Double Bonus

Play Double Bonus free in demo mode, with no sign-up and no deposit, and see the aces decisions for yourself before any money is involved.

Pays are per credit at a five-credit bet. The 8/6 column matches 10/7 everywhere except the full house and the flush.

Both "10/6" (10/6/5) and "10/7/4" (the 10/7 table with the straight cut to 4) circulate, so check the straight line when a name has only two numbers. With a standard deviation of 5.32 bets per hand, where a bet is your stake on one hand, against 4.42 for 9/6 Jacks or Better, 10/7 swings far more: over 2,000 hands of perfect play, 42.3% of sessions finish ahead, and the middle 80% of results run from 238 bets down to 252 up.

Habanero's Double Bonus Poker runs 8/6 in every hand-count version: 8 for a full house and 6 for a flush, with the straight at 5 and all three quad lines at the standard 160, 80 and 50.

The key number: Habanero's 8/6 is the lowest of the six schedules above: 96.73% under perfect play against 100.17% for 10/7, and 95.59% below a five-credit bet.

The lower full house and flush also change how the game should be played, as the aces decision below shows.

With perfect play on 10/7, two pair carries 12.44% of the return, against 25.97% in 9/6 Jacks or Better; the quad lines and the richer full house, flush and straight make up the difference. Flushes land once in 67 hands, against once in 91 on 9/6 Jacks or Better, because more flush draws are worth keeping when a flush pays 7.

With two pair paying 1 and four aces paying 160, hands built on aces are where Double Bonus departs from Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker. Figures are what each hold is worth per credit bet.

• Aces up on 10/7 keeps both pairs. Dealt A♠ A♦ K♠ K♦ 5♣, keeping both pairs is worth 1.766 and keeping only the aces 1.7635, a near tie that two pair wins by a quarter of a hundredth of a credit.
• The same hand on 8/6 flips. The aces alone are worth 1.74, two pair 1.60. The two-pair hold earns its value by filling a full house, and a full house pays 8 here instead of 10.
• Three aces and a low card. Dealt A♠ A♦ A♣ 3♥ 9♠, the three aces held alone are worth 10.11, against 6.79 with either side card kept. Drawing two cards gives two chances at the fourth ace and more ways to a full house. In Double Double Bonus, where a 2, 3 or 4 beside four aces raises the pay, that low card becomes part of the decision.

No neighboring game's strategy fits this table: perfect 9/6 Jacks or Better strategy gives up 0.540 points of the 10/7 return, and the strategy guide shows that Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus strategies also lose three tenths of a point or more here.

Take the first line that describes your five cards. In this game, as in Jacks or Better, high cards run from jack to ace.

1. Royal flush, straight flush or four of a kind.
2. Three aces, even when they arrive as part of a full house.
3. Four to a royal flush, ahead of any made flush, straight or high pair.
4. Any other flush, full house, three of a kind or straight.
5. Four to a straight flush.
6. Two pair.
7. A high pair (jacks through aces).
8. Four to a flush.
9. Three to a royal flush.
10. Four to an outside straight.
11. A low pair (twos through tens).
12. Four to an inside straight with four high cards.
13. Three to a straight flush with two high cards.
14. Four to an inside straight with three high cards.
15. Three to a straight flush with one high card.
16. Two suited high cards.
17. Four to an inside straight with two high cards.
18. Three high cards to a straight.
19. Three to a straight flush with no high card.
20. Four to an inside straight with one high card.
21. Two unsuited high cards.
22. A ten with a high card of the same suit.
23. One high card.
24. Four to an inside straight with no high card.
25. Three to a flush.
26. Nothing: draw five new cards.

What changes: Two reversals from Jacks or Better stand out: four to a flush outranks three to a royal, and four to an outside straight outranks a low pair.

On 10/7 the list returns 99.97%, 0.198 points under the 100.17% of perfect play; its costliest exception is keeping a lone high card where perfect play keeps three to a flush, on 2.676% of deals: dealt K♥ 8♥ 5♥ 3♣ 9♠, the three hearts are worth 0.46 against 0.43 for the king alone. On the 8/6 table, move a pair of aces above two pair, put three to a royal back above four to a flush, move four to an inside straight with four high cards above four to a flush and four to an outside straight, put two suited high cards above three to a straight flush with one high card, and drop three to a flush; that version plays at 96.66% against 96.73%.