Video poker got its name due to the fact the player plays against the machine.
The player buts his put down and receives 5 cards to play with. A player can then discard unwanted cards and get new ones. If the player wins he is the paid in accordance with a scale of odds. Sufficiently good” normally means a pair of Jacks or far better – if the player’s final hand is worse than this, the stake is lost to the dealer.
The exact odds provided and also the minimum winning hand vary from game to game. Of course this can considerably affect the player’s chances of making a profit. In some games certain cards are wild – either the deuces or a joker added to the deck – and in some games there’s a cumulative jackpot which is won by a high hand such as a royal flush. The size of the available jackpot then also affects whether or not the game is worthwhile to play.