Casino games and poker are often considered (usually by outsiders) to be two faces of the same coin, and referred to by the common term “gambling”. In fact, they are two very different game types – poker is much more about strategy than luck – with different origins. Casino games were built with the single purpose of gambling, while in poker the pot is the prize you need to fight for, not rely on luck alone. In poker, skill and strategy are most of the times much more important than the right hand. Still, as gambling establishments were for a long time the places where poker was played (and they still are in many cases), the most played card game of the world can’t avoid being lumped together with others that have nothing to do with it. And casinos have their own share of the guilt, too, thanks to some games they offer their players.
What is casino poker?
You can’t try the top online casino games without running into at least a few that have “poker” in their name. The Euro Palace Casino, for example, has several variants of casino games based on or inspired by poker: video poker, three card poker, triple pocket hold’em poker, and their likes. Video poker is simply a single-player five card draw, with a paytable instead of a pot. Others, like three card poker, are casino versions of popular poker variants, keeping the basic rules of hand evaluation but eliminating all betting rounds and many other things that make poker an enjoyable game.
Why does casino poker exist?
Poker is not the right game for a casino. After all, it’s a relatively slow-paced game, where strategy and skill are more important than luck, which makes it stand out of the crowd of simple, fast-paced casino games relying almost exclusively on luck. So, a new breed of game was needed to attract poker fans to the gaming tables, one that apparently combines the best of the two worlds into a unique game. The result was casino poker – a set of games with rules similar to or inspired by poker that rely almost exclusively on luck, just like all other casino games.
Video poker is the big exception. Long before the first video poker machine was built in the 1970s, even before the first slot machine was built, a pair of American inventors created the first poker machine. And it was quite successful, too, but it had one issue: due to the large combination of possible winning combinations, they were unable to fit it with an automated payout mechanism (remember, we’re talking about the late 19th century). Today’s video poker games have successfully overcome this problem – video poker has become one of the most played casino games ever invented.
