Video poker has three consecutive stages: bet, deal and draw. The player selects how many coins to bet, cards are dealt, additional cards are drawn and the resulting hand is evaluated.
Betting
When a new round starts, the BET ONE and BET MAX buttons light up and the player uses them to place the bet. The Video Poker machines usually accept up to 5 coins. With each click on the BET ONE button, the wager is increased by one coin and the column of the payout table that corresponds to the number of coins is highlighted.
When the required number of coins is selected, the player presses the DEAL button. This instructs the casino program to deal new cards for this round. The player may also press the BET MAX button, which will automatically bet the maximum number of coins and deal new cards.
When the Hot click option is enabled, pressing the right mouse button is the same as clicking on the BET MAX button.
Dealing
After new cards have been dealt, face-up, the player selects those cards that s/he wishes to keep (hold). The remaining cards will be discarded and replaced by new ones. The player can either click on the HOLD button below the card that should be held, or directly on the card. The selected cards are marked with a light frame with the title HELD on the card top. Another click on the HOLD button or directly on the card will deselect the card and the highlighted frame will disappear.
If the dealt cards contain a winning combination, the corresponding line in the payout table will be highlighted and if the auto hold option is enabled, the winning cards will be held automatically selected.
Drawing
Once all cards to be held are selected, the player clicks on the DRAW button. Cards that are not held will be turned face down and a new card will be drawn for each one of them. When all new cards are drawn, the resulting hand is finished and the casino program determines if it contains a winning combination according to the payout table. If the hand is a winning one, all winning cards light up whereas have won. The winning combination, if any, is highlighted in the payout table and the highlighted number of win coins will be added to the player's account balance. Note: The fields in the payout table denote the number of coins won, not a dollar amount, so on a $0.25 machine, the win of 8 means winning $2.00.
