I received an e-mail this week from a woman who was confused about video poker. She admitted that she knew very little about casino gambling but she had heard that video poker was a good game to play. She was going to the casino with friends and thought that since she had played some live poker in the past, she wondering if video poker would be the best game for her to play.

I explained to her that comparing video poker to live poker would be like trying to compare an aardvark to a giraffe. They are two distinctly different animals and other than the name they do not have much in common. Just because you know how to play live poker does not mean you will know how to play video poker and vice versa.

Video poker machines are slot machines that have a game based on the hierarchy of poker hands. In many casinos video poker machines make up about a quarter of the total slots machines on the floor. Like the other slot machines, they have a fixed payback return and are controlled by a random number generator. The differences between video poker and other slot machines is that you can tell the payback return by reading the pay table, and your strategy for deciding which cards to hold can affect the return.

Many casino games use the ranking of poker hands to determine a winner. Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker and Caribbean Stud Poker even have the word poker in their name but like video poker they should not be confused with the live poker games you will find in the poker room.

What all of these games do have in common is that they are games that use a strategy that can improve your chances of winning if you lean to play correctly. Whether you choose to play video poker or any of the other casino games, make sure you understand the game before you sit down to play.