A hundred years
ago if you had told the poker players floating down the Mississippi that in
only a few generations their beloved game of interplay and subterfuge would
be reduced down into a device roughly the size of an average headstone, they
probably would have accused you of witchcraft and given you your own
headstone. Back then Poker was, without exception, a social game. It would
have been unimaginable to think of playing poker without multiple others
sitting at the table bent on your manipulation. But it wasn't that poker
players back then wouldn't have enjoyed a little online video poker, the
reason why they would have been so weary of it was simply that the
technology for such a device was the stuff of magic not casinos.
The invention of online video poker highlights the power that technology
has, not only to change the way a casino game is played, but also how the
entire game is perceived. Previously people never would have dreamed of
playing poker by themselves against a computer, but once people started
actually playing Online Video Poker games the realization was quickly made
that you didn't actually need a table, a pile of chips, and a crowd of folks
to enjoy a little poker.
As it turns out the same state of mind and level of action can be perfectly
recreated within the design of a video poker game. The fact that you're
playing against a computer instead of a real person doesn't mean that you
don't have to know your cards, or that it's any easier to outwit your
opponent. The fact is that Online Video Poker offers its own unique set of
challenges and skill requirements that are much less important in live
poker. Unlike live poker, Video poker requires a much more comprehensive
understanding of the cards and the probability of certain hands. In live
poker the way most players gain an edge over their opponents is through
creating and perfecting a refined system of behaviors that can manipulate
opponents into believing certain things. With online video poker there is no
opponent to manipulate in this way. The computer does not care what
expression you have on your face when you look at your cards for the first
time or how much time it takes you to decide if you're going to raise. With
Online Video Poker the only thing the computer cares about is pure
probability which forces the video poker player to care about the same thing
if they’re going to win.
Online video poker demands that a player actually have the technical
knowledge of which cards turn up how often and the probability of making
different hands. If you've never played video poker, at first this may seem
a little disorienting.
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