Video poker is one of the most popular categories of online casino games. One of the reasons for this is that video poker games have a very low house edge. It is true that this low house edge is contingent on optimum play, but playing optimally is not very difficult to learn. Another advantage that video poker games offer is the immense variety. Players can switch from one video poker game to another and thus alleviate the boredom that comes from playing the same game over and over again.

One of the ways in which variety is introduced in video poker games is by tweaking the payout table. The basic video poker game is Jacks or Better. This game is played with a standard deck of 52 cards and pays out when the player holds a hand that has a pair of jacks or a higher poker ranking hand. One of the most common ways of introducing variation is by having wild cards. Wild cards are those that can take any suitable value so as to complete a paying poker hand. The simplest way to introduce a wildcard is to have a joker in the pack, which can take the value of any suitable card. The video poker variant based on this is called Joker Poker. It is played with a deck of 53 cards, the extra card being a joker. Because of this advantage offered to players the payout table begins with a pair of kings.

Four wild cards are much more fun than a single wild card. Deuces Wild is the video poker variant. All the deuces act as wild cards in this video poker game. Because there are four wild cards the advantage to the player is phenomenal. This is countered by beginning the payout table with three of a kind poker hand ranking. Deuces wild allows for other interesting variations in the payout table. A hand with four deuces has a hefty payoff of 200 to 1. It is also possible to have five of a kind with the fifth card being a deuce. Other common variants of a video poker are Aces and Faces, Deuces and Joker Wild, Double Double Bonus Poker, Louisiana Double Poker and Tens or Better.

Variation in video poker games has also been introduced by altering the basic structure of the games. The most common variation in this regard is the introduction of multi-hand video poker games. Players can play from four hands to hundred hands simultaneously. Some online casino software providers have different games for different number of hands. Other online casino software providers allow players to choose the number of hands in the video poker game.

A recent innovation in video poker was introduced by Microgaming. It is called Level Up video poker. Instead of playing four hands simultaneously, players wager on four hands sequentially. They can proceed to the next hand only if they win the previous one. Each next hand offers the player doubled payouts. So far the variants offered in this format are Aces and Faces, Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild and Joker Poker.

Progressive jackpot games are also offered on a video poker. Usually the progressive jackpot amount is won if players draw a royal flush with maximum coins wagered. Progressive jackpot video poker games have known to pay out tens of thousands of dollars. Some of the popular progressive jackpot video poker games are SupaJax from Microgaming, Super Jackpot from Cryptologic and Megajacks from Playtech.