I commented that I didn't know he played that game. He responded that he played REAL poker, so surely he could handle this. It hadn't previously occurred to me that the games had much in common. To be sure, they were both a form of gambling and used quite a bit of similar terminology. Over this week and next, I decided to examine exactly how they compare.
Hand rankings are similar.
Every video poker game pays more for full houses than for three of a kind, but some pay the same for straights and flushes, and straight flushes are not always worth more than four of a kind. Indeed, in many games, four fours are worth more than four fives. Royals get a big bonus. In regular poker, a king-high straight flush is very marginally inferior to a royal flush. In most games, either hand would win every pot every time.