We turn again to the teachings of John Grochowski, one of the most important game writers in the United States, who is obviously also able to give us all the answers and doubts we have about videopoker, a variant of online casino games: videopoker; one of the most fun ways to enjoy your leisure time at your favourite online casino.
Joker in the casino context
When we decided to talk about how to play Joker, we knew beforehand that we should first of all define what casino game we are talking about. For many people accustomed to legal gambling , the term Joker is quite strange and does not relate to the games on offer at casinos or in the increasingly common gambling halls.
That said: our expert contributor to the casino international blog, John Grochowski has dedicated several chapters of his many books to talk about the Joker, but honestly we should have started by calling it Joker’s Wild and not just Joker. In fact, the possible clarification we have just made will not have revealed anything special to many online slots players, which is the category of games to which these two terms belong. Joker is actually a word that refers to the comic book character, most recently popularised by Joaquin Phoenix’s extraordinary role in the Todd Phillips-directed film of the same name. We should also take it for granted that for many, the word Joker is related to card games and that very special card that usually works as a joker and reminds us of the harlequins or jesters of the Middle Ages…
In any case, let’s be clear: in this article, we intend to define, explain the rules and talk about the strategy of one of the most popular video poker formats in the world, and of fran presence in online casinos: the Joker or Joker’s Wild.
What is Joker’s Wild or Joker?
In the same way that the mix of bingo and slots, i.e. videobingo, is popular; in the rest of the world, videopoker is much more popular. And of the videopoker games, Joker’s Wild, or simply Joker, is the most typical.
Obviously as with all video poker games, Joker’s Wild has a rich variety of paytables and payback percentages, which are the keys to guaranteeing the success of a slot.
Differences between Joker’s Wild and other slots
Unlike the rest, it comes with a basic split: some games start the paytable on two pairs, and others start on a pair of kings. So it’s not like casino table games or card games that have poker as their inspiration, such as Three Card Poker or Caribbean Poker. Beyond that, there is an intriguing variation. A version of Joker’s Wild Kings or Better puts the highest reward on five of a kind instead of a royal flush.
The payouts, by the way, are much more varied than a normal video poker slot and that makes it a much more dynamic game in the sense of prizes, with all sorts of rewards. With an established video poker strategy, it is easier to receive payouts and if you manage to accumulate and not invest in more spins, it is possible to end up with profits in the session. When it comes to big jackpots and casino jackpots, they appear on average once per 10,994 hands, which means that players win the jackpot almost four times more often than they get a natural royal flush in most video poker games.
With this paytable, as with blackjack tables, we can analyse the payout odds and know whether or not it is worth playing on the basis of the plays made. With gambling experience, there are real money slots of this type that expert play returns 99.08 percent of what is played. As with other games, there are higher and lower pay tables.
The joker; key to the game of Joker’s Wild
As we have seen in the paytable, we must keep in mind that in this game the presence of the joker is key to create our hands and get the prizes. And thanks to the enormous possibilities offered by the joker, something that also happens with other online casino games, for a while, this was the most popular video poker game in Atlantic City, but its popularity and availability has decreased especially because it is a game that does not have a specific license in the various regulated markets. The fact that it falls into the slot category, or even that it is not licensed at all, means that unfortunately you cannot find this game in most online casino promotions that you may see in banners or emails.
Joker outside the online casino
But we couldn’t close this article dedicated to Joker’s wild without briefly talking about something unrelated to one of the games to win money and that is that there are other terms so popular that when we talk about Joker, our heads go to the movies, television or joker card games. The clearest example is the film Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a frustrated comedian with all kinds of problems who wants to make people laugh, but due to marginalisation finally falls into the world of crime.
The Joker is considered one of the best villains in the comics and has also been successfully transferred to the cinema. Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix have played this character on the big screen, making him a worldwide pop icon.
