Game Review: Aces and Faces Video Poker
If you like your video poker straight and to the point - and I do - you will really appreciate Aces and Faces, Microgaming's popular video poker game. Aces and Faces looks good and pays good - what more can you ask for from a video poker game?
How to Play Aces & Faces Video Poker
The basics of video poker are the usual - the game is played with a regular 52-card deck and there are no wild cards (like I said - this is no-frills video poker). You are dealt 5 cards to start with (after you bet), and you can discard any or all - any card you discard, you get to replace. Once you draw the machine figures out your hand and you are paid on the basis of the payout schedule. Since aces and face cards rule in Aces and Faces, four aces pay 80 coins if you bet one coin; that payout goes up to 400 coins if you bet the maximum 5 coins. Four jacks, queens or kings pay 40 coins for the minimum bet. Other 4-of-a-kind hands pay well, but not as much as the aces and "royal" cards.

One of the reasons to
love video poker is that you can
play with a strategy and win fairly consistently. This is true for Aces and Faces, as well, which has its own strategy because of the emphasis on aces and face cards. Video poker strategies determine for you when you should hold onto cards and when you should draw based on what cards appear in your original hand. The most important thing to know when you play video poker is what the
card rankings are in poker (it won't help if you don't know the difference between a straight and a flush), so read up a bit before you sit down to play.
Video Poker Strategy for Aces & Faces
According to the
Aces and Faces strategy, here are some examples of cards initial cards you should hold onto:
3 or 4 cards of a royal flush
3 or 4 cards of a straight flush or a regular flush
4 cards of a straight
2 high cards of the same suit (10 or higher)
Any pair
Any 1 or 2 unpaired face cards or aces
Betting in Aces & Faces
Part of the game's simplicity is the betting format - 1 coin can be from 5 cents to 5 dollars and so the maximum 5-coin bet can be from 25 cents to 25 dollars. Obviously, the payout for a winning hand will be larger if your bet is larger; the flip side of this, however, is that your money will go further if you stick to smaller bets.
That being said, it's always the most beneficial to bet the maximum number of coins even if your coin size is small - at 25 cents a hand you will still have the advantage of stretching your bank roll and still benefit from the maximum-bet payouts. Also - and I got burned here so beware - the Aces and Faces payout schedule may differ from game to game or site to site. Try to find the game with the best payout; a good gauge for this is the payout for a full house - don't settle for less than 40 coins! Try Aces and Faces at First Web Internet Casino for real money and real fun!