Double Bonus is a popular game among professional players in southern Nevada, primarily because it's widely available in dollar machines, mulpi-play machines and occasionally $5 machines. This allows much bigger action than on quarter machines. (Big action is most important when playing for comps and during certain promotions.)
This game is covered here because it is also popular with quarter players, especially where full pay Deuces Wild is not available. Be sure to look for the following per-coin payoff schedule (note the 10/7 payoffs for a Full House and Flush):
(Note: Payoffs shown are per coin for five coin play.)
| Final hand |
Payoff |
Probability |
Contrib. % |
| Royal Flush |
800 |
.0000208 |
1.665 |
| Straight Flush |
50 |
.000113 |
0.566 |
| Four of a Kind |
* |
.002331 |
15.411 |
| Full House |
10 |
.01119 |
11.190 |
| Flush |
7 |
.01495 |
10.467 |
| Straight |
5 |
.01502 |
7.510 |
| Three of a Kind |
3 |
.07220 |
21.660 |
| Two Pair |
1 |
.12466 |
12.466 |
| Jacks or Better |
1 |
.19238 |
19.238 |
| Zilch |
0 |
.56714 |
0 |
|
|
| * |
Four 5's thru K's pays 50-for-1 |
|
Four 2's thru 4's pays 80-for-1 |
|
Four Aces pays 160-for-1 |
Although the long term payback is 100.15% with accurate play, this is a very volatile game due to so much of the payback being concentrated in the four-of-a-kind payoffs.. The 9/6 version pays only 97.5% and should be avoided. If you recall, the two pair hands account for over 25% of the payback in Jacks or Better. The push on two pair in Double Bonus is more than made up payback-wise by the bonuses on quads, but it results in very high short term cost while waiting for quads.
Here is the playing strategy: Hold any made pay of Two Pair or better, except break Aces Full to draw to the three aces, and break a flush or straight for a 4-card Royal draw. For any lesser dealt hand, hold the card combination that appears first in the following hand rank table:
Unfortunately, the strategy is far too complex to reduce to Precision Play rules. Unlike many 100%+ games, however, this one is likely to survive because there are lots of them around, making them readily available to tourists who like them for the variety of secondary jackpots on quads. Recreational players will not master the strategy, so this game has that ideal combination of characteristics which allows both the pros and the casinos to make a steady profit. Warning: Even though it's correct to break Aces Full to draw to the three Aces, don't be tempted to hold only a pair of Aces when dealt two pair; the high 10-for-1 payoff for a Full House makes it best to hold both pairs. Double Bonus Poker is covered in Video Poker Times issue 3.2, and a cue card is available.
Double Double Bonus
In this variation, the bonus payoffs for four A's, 2's, 3's or 4's is doubled if the "kicker" (the fifth card) is an ace, 2, 3 or 4. Naturally, the casinos rarely give you something for nothing, and in this case it is the Full House, Flush and Straight hands whose payoffs are cut to 9/6/4. The net result is a maximum payback of 98.8%. It's okay for a short play for the fun of a possible nice mini-jackpot, but it generally should be avoided where better playing games are available. The strategy, which is fairly simple relative to Double Bonus, is given in Video Poker Times issue 6.2. |
