The enormous growth of the online and mobile gambling market has created fierce competition between all players in former land-based industries, whether they be casinos, Bingo halls or lottery providers. This has led to a great deal of crossover between sectors that previously had a single focus; casino sites will now provide Bingo games and lotteries, for example, while many Bingo sites offer a full suite of casino games on the side.
Mobile play has expanded the choices even further, with site coding a variety of games for play on specific devices. So iPad users, for example, can play iPad video Poker side games on sites dedicated to table games, slots, or Bingo. Mobile platforms have also done away with a major irritation of land-based casinos: waiting for a free machine when the venue is busy. The almost unlimited capacity of online play means that enthusiasts can play iPad video Poker side games whenever the mood takes them.
The Basics of Video Poker
Video Poker should not be confused with digital Poker play online; they are two distinct games. Online Poker, in all its variations, is basically a table game rendered digitally, played with cards dealt from a single deck.
The player has to bet against other players or the house, bluffing and calling bluffs, and hope for the strongest Poker hand at the table in order to win. Video Poker has more in common with slot machines such as with iPhone real pokies; it was designed at the outset as a digital game, with five spinning reels containing a selection of the top cards in a normal deck.
Players place a single bet, and in contrast to the betting rounds in standard poker, they generally get one chance per bet to “hold” promising cards, while spinning the other reels again to try to improve their overall combination. Winning online combinations, from pairs up to a straight flush, are paid out according to pay tables that are readily available to the players on screen.
iPad Video Poker Side Games’ Advantages
The iPad is an enormously popular device to access all sorts of entertainment options, because it combines the “play anywhere, anytime” convenience of a mobile phone with a larger screen that facilitates easier game play. Graphics and sound effects are rendered by state-of-the-art software that gives a genuine “casino” feel to play, and the high-level encryption Apple uses gives iPad video Poker side games a level of security that players can enhance with responsible settings and behaviour, so their private banking information stays safe.
Of course, iPads by default cannot run any Java Flash games, because of Apple’s security concerns regarding the platform, but the intense competition within the mobile gaming industry means that the best operators also provide versions of all their games coded in HTML5 specifically for Apple devices. So finding compatible versions of iPad video Poker side games that play optimally is simply a matter of doing a little homework, and then deciding whether the player prefers to download a free app, or play directly on the site via their Safari browser.