A strategy support system (1) for a game of video poker includes a gaming facility (2) operable to deal a poker hand of five initial playing cards to a player, an evaluation facility (7) operable to predict the chance of obtaining a desirable and an undesirable hand of poker pursuant to substitution of any number of the five initial playing cards with other dealt cards, a goal selector (10) that can be activated by the player to select a desired goal for the hand of poker; and a controller (11) capable of automatically effecting a game play decision by causing substitution of any selection of one or more of the five initial playing cards as a function of the selected desired the goal and the chances predicted by the evaluation facility (7).