Double-Double Bonus Video Poker

12 October 2019

By Jerry Stickman

I regularly receive questions concerning how to play certain video poker hands. A majority of these questions are for the game of Double-Double Bonus Poker. My next few articles will cover many of these questions. Along with answers to the specific hands in question, an explanation of why it is the best way to play the hand will be included.

This article presents some basic information about the Double-Double Bonus poker version of the game.

The pay table for a commonly available Double-Double Bonus game follows. The pay numbers are totals for five credits bet on the hand.

• Royal Flush – 4,000 credits
• Straight Flush – 250 credits
• 4 Aces w/ 2, 3 or 4 – 2,000 credits
• 4 2s, 3s, or 4s w/ Ace thru 4 – 800 credits
• 4 Aces – 800 credits
• 4 2s, 3s or 4s – 400 credits
• 4 5s through Kings – 250
• Full House – 45 credits
• Flush – 30 credits
• Straight – 20
• 3 of a Kind – 15
• Two Pair – 5
• Jacks or Better – 5

The return from this game is 98.98%. This means that for every $100 played thru the game a player can expect to lose $1.02 on average. The variance or volatility is a moderate 42.

The allure of this game is the amount paid for certain four-of-a-kind hands.
• A hand containing four fives thru kinds pays 50-for-1 (250-for-5) – the same as a straight flush. One of these hands occurs once every 613 hands, on average. That is almost 15 times as often as the once every 9,123 hands that a straight flush occurs.
• A hand containing four 2’s, 3’s or 4’s without an additional ace, 2, 3 or 4 pays 80-for-1 (400-for-5). One of these hands occurs every 2,601 hands on average.
• A hand containing four aces without an additional 2, 3 or 4 pays 160-for-1 (800-for-5) and occurs once every 5,761 hands on average.
• A hand containing four 2’s, 3’s or 4’s as well as an ace, 2, 3 or 4 also pays 160-for-1 (800-for-5) and occurs once every 6,983 hands on average.
• Finally, a hand containing four aces as well as a 2, 3 or 4 pays 400-for-1 (2,000-for-5). This is half of what a royal flush pays and this hand occurs once every 16,236 hands on average where a royal flush occurs once every 40,799 hands on average.

There are better returns in video poker than the 98.98% for this Double-Double Bonus game. There are better variances in video poker. Full pay (9/6) Jacks or Better returns 99.54%. The house edge is only 0.46% or 46 cents per 100 dollars played – not $1.02 of Double-Double Bonus poker. Variance is low 19.5 – less than half that of Double-Double Bonus poker.

So why do players choose to play Double-Double Bonus poker?

The thrill of hitting a big win is what draws players to this game. The only really big winning hands in Jacks or Better are the royal flush (4,000-for-5) and the straight flush (250-for-5). In Double-Double Bonus poker there are several big wins. That is what players love about the game.

There may be lots of big winners in Double-Double Bonus poker, but nothing comes free. By simply lowering the pay of a hand containing two pairs to 1-for-1 from the 2-for-1 pay in Jacks or Better, the return from the Double-Double Bonus poker game is reduced to under 99%. A hand containing two pairs occurs over 12% of the time. Cutting the return of this hand in half has a very large impact.

Let’s look at some of the pluses and minuses of Jacks or Better and Double-Double Bonus.

Jacks or Better:
• Pluses
o High return
o Low variance (volatility)
o Simple playing strategy
• Minuses
o Only two high-paying hands including one very high-paying hand occurring about once in every 9,000 hands or so

Double-Double Bonus:
• Pluses
o Several high-paying hands including two very high-paying hands occurring about once every 600 hands or so
• Minuses
o Lower return
o Higher variance
o More complex playing strategy

Serious players tend to play game that have the highest return. Jacks or Better wins this point. The low volatility of Jacks or Better means smaller bankroll requirements to play the game and the simpler strategy helps insure continuous correct play.

However, it is becoming more difficult to find full-pay Jacks or better games. The highest return for Jacks or Better in many casinos is about 98.5%. Many of the same casinos do offer the 98.98% return version of Double-Double Bonus. If the player is willing to play at that return level, and if the player has the additional bankroll required for play and if the more complex strategy is not a problem, it is a no brainer. Double-Double Bonus is the game to play.

Of course, most players do not care about the return. They don’t care about the variance. They don’t care about the proper playing strategy. They just want to feel the thrill of the win. Double-Double Bonus poker will deliver there, also.

That’s it for a quick look at Double-Double Bonus video poker. How to play specific hands will be covered in future articles. Stay tuned.

May all your wins be swift and large and all your losses slow and small.

Jerry “Stickman”

Jerry “Stickman” is an expert in craps, blackjack and video poker and advantage slot machine play. He authored the video poker section of "Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and Pai Gow Poker!" You can contact Jerry “Stickman” at stickmanjerry@aol.com.