The extra bonus payoff is a plus, but beware the volatility
By Henry Tamburin
Double Bonus Poker Strategy The strategy for Double Bonus Video Poker is adjusted from standard, because of the increased payouts for selected four of a kind hands. Actually, besides this increased payout for four of a kind, and the decreased payout for 2 pairs, the. On ‘Super Double Double Bonus Poker‘ the ‘basic‘ four of a kind hands pay a bonus identical to ‘Bonus Poker‘. The new bonus hands that were introduced on ‘Double Double Bonus Poker‘ are also here are for a four of a kind made up of Aces, with a 2,3 or 4 kicker. That pays 2000 coins for max bet—a hefty $500 on a.25 cent machine.
The most important fact to remember about DDB is that it’s a highly volatile game, meaning the bankroll swings are much greater than a less volatile game such as Jacks or Better. Let me repeat this so it sinks in: DDB is very volatile.
Double Double Bonus (DDB) poker is by far the most popular video poker game. Its popularity stems from the extra bonus payoff that you get with four aces, 2s, 3s, or 4s accompanied with a “kicker” (a specific fifth card that is in the same hand as the four-of-a-kind). What follows are some facts about the game (good and bad), and some tips to improve your chances of winning.
Kickers
DDB Poker was the first video poker game to implement kickers. In fact, its name “Double Double Bonus” is the result of the fact that the payoffs for specific four-or-a-kind hands pay double the amount paid in Double Bonus when a kicker is present. In DDB, a kicker is an ace, 2, 3, and 4.
The key hands in DDB that result in a bonus payout are:
| Hand | Payout with Five-Coins Played |
| Four Aces with2, 3, or 4 kicker | 2000 coins |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s withA, 2, 3, or 4 kicker | 800 coins |
Thus, it’s possible to be paid the equivalent of half a royal flush (i.e. $500 on a quarter-denomination machine) when you are dealt four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 kicker. How often will this occur? Roughly once in 16,000 hands. This is greater than the once in about 40,000 hands occurrence for the royal flush. This payout of half a royal flush is what makes DDB such an exciting game for players.
Pay Schedules
The following table summarizes the different pay schedules for DDB that you are likely to encounter, and the accompanying ERs (expected returns). The most prevalent pay schedule is 9/6. The expected return for this game is 98.98%, assuming you play every hand perfectly and you play max coins. I would strongly encourage you to not play a 9/5, or even worse, an 8/5 DDB game, simply because the ER is miserable. (Note: I’ve seen even lower pay schedules for DDB; these games should absolutely be avoided!)
Finally, you’ll see I’ve included a 10/6 pay schedule with a 100.06% ER. Unfortunately, this pay schedule is not readily available in most gaming jurisdictions. You will find them in certain locals casinos in Las Vegas, where the 10/6 pay schedule is offered in $1 and lower denominations. Check www.vpfree2.com for a listing of casinos that offer 10/6 DDB.
Double Double Bonus Pay Schedule
Payout per Coin Played
| 10/6 | 9/6 | 9/5 | 8/5 | |
| Royal Flush | 250* | 250* | 250* | 250* |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Four Aces with 2, 3, 4 kicker | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| Four Aces | 160 | 160 | 160 | 160 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s with A, 2, 3, or 4 kicker | 160 | 160 | 160 | 160 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s | 80 | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| Four 5 through Kings | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Full House | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Flush | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Straight | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Three-of-a-Kind | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Two Pair | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Pair of Js, Qs, Ks, As | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| ER | 100.06% | 98.98% | 97.87% | 96.79% |
*4000 for a five-coin royal flush.
Playing Strategy
You might think the playing strategy for DDB would be identical to Double Bonus (after all, the names are nearly the same). But this isn’t the case. The factor that most affects the strategy is the payoff for the flush (rather than the payoff for the full house and straight). The flush payoff for 9/6 DDB is 6 coins times your bet, whereas it’s 7 coins in Double Bonus. (In fact, the playing strategy for DDB is closer to 9/6 Jacks or Better, because the flushes in the latter game pay 6 coins times your bet.)
The playing strategy for DDB is unique because of the extra value of Aces and kickers. For example, if you play DDB and you have a full house that contains three aces, you’d break up the full house and hold the three aces. Likewise, if you have a hand that contains two pair and one of the pair is aces, you only hold the two aces. You’ll also be going for inside straights more often playing DDB, compared to Jacks or Better.
You’ll find an accurate playing strategy for DDB on the video poker page at www.wizardofodds.com, including a list of 39 practice hands to test your playing skills. I’d also recommend that you consider using a video poker software training program on your home computer to practice the strategy—and there’s no shame in bringing a strategy card to the casino, either.
Variance
The most important fact to remember about DDB is that it’s a highly volatile game, meaning the bankroll swings are much greater than a less volatile game such as Jacks or Better. Let me repeat this so it sinks in: DDB is very volatile.
The reason the game is more volatile is because those juicy four of a kind jackpot hands containing aces through 4s with a kicker occur infrequently, at the expense of a reduced payoff for the more frequently hit two pair, straight, flush, and full house hands. If you don’t get lucky and get at least one four of a kind hand during a session, your bankroll will head south rather quickly. Because DDB has a high volatility, it also requires a relatively greater bankroll to get you through those long stretches from one jackpot to the next. Heed my advice and be prepared—emotionally, and financially—for the volatility that is inherent in this game.
Summary
DDB has these characteristics:
- The game offers mini-jackpots for infrequent four of a kind hands with a kicker.
- The ER of the common 9/6 DDB is 98.98%. This means most recreational players will lose in the long run playing this game because it’s rare to find casino perks that will increase the overall EV to greater than 100%. If you’re in Las Vegas, play the 10/7 DDB game.
- The playing strategy is unique, and you need to learn it before you play (don’t use the Double Bonus strategy even if the names of these games sound almost the same).
- The game is very volatile, so expect large swings in your bankroll.
Tamburin’s Tip of the Month
How would you play this hand in DDB?
Most players would hold the three aces along with a kicker because they’re hoping to draw another ace, which would give them four aces and a deuce kicker for a half-royal payoff. However, making that play is a mistake. With DDB, if your hand has three aces and a 2 through 4 kicker, you shouldn’t keep the kicker. The play that has the higher expected value is to hold the three aces and draw two cards.
A Closer Look At Double Double Bonus Poker.
Double Double Bonus video poker is the most popular video poker game in casinos, but it’s not generally considered a possibility for advantage play. In other words, if you’re looking to make a profit at the casino, then this probably isn’t the game for you. That being said, Double Double Bonus is a lot of fun, and strategy makes as big a difference in this game as it does in Jacks or Better or Deuces Wild.
The reason this game is so popular is because of the large payout for the “four aces with a kicker” hand, which happens almost 3 times as often as a royal flush in Jacks or Better. The payout for this hand is half of that for the royal flush, though—2000 coins instead of 4000 coins.
If you understand the basics of Jacks or Better, you’ll have little trouble figuring out how to play the game. But some of the strategies are different, and this page covers those strategy differences below.
Double Double Bonus Payout Charts
The first element of every decent video poker strategy has nothing to do with how to play individual hands. Game selection is crucial. Choosing the games with the best payout tables is the most important skill you can develop as a player.
Like Jacks or Better, the payouts at Double Double Bonus change for the full house and flush hands, and the annotation for that is the same as in Jacks or Better. For example, when we talk about full pay, or 9/6 Jacks or Better, we’re talking about a game that pays out 9 coins for a full house and 6 coins for a flush.
The best Double Double Bonus games offer a theoretically positive expectation if you play perfectly. These are the 10/7 and 10/6 versions of the game, which offer a payback percentage of 100.17% and 100.06% respectively. Those pay tables are rare indeed, though, but they’re still worth looking for.
The more common payout structures are 9/6 and 9/5 Double Double Bonus, which offer payout percentages of 98.98% and 97.87% respectively. These numbers aren’t as good as a full pay Jacks or Better game, but they both still beat the payout percentage for 8/5 Jacks or Better.
Two More “Meta-Strategy” Tips
A few other considerations are more important than how to play specific hands. I call these “meta-strategies”. These include playing for maximum coins. This should be a no-brainer, but the top jackpot is only available to players who have wagered all 5 coins. If you wager fewer coins than that, you’re giving back a huge percentage to the casino—1.33%, in fact.
Being a member of the slots club is another no-brainer. Slot club members get back between 0.2% and 0.4% of their wagers in the form of rebates from the casinos. This doesn’t sound that significant, but if you’re playing max coins on a quarter machine, you’re wagering $1.25 per hand. The average video poker player is in action for 600 hands per hour, which is $750. That’s an average of around $2/hour in benefits for being a member of the slots club.
Strategy Tips for Double Double Bonus Video Poker
Correct strategy for Double Double Bonus video poker is a little more complicated than correct strategy for Jacks or Better, but it’s not at all beyond the average person’s ability to comprehend. If you use good game selection and follow these tips, you’ll be at close to break-even with the casino, which means you can have a great time at the casino while enjoying a theoretical mathematical loss of close to nothing.
The first thing to know is that it’s always correct to hold onto a hand with four aces, deuces, threes, or fours with a kicker. This is in line with some of the other general strategy advice I offered in another page on our site, which is to let the machine deal you a winning hand.
If you have a four of a kind of the above description without a kicker, then discard the fifth card and draw, hoping to get a kicker. It’s still a winning hand, but it will win even more when you occasionally hit your kicker.
Never hold a kicker with any three of a kind, though.
Again, keeping in mind that you want to let the machine deal you a winner, you’ll almost always hold any winning combination. But there are some exceptions:
- If you have a full house with three aces, keep the three aces and discard the other two cards.
- If you have a flush or a straight, you’ll draw to a 4 card royal flush.
- If you have two pair, and one of those pairs is AA, then you’ll draw to the aces.
- If you have a high pair, you’ll break it if you have 4 cards to a royal flush or to a straight flush.
A four card straight flush is better than a three card royal flush. Both of these hands are better than ANY other hand that isn’t already a winner.
- A four card flush is better than a low pair or a four card straight.
- A low pair is better than a four card straight.
- A three card straight flush is a playable hand, but some hands are better—including a four card flush, a low pair, or a four card straight.
Double Bonus Video Poker Trainer
Differences from Jacks or Better Strategy
Free Video Poker
You should notice that a number of strategy differences exist between Double Double Bonus and Jacks or Better. For example, in Jacks or Better, you would never break a full house, but in Double Double Bonus, you would always break that full house in order to draw to three aces. In Jacks or Better, you’d never break two pair, either, but in Double Double Bonus, you’ll sometimes break two pair when you have AA. Perceptive readers will notice that most of the strategy changes revolve around the high payout for the four aces jackpot.