A microchip has a great impact on whether you will be a winner or
loser. The manner in which you play your hands is also of importance,
but it is the computer chip commonly referred to as the RNG (Random
Number Generator) which provides the opportunity for you to either
make the intelligent play or botch the attempt. To simplify, think
of the Video Poker machine as a computer. It would be good to do so
because that's exactly what it is. Think about the computer you have
at home or the office. It is programmed to do certain chores. The
basic hardware is in there, but it needs instructions in order to
perform. That's why you purchase software. Within certain parameters,
the computer will do whatever you ask. You can open one program, let
it run,then open another one without interfering with the work of
the first. When you print a document, the computer sends the appropriate
information to the printer, then continues to work. It does not need
to wait until the printer is finished. Same idea with the Video Poker
machine, except that the software is designed only for that particular
Video Poker game. The computer is programmed to generate every possible
poker hand, over and over again. You think in terms of minutes or
hours. The computer works in nanoseconds. In the time is takes for
you to request a hand, the computer may have gone through every possible
combination a hundred times.
It is not necessary for any of us to understand how all of this magic
occurs, but it is interesting nonetheless. Each card of the deck is
represented in the computer by a symbol. The computer is instructed
to constantly mix and churn the symbols so that all combinations are
random. Then, at the precise instant that you make a specific request
(like click the left mouse button), the computer flashes whatever
symbols it is juggling at that moment onto your video screen. To the
computer the symbols which represent cards may look like @&#+%.
But when they appear on the screen the symbols look like the Ace of
Hearts, the Ten of Hearts, the Jack of Diamonds, the Queen of Spades,and
the Three of Clubs. Kind of like part of the computer is a universal
translator. It generates the symbols in Videopokerese, but displays
them as pictures of specific cards that we humans can understand.
If you are fortunate enough to request a hand at precisely the exact
nano-second when a great one is being created, you will be an automatic
winner. Or, the computer may supply you with several alternatives
... it may provide you with cards which create a multiple choice question,
the answer to which could be a, b, c, d, or none of the above.
