logical creation: the simplest idea of how to play 'poker' against a machine. The mechanics are simple enough; just some circuitry and a video monitor. One part of that circuitry represents a random card selector (based on a random number generator, or RNG), another part the ranks of poker hands, and another part the rules for the specific version of the game. Combine them all with a pay-table and you've got yourself a video poker machine.

Some lingo you're likely to hear in video poker circles revolves around 'full pay' machines (in jacks or better, a 9/6 game). A full pay video poker machine is one that has a pay table that is the highest standard pay table available for that style of game. More simply, a full pay machine is one in which the payouts have not been altered by the casino to give them a larger than standard take. When evaluating a Jacks or Better pay table your attention should be on the payoff for the full house and flush. For one coin played, a full-pay Jacks or Better machine returns 9 coins on a full house and 6 coins on a flush. This designates the machine as a 9/6 Jacks or Better machine.