Software: Microgaming · Score: 9.17/10
And speaking of experienced players, there are options that make things easier for those who consider themselves to be particularly savvy at the game, namely the "Expert Mode," which allows you, as the player, to set your own gaming strategy up, or establish "Autoplay," which facilitates automatic play which requires just a minimum of effort. For all players, one of the useful components is that the game can be set at any of four different speeds: Slow, Medium, Fast and Fastest. Full Review - All American Video Poker (9.17)
The biggest jackpot available is 4000 coins on a Royal Flush with five coins played. Winning hands also include a Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, 2 Pair and Jacks or Better.
A regular deck of 52 cards is used for each of the rounds of play, and it is shuffled before each and every game. There are no wild cards in All-American Poker.
The process is very simple - you click the (+) and (-) signs to increase or decrease the size or your bet. Clicking the "Bet One" icon increases the number of coins you bet by one, while clicking "Bet Max" affects the maximum wager. Then click "Deal." From there you will be dealt five cards, and then you make the decision as to which of the five cards to hold, by clicking on those cards. Then you click the "Draw" button, at which point the hand plays itself out.
A quick note - when you are playing in the "Autoplay" mode, there will be no need to worry about making the decision on which cards to keep and which cards to hold. What will happen is that the cards are automatically held according to the pre-determined "Optimal" strategy that comes along with Autoplay.
You have the option, upon achieving a winning hand, to "Double," in which four cards will be dealt face down, with a dealer's card face-up. You will then click one of the face-down cards. If it is of a higher value than the dealer's up-card, you win double the original payout. Then you can choose to go again.
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Game details
Nice, straight-forward and as fast as you want it. The graphics are crisp and nothing is too hard to see. If you are in doubt about payouts, you don't have to make another click - all the information about what Three of a Kind, Full House, Flush, etc. pays out for one coin through five coins is right in front of you. Plenty of options are readily available if you want to customize the experience. These options include Autoplay, stats and analysis, not to mention play "hints" and sound controls.
This is a good selling point for the game. There are a lot of different kinds of video poker; in fact, on some of them you could conceivably play up to 100 hands. All-American Poker was probably named that way because it is very basic, straight-ahead and easy for players of any level of ability or experience to understand. Just a quick glance over the rules, and you are ready to go.
The graphics are clear and vivid. They are also simple. Everything is big in this interface, so you can easily look at the payout table to see what your winning hand is worth. And you don't have to bend over your screen to see the cards you are dealt. Everything you need to play the game is neatly arranged at the very bottom of the interface, where the commands regarding betting and playing are located, along with options for both Regular Mode and Expert Mode.
When you develop a video poker game, you recognize that there are going to be players of different levels of experience and expertise who are going to be involved in playing it. So it is a big help if you can design it so that the beginners can play at a slow pace, while the "experts" get to play faster and put in more hands per hour. All-American poker has four different levels of speed for its game: Slow, Medium Fast and Fastest, so there is something to accommodate everyone. The speed is completely within the control of the player.
You can keep track of your statistics at any time, whether it be the hand-by-hand results, the summary of your wins, and the results that come from applying "Optimal" play strategy. Expert mode features Autoplay, with little or no interaction with the software, which will make all the plays for you automatically, for as long as you want or to end on an event, whether it be a jackpot win, or if wins or credits reach a certain amount. The "Double" option gives you the opportunity to multiply wins quickly, and you can even set Autoplay to automatically move you to the doubling option after a winning hand.
The fun factor has to be high when you construct a game that has appeal to players of all levels of ability, and include convenient options for the player. The fact is that All-American Poker does not necessarily have all the bells and whistles that might be characteristic of some other video poker games, but it makes itself accessible to everybody, which makes it a dead-on winner.