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Video Poker Casino Games
Video
Poker Casino
Game
by Adel Awwad
Video
Poker is simply a
combination
of two popular forms of
gambling: the slot machine
with the poker game.
Winning a game of Video
Poker involves a
combination of player
skill
with
genuine luck, making it a
favorite with players.
The
game of poker is
thought
to have originated back in
1830, where it is recorded
as having been
played
by French immigrants
living in New Orleans.
Video Poker uses a version
of the game called
five-card draw poker.
Meanwhile, the
coin-operated
card
machine (known
affectionately as a
"slot") was originally
invented in
the
late 19th century, with
poker machines appearing
in San Francisco in
1890.
These machines were very
basic by today's
standards, using real
cards
rather
than symbols.
The
machines declined in
popularity
throughout the first half
of the 20th century.
Economic difficulties
combined
with the limited
technology of the machines
themselves meant that
people
just weren't interested in
playing anymore. A very
primitive electronic
poker machine was released
in 1964 but achieved only
moderate success.
It
wasn't until the mid-1970s
that
the Video Poker machine as
we know it today became
available. Advances
in technology meant that a
central processing unit
(CPU) could be
installed
inside the machines to
give them a "brain",
whilst a monitor
transmitted
the action to the player.
Meanwhile,
casino operators searched
for new high-profit games,
and the combination of a
slot machine with
the
more traditional game of
five-card draw poker
proved to be a winning
combination
of the old and new. The
first Video Poker machine
was built in 1976 by
Bally Manufacturing. It
was black and white only,
but a color version
followed
just eight months later,
released by the Fortune
Coin Company. Over the
next few years, computer
chips became cheaper to
mass produce, and more
casinos introduced Video
Poker machines as they
became more financially
viable. A version called
Draw Poker was released in
1979 by a company
now
called IGT, and it
achieved unheralded
success.
Video
Poker really took off in
the
early 1980s where it
became popular in casinos
across Las Vegas.
Players
found themselves far less
intimidated by a machine
than they were when
sitting down at a table in
front of others. The
popularity of the game
has steadily increased
during the last
quarter-century and it can
now
be
found in the majority of
casinos around the world,
as well as in bars
and
on the Internet.
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