Albeit it's European origins, poker can be considered a
true "All American" gambling game. What started
as a simple five-card game evolved into many variations,
up to today's popular Video Poker. Video Poker, or Draw
Poker, is played the same way that poker is played. The
dealer uses a single 52-card deck with no Joker, and the
deck is reshuffled after each hand. Odds in Video Poker
depend on player's ability. There is an element of skill
in making the best decisions, of which cards to keep,
which, unlike Slot Machines, will determine whether and
how much you can win. The player is dealt one five-card
poker hand. After the first draw, which is automatic, you
may hold any of the cards and draw again, by pressing the
'Deal/Draw' button, to replace the cards that you haven't
chosen to hold (to hold a card simply click on it and a
"Hold" sign will appear). All winning hands and
their payoffs are listed on the machine (at the top of the
screen) and explained below. The object is to get the best
possible combination so that you earn the highest payoff
on the bet you placed. Our casino uses $0.25, $1 and $5
slots, up to five-coin bets each. Choose your denomination,
either as Player or as Dealer, and start playing.
Playing Poker
In order to play you must first insert credits into the
Video Poker machine. You do this by clicking on the $5,
$25 or $100 buttons on the lower right side of the screen.
You can also click on the Coin Slot to the right of the
'Deal/Draw' button to insert one coin at a time. Choose
the amount you wish to bet by pressing the 'Bet One' or 'Bet
Max' buttons. Pressing the 'Bet Max' button places 5
credits in the "Bet" text box and automatically
deals the first draw. Pressing the 'Bet One' button places
one credit in the "Bet" text box up to a maximum
of 5 credits. Once there are credits in the "Bet"
text box the 'Deal/Draw' button lights up and can be
pressed to deal the cards. After the first draw you may
keep any of the cards you want by clicking on them (a
"Hold" sign will appear on the cards you wish to
keep). After you have decided which cards to keep, press
the 'Deal/Draw' button to replace the cards you decided to
discard. Winnings are determined according to the winning
combinations that are illustrated in the Payout Table at
the upper part of the screen. If you have a winning hand
the corresponding row to your winning combination will
light up on the Payout Table. If there are any credits in
the machine you can cash them all out by pressing the
'Cash Out' button. This will remove the bets and credits
from the "Bet" and "Credit" text boxes
and return them to your Balance.
Winning Combinations
Jacks or Better:
A pair pays off only if the cards in the pair are Jacks,
Queens, Kings, or Aces. Lower pairs do not pay off.
Two Pair:
Two sets of pairs of the same card denomination (for
example: Q,Q,3,6,6).
Three of a Kind:
Three cards of the same denomination (for example:
K,K,K,Q,10).
Straight:
Five consecutive denomination cards of different suit (for
example: 6,7,8,9,10. An Ace can be the starting card or
the ending card - A,2,3,4,5 or 10,J,Q,K,A ).
Flush:
Five non-consecutive denomination cards of the same suit (for
example: 2,5,10,J,A and all cards of the same suit -
Spades, Hearts, Clubs or Diamonds).
Full House:
A set of three cards of the same denomination plus a set
of two cards of the same denomination (for example:
K,K,K,A,A).
Four of a kind:
Four cards of the same denomination (for example:
7,7,7,7,J).
Straight Flush:
Five consecutive denomination cards of the same suit (for
example: 5,6,7,8,9 and all cards of the same suit - Spades,
Hearts, Clubs or Diamonds).
Royal Flush:
Five consecutive denomination cards of the same suit,
starting from 10 and ending with an Ace (for example:
10,J,Q,K,A and all cards of the same suit - Spades, Hearts,
Clubs or Diamonds).
Message - This indicates whether 'You are the
Player' or whether 'You are the Dealer'.
Opponent - This tells you the name (or nickname) of
your current opponent.
Last Round - This tells you how much you've won or
lost in the previous round.
Credit Points - This is your current Credit Points
balance. As Player, you accumulate 1 Credit Point on every
dollar you place as a bet. As Dealer, 1 Credit Point is
deducted for every 1 dollar bet against you (see example
below).
Fun Balance / Balance - This is your current Fun /
Real-Money Balance (in US dollars).
Commission - When playing as Dealer, you pay a
commission of 1.5% on the total bets placed against you (when
playing as Player you do not pay commissions), see example
below.
General Options
Back - Pressing 'Back' returns you to the Options
Screen.
'?' (Help) - Pressing 'Help' opens the Help screen
relevant to the room you're currently in. In this case,
Video Poker.
'$' (Cashier) - Pressing '$' opens the Cashier
screen.
Timer - This is the circle at the bottom-right
corner of the screen. On every round, you have 40 seconds
to make your decisions when playing as Player, and 35
seconds to make your decisions when playing as Dealer. The
Timer indicates how much time you have left before
reaching the time limit. If you haven't finished making
your decisions during the specified time limit, you will
exit the table.
BeTheDealer Casino
lets you play either as Player or as Dealer. Playing as
Dealer is optional and is not mandatory. If you do not
wish to play as Dealer, you can play the traditional role
of the Player, knowing you can rely on the fairness and
credibility of BeTheDealer Casino.
Video Poker Text Boxes
Payout - This tells you how many credits you've won
on the current round.
Credits - Tells you how many credits are currently
in the machine. The number of credits depends on the
selected Video Poker denomination (for example, $5 equals
1 credit in the $5 machine, 5 credits in the $1 machine
and 20 credits in the $0.25 machine).
Bets - This is your current bet (between 0 and 5).
Game Options
Cash Buttons : $5, $25 and $100
Pressing the Cash buttons inserts credits into the machine.
The amount of credits depends on the machine's selected
denomination (pressing the $5 Cash button in the $1
machine inserts 5 credits, etc.).
Coin Slot
Clicking on the Coin Slot to the right of the 'Deal/Draw'
button inserts 1 credit at a time into the machine.
Deal/Draw
After you've entered your bet into the machine, press
'Deal/Draw' in order to deal the first 5 cards. After you
decide which cards you want to keep, press 'Deal/Draw'
again to replace the cards you wanted to discard.
Bet One
Pressing 'Bet One' adds 1 credit to the "Bet"
text box up to a maximum of 5.
Bet Max
Pressing 'Bet Max' inserts 5 credits to the "Bet"
text box and automatically deals the hand.
Cash Out
If you still have any credits or bets in the machine,
pressing 'Cash Out' returns them to your balance.
Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden
disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with
such incidents in a manner that our clients will be
protected from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the
possibility of intentional disconnections and/or system
abuse.
Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the player
placed credits in the "Credit" or "Bet"
text boxes and the player has not yet pressed the 'Deal/Draw'
button, then the credits are returned to the player's
Balance.
Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the player
pressed the 'Deal/Draw' button, but before the player had
a chance to select the cards to be held, the round is
considered as if the player had selected to hold all the
cards. If that hand had a winning combination, the player's
Balance is credited accordingly.
After connection is re-established the Player can enter
the "History" page and see the results of the
last round ("History" is available for Money
mode only).
BeTheDealer Casino
offers you the unique option of playing the role of the
Dealer. This option increases your chances of winning,
since you gain some of the favorable odds reserved for the
casino. At the end of every round the casino takes a
commission of 1.5% of the total bets bet against the
Dealer.
Example
A Dealer chooses to play in Video Poker Machine II. This
means that the Dealer meets the minimum requirements for
playing in this machine type: a minimum of 5 Credit Points
and a minimum balance of $510. The system then matches a
Player to the Dealer and after the Dealer 'Approves' the
next round, the Player places his/her bets in the machine.
Let's say the Player plays with a Bet of 4 credits. This
means the player has inserted 4 credits into the machine
as his/her bet (for a total bet of 4*1 = $4). The Player
then presses 'Deal/Draw' and is dealt the first 5 cards.
The Player receives the following as his/her first cards:
J,3,5,3,9 of the corresponding suits: Diamonds (J), Spades
(3), Spades (5), Hearts (3), Hearts (9). The Player
decides to keep his/her pair of 3's and discards the rest
of the cards. After the second hand is dealt the Player
has 6,3,4,3,8 of corresponding suits: Spades (6), Spades
(3), Diamonds (4), Hearts (3), Spades (8). The Player
doesn't have a winning combination since he must reach
Jacks or better. The Player loses his/her bet of $4. Since
the bet against the Dealer was $4, the casino takes a
commission of 1.5%*4 = $0.06, which means the Dealer wins
4-0.06 = $3.94 on this round. The casino's edge over the
player in Video Poker is about 4.5% (bear in mind that
this edge is how the casino makes a profit on Video Poker)
so as the Dealer you actually gain an edge of about 3%.
Minimum Credit Points and Balance You can play as Dealer once you have accumulated
enough Credit Points and in addition you need to have
enough money in your Balance, according to the game's
limits described in the Game Options page.
The Minimum Balance required is a bit higher than the
total winnings of the Player in a given round, which are:
5(Maximum number of credits in the machine) * (Video Poker
denomination: $0.25, $1 or $5) * 99(Maximum number of
credits that can be won) + 1.5%(Casino commission) * ( 5(Maximum
number of credits in the machine) * (Machine Denomination:
$0.25, $1 or $5) )
Game Options
"Approve" Button / 'Auto-Approve' Feature
When playing as Dealer, before each round commences you
must 'Approve' the next round. After you approve the
round, the Player can place his/her bets and play the
round. The 'Auto-Approve' feature lets you automatically
approve the next rounds, without having to approve every
round individually.
Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden
disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with
such incidents in a manner that our clients will be
protected from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the
possibility of intentional disconnections and/or system
abuse.
Should a disconnection occur after the Dealer pressed the
'Approve' button, play will continue until the Player has
finished his/her turn. This has no effect on the Dealer,
since the Dealer is played automatically according to the
rules of the game.
After connection is re-established the Dealer can enter
the "History" page and see the results of the
last round ("History" is available for Money
mode only).
