Double Double Bonus

Double Double Bonus in demo mode: free, with no registration and no deposit, the easiest way to see how widely this game swings.

All figures are per credit at the five-credit maximum, which makes the royal 4,000 credits. 10/6 is the best of these schedules; every line except the full house and flush is the same across all three.

10/6 edges past 100% only as an average over the long run with flawless play. The spread barely moves between schedules, and at a standard deviation of about 6.5 bets per hand, counting a bet as whatever one hand costs, it is the widest of any schedule on these pages: 9/6 Jacks or Better sits at 4.42 and 10/7 Double Bonus at 5.32.

Habanero's Double Double Bonus Poker runs 8/5 in every hand-count version. Its pay table prints the low-quad kicker line as “(2s, 3s, 4s) with A”. With the usual kicker of an ace, 2, 3 or 4 the 8/5 table returns 96.79% under perfect play, and 95.55% below a five-credit bet; if only an ace counts, it returns 96.04%, and 94.80% below a five-credit bet. The game's help screen quotes 98.98%, the return of the 9/6 schedule rather than of the 8/5 table it displays.

On this table a long losing average can hide behind wide swings: over 2,000 hands with perfect play, the median session finishes 128 bets down, the middle 80% of results run from 357 bets down to 308 up, and 31.1% of sessions still end ahead.

Figures assume perfect play on 9/6. Add up the five four-of-a-kind lines and about 19% of the return rides on quads, against 5.93% for the single quad line of 9/6 Jacks or Better. That share arrives in rare, large pieces, which is where the spread in the schedules table comes from.

The rule: With three aces or three 2s to 4s, keep the three of a kind alone and draw two cards. Holding a kicker beside them is the tempting play, and it gives up value.

Each figure is the average value per credit bet on 9/6, taken over every possible draw.

• Three aces with a low kicker. Dealt A♠ A♦ A♣ 3♥ 9♠, keep the three aces alone: worth 12.49, against 11.83 with the 3 kept and 6.72 with the 9. Holding the 3 fixes the kicker but leaves a single card to draw. Drawing two cards gives two chances at the fourth ace, opens many more full houses, and the other card drawn can itself be the kicker. On our 8/5 table the figures are 12.43 and 11.77, the same answer.
• Three 3s with an ace. Dealt 3♠ 3♦ 3♣ A♥ 9♠, keep the three 3s: worth 7.46, against 6.72 with the ace kept.
• Two pair with aces. Dealt A♠ A♦ K♠ K♦ 5♣, keep only the aces: worth 1.93, against 1.68 for both pairs. Two pair pays 1 and a full house 9, while four aces pays 160 or 400.

Borrowing holds from the closest-looking game is the costliest mistake here: perfect 10/7 Double Bonus strategy gives up 0.698 points on 9/6, more than Jacks or Better strategy does, and the strategy guide sets out why.

This list is for 9/6; the holds barely change between schedules, so it also serves Habanero's 8/5 table. Hold whatever the highest matching line describes. High cards are the jack, queen, king and ace.

1. Royal flush, straight flush or four of a kind.
2. Four to a royal flush, which beats a made flush, straight or high pair.
3. Three aces, even when they arrive as aces full.
4. Any other flush, full house or straight.
5. Four to a straight flush.
6. A pair of aces, even when that means breaking two pair.
7. Three of a kind.
8. Two pair.
9. A high pair (jacks through kings).
10. Three to a royal flush.
11. Four to a flush.
12. A low pair (twos through tens).
13. Four to an outside straight.
14. Three to a straight flush with two high cards.
15. Four to an inside straight with four high cards.
16. Two suited high cards.
17. Three to a straight flush with one high card.
18. Four to an inside straight with three high cards.
19. Three to a straight flush with no high card.
20. Four to an inside straight with two high cards.
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. Nothing: draw five new cards.

The list gives up 0.182 points to perfect play: 98.80% on 9/6 against 98.98%. Most of that comes from one line: on 7.637% of deals perfect play keeps a single high card where the list keeps two unsuited ones, mostly an ace beside an unsuited king, queen or jack, where the ace alone is worth more. That line costs 0.118 points on its own. The list for 8/5 moves a few lines, mostly among the weaker draws, and plays at 96.62% against 96.79%.