Imagine the offbeat marriage of a video slot machine and traditional Poker, a card game that had its origins in the smoky card rooms of Mississippi riverboats and Wild West saloons and today enjoys the ultimate in 21st-century hipness.

What do you get? Video Poker, an on-screen game—whether played in a real-world or an online casino—in which you are dealt usually one hand of cards on which you strategize and bet in direct competition with the dealer/house (see The Rules, Games, and Payouts for other options and variations).

The fun of Video Poker can be found in the old-fashioned romance of playing a hand of cards; in its combination of chance and strategy; and in all the many different, intriguing, sometimes madcap variations of the ways in which you can play.