Video poker is a fast-paced game that you play on a machine that looks much like a slot machine. Most of the games today are variations on five-card draw poker. A random number generator constantly shuffles the deck until you hit the button that deals the cards. 

Unlike online poker, you don’t have the option to play against other players. Your goal is to make as high a hand as possible. It is fairly straightforward, but you can make some costly mistakes. 

You don’t max out your bets

Video poker offers some good house edge percentages. This gives you a good reason to play maximum coins. Experienced players usually play maximum coins when playing games like Better Video Poker or 9/6 Jacks because of the outstanding balance of payout and house edge. If you hit Bet Max, the machine deducts five credits and deals the hand.    

If you have a very tight bankroll, you may need to be more cautious, but if you have the budget to ride out the swings, you should max out your bets. When playing poker, it is natural to go for the maximum owing to the charm of the casino game, but you should show more wisdom than instincts.

You play too many hands

It’s important to know how many hands you play in an hour. If you play too fast, you will tend to lose more money. An average poker player usually plays about 500 hands per hour. Skilled players can push this number up considerably and may even play more than 1000 hands per hour. You may be more successful playing live casino games like live poker than playing video poker hands too quickly. 

You miss out on small wins by chasing the big ones

A frequent mistake inexperienced video poker players often make is to chase big wins. They think they have the opportunity to hit a really strong hand and so they discard an already-made hand. Staying with the lower-value hand is the best decision you can make in most cases. 

It’s much riskier going for the big win, and you may lose money. Remember that the odds of getting a Royal Flush in a typical video poker game are around 40,000 to 1. Ensuring online safety is important when playing any casino games online, and going for smaller wins may be more rewarding than chasing big ones.  

You play the wrong video poker games

Video poker has many variations. Some of the machines pay more than others. Playing a game with a low RTP (return to player) can add up to a fairly large amount over time. You need to view a game’s pay table to choose one with a high RTP.  

Playing the best video poker machines skillfully can offer odds that rival any table game. Casinos don’t tend to lose money on video poker machines because most players aren’t skilled enough to play at the optimal level.