There are certain casino poker variants like Caribbean Stud Poker and Pai Gow Poker that are offered by all software providers. But each software provider also has some unique casino poker variants in its portfolio. Poker Pursuit is one such casino poker game from the leading software provider Microgaming. It is live at all Microgaming online casinos such as Platinum Play, Spin Palace, Golden Riviera and River Belle.

At Microgaming online casinos poker pursuit is listed under “Other” in the “More Tables” section of the games menu. When the game loads the screen displays the payout table on the top part and space to deal five cards in the bottom part. The payout table begins with tens or better poker hand ranking and then moves upwards in the usual manner. The payouts are separately listed for one coin, two coins and three coins wagered. The one coin table has the following payouts: tens or better 2; two pairs 3; three of a kind 4; straight 6; flush 9; full house 12; four of a kind; straight flush 200 and royal flush 1,000. The payouts for two coins and three coins are respectively two times and three times the one coin payouts across all hand rankings.

The player starts the Poker Pursuit game by wagering one coin as per the default requirement. The one coin payout table is then highlighted. The player can select the coin denomination from the given range that starts at 0.50 credits and goes up to 10 credits. The player then clicks the Deal button and three cards are dealt face up in the playing area. The first option with the player is to raise by wagering a second coin. Then the two coins payout table gets highlighted. The second option is to call, in which case the Microgaming Poker Pursuit game continues without any additional wager. After the player has exercised his choice the fourth card is dealt face up in the playing area. The player again faces the same two choices. If he raises then the third coin is wagered and the next payout table highlighted. Finally the last card is dealt. If the final hand matches any in the payout table then the player receives a payout based on the hand ranking and number of coins wagered.

The choices of raising and calling are not to be made randomly but should be based on optimum strategy. If the player already has a winning hand then he should raise. After the first three cards are dealt if the player has tens or better pair or any three of a kind then he should raise. Otherwise he should call. After four cards if the player has tens or better pair, any three of a kind, any two pairs or any four of a kind then he should raise. The player should also raise with four cards to a flush or four cards to a straight. Otherwise he should call. Players who do not want to get involved with optimum strategy can play Microgaming Poker Pursuit in the Expert Mode. In this mode there is an Auto Play facility that allows players to set up to 500 deals without manual intervention. The Auto Play is executed using optimum strategy.