Online Video Poker Games At Australian Online Casinos
After pokies, video poker is perhaps the most popular land based gambling pursuit in Australia. It is played in consoles on computer screens and does not require any dealers. You play at your own pace. The popularity has rubbed off at online casinos as well. All our recommended software providers have the common video poker variants like Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Joker Wild. Microgaming has by far the largest collection of video poker games. This section will focus, to the extent possible, on what is uniquely offered by each software provider rather than on what is common.
Microgaming online video poker casino games
Online video poker is conducive to multi-hand play. Microgaming has given the name Power Poker to its multi-hand video poker variants. Almost all the video poker variants are available for from 4 hands to 100 hands. There is one drawback in Microgaming Power Poker. The 4-hand and the 100-hand version of the same variant are classified as different titles. So if you want to change the number of hands you have to close one game and load another.
Level-Up Poker is a series of video poker games available uniquely at Microgaming that poses a greater challenge and more volatility. The games are played over four hands. These are not played simultaneously as in Power Poker, but one after another. You place the bets for all four hands up front. If you get a winning combination in the first hand you move to the second and so on. If you lose at any level you collect the amount won thus far but lose the wagers for the remaining hands. The payouts are successively doubled at each level. A win in the fourth level multiplies the regular payout 8x. Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Joker Poker are some of the video poker games in the Level-Up format.
Playtech online video poker casino games
Playtech also offers multi-hand video poker. Like in the case of Microgaming, most of its multi-hand titles are separate games. But it also offers Jacks or Better Multi-hand in which you can choose the number of hands from within the game.
There are two unique video poker titles in the Playtech portfolio. Pick-em Poker is structured differently from the normal online video poker variants. You will be dealt two cards face up and two stacks of three cards. In each stack only the top card can be seen. You have to pick up one of the stacks to go with your two single cards to make a five card poker hand. If you land a winning combination you get paid as per the payout table that begins with nines or better.
The other unique Playtech video poker variant is Two Ways Royal. It is so called because there are two ways in which a royal flush hand can be made. The Hi Royal Flush is the usual royal flush hand with suited cards from 10 to A. The Lo Royal Flush hand has suited cards from 2 to 6. The payout for both hands is the same. Two Ways Royals offers a slightly better average return than Jacks or Better.
NetEnt online Video Poker casino games
NetEnt does not give much importance to video poker. There are only four variants on offer and they are classified as Other Games in the software provider’s portfolio. We take this opportunity to explain the game play in video poker from NetEnt.
NetEnt video poker variants are multi-hand games. You can choose from 1, 5, 10 and 25 hands. As usual you must play 5 coins (level 5) in order to benefit from the jackpot payout for the royal flush. The coin value can be selected from AU$0.01 to AU$0.50. When you click the Deal button five cards will be dealt in the main hand area. Winning combinations will automatically be marked as held. In order to hold any of the other cards you click on them. When you click the Draw button two things happen. The held cards are placed in the same positions in all the remaining hands in multi-card games. The remaining cards are dealt to each hand from independent single decks. Each hand is compared with the payout table and payouts awarded. NetEnt video poker variants offer a Double Up feature. You have the option to gamble your winnings in this feature. If you correctly guess the colour of the card being dealt you double the payout. Otherwise you lose it.
