The cards are thrown.  You stare at the screen.  Your heart thumps idly in your chest.  King of Clubs, Jack of Diamonds, Three of Clubs, King of Hearts, and King of Spades.  A small smile crosses your lips as the sweat dries on your brow.  No need to hide your emotions from this Three of a Kind draw as the machine cannot see them anyway.  You quickly reach out and tap the hold button on each of the kings.  The Jack and Three spin away into oblivion, revealing a Nine of Diamonds and Ten of Clubs.  No help there, but the Three of a Kind will score you a nice three to one win.  This is the fast paced mano-a-machine action of Video Poker, and Real Dice has now brought it directly to the palm of your hand.

[Note: Before reading on, you should read my review of Real Dice World Launcher, which will give you an overview of the environment in which this game exists.]

Installation and Registration: There are two ways to download the game. First, if you have subscribed to the full Real Dice Service, then you can download it over the air using the Real Dice Launcher. Additionally, you can download the desktop installer and install it via ActiveSync. If you are not a Real Dice member yet, there is a limited trial which you can use to test out the game.

Video Poker Overview and Gameplay: Video poker is based upon the common poker game, Five Card Draw.  In fact, before the recent Texas Hold ‘Em craze, Five Card Draw and its cousin Seven Card Draw were arguably the most popular poker variations in most kitchen table games.

Each hand consists of two draws.  First, the computer will deal you five cards.  After examining the cards, you can elect to hold any number of them by tapping the cards you wish to keep.  Those which are not held will be replaced with new cards.  After both draws are complete, your hand will be tallied, and any winnings will be paid.  The typical poker hands apply:

• pair
• two pair
• three of a kind
• straight
• flush
• full house
• four of a kind
• straight flush

If you win a hand (which usually means getting a pair of Jacks or higher) then you will enter the bonus round.  Here, you can double your earnings by playing hi-lo against the dealer.  Five cards will be dealt.  One face up and four face down.  You must choose one face down card.  If it is higher than the dealers face up card then you double your winnings.  If it is lower then you lose the whole hand.  You can continue playing hi-lo until you either select to stop or you lose the round.

There are four variations of the game, each of which has a different minimum hand to win and a different payout scale.

• Jacks or Better is the basic game.  You will need to get a pair of Jacks or higher in order to win.
• In Deuces Wild, the twos are always used as wild cards.  Here, you will need at least three of a kind to win.
• Double Bonus is identical to Jacks or Better, however, there is an extra bonus payout if you build a hand with four Aces.
• Double Double Bonus is played like Double Bonus, however, various different Four of a Kind hands will score a bonus payout.

At any time during gameplay, you can tap the "i" button in order to see a table of payouts (above).

Gameplay is identical in both the single player and the online game.  Unlike many of Real Dice’s games, there is no option to play against other members of the community, although the Internet game does allow you to interact with them via the message center.  You will also tap into your online profile account, meaning that playing online can be a great way to build your account for use in other games, such as Texas Hold ‘Em.

Betting: There are two ways to control the level of betting in this game.  At the beginning, before you enter the game, you will be taken to the Game Creation Screen.  Here, you can determine the minimum value for each credit (1, 5, or 10).  Then, in the game, you can increase by your bet by multiples of the minimum you set.  By default, you will bet the predetermined minimum.  By pressing the green bet button, however, you can bet up to five times the minimum value (meaning that between the two screens, you can bet anywhere between 1 and 50 credits on each hand). 

Conclusion: Whether you are looking to wile away a few spare minutes or half a day on the couch, Real Dice Video Poker is the perfect game.  Gameplay is smooth, and Real Dice really seems to have perfected the most important element of the game, which is the appearance of randomness in dealing cards.  I thoroughly enjoyed testing all four modes of gameplay, both in single player and the Internet game.  Since each hand takes only a few seconds, which is a stark contrast from other games like MahJong, Sudoku, or Texas Hold’ Em Poker, for example, it is the ideal time waster whether you are standing in line at the DMV, waiting at a traffic light, or just becoming one with the couch.

Vital Statistics:

Name: Real Dice Video Poker

Platform: WM6

Also Available: WM2003SE and higher, Palm OS, Blackberry, Symbian, PC, Windows Mobile Smartphone,and more… 

Developer: Real Dice

Price: $6.95

Available From: Real Dice

                          JAMM Store

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