Aces & Faces Power Poker

One of the things that makes Microgaming's selection of video poker so powerful is that they offer plenty of titles that allow you to play several hands at once. This is the case with their Aces & Faces Power Poker game, which also includes other facets that make it stand out. If you're a fan of a lot of action in a short period of time, then this a the type of video poker that you'll naturally be drawn to.

Stakes and Game Structure

This title has you playing four different hands at the same time, which complicates the betting a bit. Your base coin sizes range from $0.25 to $5 apiece, and you can bet up to five coins per hand, but you'll always be playing all four hands at a time here. The minimum bet size turns out to be $1 per play, but you'll probably want to play for at least $5 per play as you'll see below. The most you can wager per turn is $100, and it's obvious that most players will find a bet size that works for them between this minimum and maximum.

It's pretty important for players to always have all five coins activated in this game, which leads to a $5 minimum bet size. The reason for this is that the size of the royal flush payout increases depending on how many coins you use, and with five coins, it's disproportionately larger relative to your wager than it is with any of the other available numbers of coins per play. As such, you'll get a higher payout rate overall.

Double or Nothing Bonus

The first thing that we want to point out about this title is that it has a double or nothing bonus. After any winning hand, you'll have the option to collect or double. Collecting puts the winnings in your account balance and takes you on to the next hand. Doubling takes you to another screen where a randomly chosen card out of the deck is shown, and you get to pick a random card as well. If your card is higher, then you win and double the amount of your wager. If you lose, however, then you lose your winnings. This is an even money wager with no house advantage whatsoever.

Playing Four Hands at Once

Four hands are always played on each given play, but you won't be choosing four different sets of discards. Instead, one hand is dealt to you initially, and you'll choose which cards to hold from those five cards. From there, the cards you held will be copied to four positions up above, and they will each be given randomly-chosen replacement cards from their own 52-card decks. This means that you have the same chances of winning on all four hands, and you don't have to worry about card removal issues that would hurt the chances of winning in multiple places.

Each individual spot pays out its own wins based on the pay table on the left-hand side of the reels, and the four of them have their own wagers that are determined by multiplying your chosen coin size by the number of coins wagered. For example, a $0.25 coin size with five coins wagered would mean there is $1.25 being bet on each of the four hands for a total wager of $5.

Pay Table Balance

The key feature of Aces & Faces styles of video poker is that the top-ranked cards get special treatment with four of a kind wins. Assuming five cards being wagered, four aces gets you a 400x win, and four of the kings, queens or jacks makes it 200x. The four of a kind payout for all other cards is 125x.

Outside of that, a royal flush gets the 4,000x jackpot, which is at a pretty standard level, and you can also pick up 250x for a straight flush. A payout structure known as 8-5-4 follows the rest of the pay table with 40x for a full house, 25x for a flush and 20x for a straight. Players can pick up 15x for three of a kind or 10x for two pairs, and a single pair of jacks or better scores a 5x payout.

Overview

There are a number of features in the Aces and Faces Power Poker game by Microgaming that help to drive along the action at a faster clip than what you see in most titles. You'll have four hands to play at once, which makes things go more quickly without getting out of hand like what you'll find with 50-hand variations of similar pay tables. On top of that, the structure of the pay table itself allows for better chances to get big wins at the top end of the payout structure, and the double or nothing feature means you have opportunities to turn those smaller wins into more reasonable ones.