Keith hits the big one

12 May 2019

By John Grochowski

For Keith, a Wisconsin reader, a 22-year quest has finally achieved its goal.

“I got the ACE$ bonus in ACE$ Bonus Poker,” he said in kicking off a series of e-mails. “I’m thrilled, of course, but there’s also a little sadness that something I’ve been after for so long is over.”

Since 1997, Keith has played 8-5 ACE$ Bonus Poker whenever he’s had the chance. The average return is 99.4% with expert play, just a tad better than 8-5 Bonus Poker.

“I really didn’t play all that much,” Keith said. “The Native American casinos near my home never had the 8-5 pay table, so I played other games instead. But once a year, my wife Mary and I would go to Las Vegas, and there I’d play quite a bit for a couple of days.”

ACE$ Bonus Poker has the same pay table as regular Bonus Poker, but there’s an extra. Each ace has a symbol attached – “A” for the ace of spaces, “C” for the ace of hearts, “E” for the ace of diamonds and “$” for the ace of clubs.

If you land four aces in order so they spell out “ACE$,” the payoff isn’t the usual 400 coins for a five-coin bet you’d bet on Bonus Poker. It’s a 4,000-coin bonanza, as much as you’d get for a royal flush.

There can’t be any gaps. A, followed by an 8 of hearts, then C-E-$ doesn’t do it. The message has to read “ACE$” with nothing in the middle to impede your read. The aces have to come up in proper as either the first four cards or the last four cards on the screen.

Still, the chance on a big payoff kept Keith going.

“I don’t think I realized just how hard this was going to be,” he said. “I liked 8-5 Bonus Poker, even without the ACE$, and I figured with an extra chance at a $1,000 jackpot (on a quarter machine), why not? I wasn’t going to get a royal flush every session, but maybe I could still win the $1,000.”

What Keith didn’t realize is that getting the aces in the required order is a lot rarer than a royal flush. Given expert play in 8-5 Bonus Poker, royals turn up an average of once per 40,233 hands. With an adapted strategy to account for the potential payoff, ACE$ come up an average of per 297,222 hands.

ACE$ are more than seven times as rare as royal flushes.

“We went mainly to locals casinos, and some had both 8-5 Bonus and 8-5 ACE$,” Keith said. “It made sense to choose the one with the extra.

“When we’d arrive, Mary would laugh and say, ‘I suppose the quest is on,’ and I’d respond, ‘The quest is the quest.’”

The quest finally ended in February – “a good time to get out of the Wisconsin cold,” Keith said.

“A 10 of spaces was first on the screen, then C-E, then a King of clubs and a Queen of hearts. I nudged Mary and said, ‘Here goes nothing.’ But it wasn’t nothing! It was the A and the $. At last!

“We hugged and both reached for our phones. Even though it was only once a year, it was kind of mania, and we texted family and friends who knew about it. The probably thought, ‘Maybe now we don’t have to hear about that insane quest anymore.’

“Now I have to think of what to do for an encore. Something that doesn’t take 22 years, I hope.”


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