The video poker variants generally offered by online casino software providers are the same. However, Realtime Gaming (RTG) offers some unique variants at its online casinos in addition to the common ones. In this article three of these RTG video poker variants are described.

7 Stud Poker is one of the few video poker variants based on stud poker. Most video poker games are based on draw poker in which players are dealt five cards and can replace any number of them to form the final hand. In stud poker games players are dealt seven cards in stages with intermediate betting possible. Ultimately they pick the five cards that form the best poker hand. In 7 Stud Poker players first make the ante bet of one to five coins. Then the first and third cards are dealt face up. Players have the option of raising the bet up to the level of the first bet or they can see the remaining cards without any additional stake. If they raise, then the fifth card is dealt. Again the players face the same two options. Again if they raise, then the sixth card is dealt. Next, whether they raise again or not, all the remaining cards are dealt. The best five card hand is automatically chosen and compared with the payout table. The payout table begins with three of a kind that pays out even money and goes up to royal flush that pays 25 to 1.

The next innovative RTG video poker variant is titled Mystery Bonus Poker. Mystery Bonus Poker is based on the standard Jacks or Better variant and is played in the same way. There are two main differences. Before the first hand is dealt the mystery hand ranking is displayed on the screen. If the player gets this hand ranking then the payout is enhanced. Therefore in many cases it would be prudent for the player to deviate from the normal strategy and try for the mystery hand ranking. In order to compensate for this bonus the normal Jacks or Better payout table is tweaked a bit. The 8-5 table is used instead of the 9-6 table. This means that full house pays 8 to 1 instead of 9 to 1 and flush pays 5 to 1 instead of 6 to 1. The enhancement in payouts is also not uniform. The enhancement is more for higher ranked hands.

The third innovative video poker variant at RTG online casinos is titled Pick ‘Em Poker. In this variant the initial card are dealt in a unique manner. Two cards are dealt face up. Then two stacks of three cards are dealt from which the player has to choose one stack to complete a five card poker hand. Only the top card in each of the stacks can be seen. The player has to make his choice based on the cards that can be seen. After the player makes his choice, the other stack is removed and all cards of the chosen stack are exposed. The payouts, if any, are made according to the payout table. The payout table begins with nines or better. The payouts for the hand rankings are unique to this game.

These three innovative video poker games are live at all RTG online casinos. TopCasinos recommends Aladdin’s Gold, Club World, High Noon and Win Palace.