The History of Video Poker
Video poker concept started to take place in late 1800s when Charles Fey invented first slot machine called Liberty Bell Slot Machine. He then introduced draw option in his slot machine in early 1901 which made it very popular. This feature allows holding selected drums while other drums spin during second spin. This added gambling nature to his machine.
In early 1900s very primitive kind of slots machines were there. Since new feature added to first slot machine made it very popular, other manufacturers also jumped into the business, so Charles fey was not the sole maker of slot machines. The other company Sittman and Pitt which was based on Brooklyn, New York started making best slot machines. The popularity of the slot machines was increased so much that there more orders and less supply. There were often backlog of orders for the machine.
Since poker has become quite popular during that time, this increased the popularity of the slot machines. Slots machines became so popular that they can be seen in almost all pubs and cigarettes. The draw feature made it more gambling machine and poker player started exploring it more as gambling. Though gambling was not legal at that time in US so winners of the slots were rewarded free drinks or cigarettes.
These slot machines were often called “One-armed Bandits” since after inserting one coin and pulling the handle operate the machine. After pulling the handle player have to wait for the drums to stop and when drums stop, they will choose which drum to hold and which drum to spin again. This was how the slot was played with those early slot machines. Those machines consists of five drums which spin when somebody pull the handle after inserting the coin. That time players had the impression that machines have all the cards whereas the ten of spades and jack of hearts were left by the machine, in order to take advantage over the players winning chances. Despite this entire shortcoming people still played with these slot machines. This laid the foundation for video poker as we know today.
The first electronic gambling machine was made by Nevada Electronic in 1964. From here different gambling machines were developed and which open the gates for different games like roulette, dice etc. Initially these machines were black and white but later with technology advancement color screen were soon introduced making these machines more popular than ever.
Finally in 1975 the first video poker machine was introduced by Fortune Bell Company. It was simple video bell slot machine consisting of television sort of screen and solid state processing unit. This new video poker machine was not accepted as predicted so draw option was introduced in the machine and it was accepted with open hands. In draw poker machine there other options like fold, draw, etc was inducted which it made it more popular than anticipated. Again like earlier demand was more than supply.
In 1979 SIRCOMA introduced their Draw video poker machines which made them very popular in International gaming world. With the advancement in technology these machines were updates from time to time. Players opted video poker machine over playing poker on table because the investment required to play video poker was much less then the other one. People also felt less intimidating than table game. Since these machines operate with coins so they were soon available in pubs, railway station, airports, etc.
In 1990s with the coming of internet online video poker was introduced. In no time video poker became the most popular casino game in online casinos. Microgaming technology improved its quality. There was all the excitement like that of original machine game but only difference was that you can play it with comfort of you home. Moreover it is less intimating than table games.
