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Understanding Microgaming Reel Play Poker

Understanding Microgaming Reel Play Poker

Added: October 15, 2015

The leading online casino software provider Microgaming likes to innovate and has created a cross between a video slot and a video poker game titled Reel Play Poker. And as evidence of that it is listed under both Video Slots and Video Poker in the games menu. The winning combinations are not like symbols as in the usual slot games but poker hand rankings as in video poker games. Reel Play Poker is live at all Microgaming online casinos such as Platinum Play, All Jackpots and Spin Palace.

As in Microgaming online slots you first select the betting parameters. Reel Play Poker has 20 paylines and you follow the online slots dictum of activating all paylines. You can wager up to 20 coins per payline and select a coin size from 0.01 to 0.25. These choices should ideally be determined by your bankroll. Then elements of multi hand video poker take over. Five cards from a single deck are dealt in a demonstration area below the reels. You select which cards you want to hold.

The reels have the standard video slot configuration of 5x3. Paylines zigzag across the reels and are defined in the payout table as in slot machines. The thematic symbols are replaced by playing cards. The reels that correspond to the cards marked as held are first filled with those cards. Again you will notice the similarity to online multi hand video poker game. The remaining reels spin and are randomly filled with other cards. The final video poker hands are evaluated across all 20 paylines. In Reel Play Poker the 20 hands are formed with 15 cards. Therefore a card can be represented in more than one payline. This is different from multi hand online video poker where each card belongs to a single hand.

As of now there is only one variant of Reel Play Poker, which is based on Jacks or Better video poker. The payout table is the regular Jacks or Better video poker payout table. The payouts start with a pair of jacks that pay 1 coin per coin wagered on a payline. The highest payout is 800 coins per coin wagered for a royal flush. As in contemporary Microgaming slot games, the payout table adjusts for the number of coins wagered and displays the actual payouts. Winning combinations in the demo hand are automatically marked as held. One very important facet is that winning combinations need not occur from left to right. A pair of jacks will win no matter where the jacks land on an active payline.