Over Poker - A New Video Poker Format

Published on: August 13, 2010 

Over Poker is a new video poker game developed by the online gaming software provider Cryptologic and on offer at InterCasino. It is like a breath of fresh air for video poker players. The game of video poker was becoming boring with players mechanically selecting which cards to hold according to well defined systems and clicking the Draw button to finish the game. Over Poker introduces more elements of strategy and gives players more control over their cards.

The game begins differently. Only two cards are dealt face up in the beginning. For each card the player has to choose one of three options. If the player discards a card it is immediately replaced. The player can shift the card upward. In this case the card is moved to the higher level. Whenever a new level is started a fresh wager is taken from the player and the new level will be treated as an independent hand. When the card is shifted upward a replacement card is dealt. No action ensues if the player decides to hold the card. These options are not available on replacement cards.

The final three cards are dealt one at a time. Each time the player exercises his move fresh cards are dealt as indicated earlier. If the lowest playing level has five cards on which the player has acted then payouts for that level are determined. If a new level has been started then the next card is dealt on that level, otherwise the game is over.

The payouts begin with jacks or better but players have to keep two things in mind while formulating their Over Poker strategy. Every new level costs players an extra wager and therefore it would be counter productive to start new levels indiscriminately. The mechanics of the game gives the player an advantage but this is neutralized by the payouts in the payout table. In Over Poker three of a kind pays out at 2 to 1 as against 3 to 1 in Jacks or Better. Similarly flush pays 5 to 1 in Over Poker as against 6 to 1 in Jacks or Better, full house pays 5 to 1 in Over Poker as against 9 to 1 in Jacks or Better and four of a kind pays 20 to 1 in Over Poker as against 25 to 1 in Jacks or Better.

Players can wager only one coin per game and the coin size varies from 0.25 credits to 100.00 credits. There are some visual improvements in Over Poker as compared to the standard versions of video poker. Apart from the usual customization options that Cryptologic offers players can choose from one of three skins that set up the background on the screen. The first skin gives the appearance of army camouflage fatigues, the second skin gives a metallic fabrication appearance and the third skin gives an elegant wooden display. Another feature will be useful to new video poker players who yet have difficulty in relating the poker hand names to the cards. Moving the cursor over the hand names in the payout table creates a pop up display of the typical poker hand.

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