From Pokerati
Trust us, they’re not the same! First and foremost, it all boils to down to whom you’re playing.
In a traditional game of poker, even online, you’re putting up bets against other players. You’re trying to win for yourself, but you’re also trying to beat them.
But with video poker, it’s all about you. Maybe you’ll win and maybe you’ll lose, but you don’t have to focus on anyone else’s hand.
Really the only commonality between the two games is the system of ranking cards. A good hand in poker is a good hand in video poker, but that’s where it ends.
Online poker asks you to sit at a table (albeit a digital one) with other players. Unlike the singular objective of video poker, in this game you are asked to achieve two things: to build the best hand for yourself and to bet the competition out of their own hands. If you can do those two things, you win everyone’s combined bets from the pot.
Video poker is different. You’re playing alone, on a computer game that looks a lot like a slot machine. The rules are a little simpler than those of traditional poker: Get five cards, get rid of the ones that don’t contribute to a winning hand, click “deal”, and get paid if your final hand is a winner!
