Use the Auto Hold Feature in Video Poker

Tip Category: Video Poker

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When playing online casino games, players look for lots of fun, and hope for wins. Most games can be played better when the most optimal strategy possible is used. Some online casinos help their players out with this in certain games, such as video poker.

Video poker is somewhat similar to slot games in that it is played on reels. There are five reels, and the player is "dealt" five cards. The aim of the game is to get the best ranking poker hand according to the rules of the specific video poker game. In a normal video poker game, one that does not have the auto hold feature, the player will click on whichever cards s/he wants to keep, and then presses on "draw" to change the other cards by spinning the reels.

Video poker games that have the auto hold feature operate in the same way, except that the player does not need to choose which cards to freeze in place, since the auto play feature will choose which cards to keep according to the optimal strategy for the specified video poker game.

While using auto play may help players to win more while playing video poker, it does take the choice away from the player. Should a player be an expert and know the optimal strategy for the form of video poker they are playing, they will not need the auto play feature. For those who do not know the optimal strategy for each variant of video poker, using the auto play feature may be just what they need.

Not only will players win more often when using the auto play feature, they can also use it as a tool to learn better betting strategy for video poker games. Players can watch the optimal choices that the software makes in order to learn how to make similar decisions should they decide not to use the auto play feature, or if they might be playing in an online casino that does not offer the auto play feature.

Microgaming is one of the online casino software providers that offer the auto hold feature in their Viper software-powered Power Poker video poker versions. Auto hold, however, in the default game, is switched off. Players who wish to use the auto hold feature will need to activate it by going through the games menu to turn it on.

Even though you do lose some control of how the game will turn out when choosing auto hold, it certainly seems to be the best choice to make, since the outcome will be the best that it can be.