



Because video poker is basically the integration of poker and slot machines, its history can be traced back to the invention of the slot machines itself. Charles Fey is the father of the slot machine. His slot machines had numbers on it and not poker hands. These coin-operated machines were developed in the U.S. in the 1800s and were very popular in saloons and cigar stores, especially in San Francisco.

10. Low pair (two 10s or lower). Most new players keep a single jack or better rather than a low pair, and it's true that keeping that one high card will result in more frequent winning hands. But most of those will be 1-for-1 payoffs for a pair of jacks or better. Keeping the low pair will result in more two-pair, three-of-a-kind, full-house, even four-of-a-kind hands.

WinPoker more than met my expectations. Unless you are already near perfect at video poker, it will surely improve your game. You can adjust the pay table to match that of any machine you frequently play. The system has the look and feel of the casino game, with the edition that - in training mode - it will warn you if you are making a mistake, and at your discretion pop up a table showing the odds outcomes of your choice, the preferred choice, and other options. (You can either correct your original choice, or leave it unchanged to see how you would have fared without help.) At the end of your session, it will grade your overall performance, and show how many coins your mistakes cost you. WinPoker works as a game, of course, but it will also improve your play. My play has improved from about 90% accuracy when I started to about 98% now. (There are still some subtle distinctions (ranked here as "minor errors"), which I still don't grasp, but the dreaded "major error" message almost never appears now, unless I am playing tired.) I can attest that my sharpened skills have translated into better returns at the casino.
