In one of my local casinos, there is a single, solitary $1 10/7 Double Bonus machine in a bank of $1 Double Double Bonus machines and there has never been a time when I've walked in there that I couldn't get a seat at it. But all around me, the Double Double Bonus machines are occupied! The reason I find this so strange is that the 10/7 Double Bonus game returns 100.17% for proper play and the Double Double Bonus games, which are in an 8/5 format, return just 96.78% for perfect play. Considering that these are dollar machines where the average player can bet $2500 an hour or more, it's costing those other players over $80 an hour to sit there!!!

Now, maybe $80 an hour isn't a lot of money to you, but it sure is to me and if I were to tell those Double Double Bonus players that was the price they're paying, I'm sure more than a few of them would fall off their chairs. It makes quite a difference to say "$80 an hour", rather than "100.17% versus 96.78%", doesn't it? So, that's what I want to do here: Show you, in easy-to-understand terms, some startling facts about Double Double Bonus poker.

Just so you know which game I'm talking about, here's a look at the pay schedule:

This is with 5 coins bet and is the "8/5" format which pays 8 per coin on the Full House, 5 per coin on the Flush and offers a 96.78% return. This game is also found in the "9/6" format and that version has a long-term return of 98.98%. I do believe the 9/6 version is more common, so I'll concentrate on that in this article since nobody in their right mind should play the 8/5 version, unless it has progressive "jackpots", which I'll discuss later.

Double Double Bonus has become popular because of those bonus hands, especially the ones with a "kicker" (fifth card). I'm sure all of us have hit four Aces at one time or another and an 800-for-5 payoff is very nice when that happens. But now, if the fifth card is a 2, 3 or 4, the jackpot goes up to 2000 coins and that ain't hay, as they say here in the Midwest. And we all know that one of the toughest sets of quads to get is the 2s, 3s or 4s, but with the right kicker, they pay the same as four Aces.

It's all very seductive, but just how often can a player expect to get a hand like those? According to the software program that every serious Video Poker player should have, "Bob Dancer Presents WinPoker" (available at www.zamzone.com) perfect play will deliver the following:

You are likely familiar with the fact that a Royal Flush will show up, on average, once every 40,000 hands but that is just an average. There's nothing to stop you from getting a Royal and then hitting one on the very next hand because it's a random event, at least within the parameters of what we call "the long term". Play 4,000,000 hands of Video Poker and you'll probably hit 100 Royals, plus or minus a few, but don't think for a minute that you can play 40,000 hands of Video Poker and get 100 Royals. They are rare events and nothing can change that.

Now, look at the expected frequency for 4 Aces with a 2,3 or 4 "kicker". It's once in about 16,000 hands, which basically means that you can expect to hit one in 32 hours of play, if you can pump out 500 hands per hour. And that's only if you play the hands correctly! A 2000-for-5 payoff is nice, but it's rare, however you can improve your chances for getting it through proper play.

Here are examples of how to properly play some hands at this game. By "proper play", I mean making choices that give you the highest expected value. You aren't going to get four Aces every time you draw to three Aces, but you get the best probability by playing them that way. The expected value shown is the average return you'll get on a 5-coin bet, so the higher, the better. These numbers come from the 9/6 game.

Some people will hold 3 Aces and one of the deuces in the hope of getting that fourth Ace. Here's what the numbers show:

Hold A,A,A,2,2: 45.0000
Hold A,A,A,2: 58.5106
Hold A,A,A: 61.3645

It's easy to see that you should break up the Full House and draw to the 3 Aces. Admittedly, it's not a huge mistake to keep one of the 2s, but you're already giving up quite a bit to play this game, so why make it worse?

Now the situation is reversed, so should we hold just the three 2s, or maybe three 2s with one of the Aces and pray for the fourth deuce? You can't count on prayer, but the numbers will help:

Hold 2,2,2,A,A: 45.0000
Hold 2,2,2,A: 32.9787
Hold 2,2,2: 36.9426

Obviously, it would be a serious mistake to break up the Full House, even if it pays only 40 for 5.

That's unusual, isn't it? By holding the Jack with the Ace, you can't get four Aces with a kicker, but the numbers don't lie, so the proper play is the Jack and Ace.

This game can suck your $$$ up like a vacuum cleaner if you're having what I call a "bad" day. Because so much of the pay back is concentrated in rare hands, it takes a large bankroll just to survive until one of those nifty bonus hands shows up. We call this "variance" and can use it to give us an idea of how much money we can lose over a period of time. Let's say you're going to play $.25 9/6 Double Double Bonus Poker for 5 hours on your next trip to a casino. If that play represents 2500 hands, you'll bet a total of $3125 and can expect to lose 1.02% of that or $31.88. But that's an average number that can be realized over only a long time; certainly longer than 2500 hands. I, of course, cannot predict just which hands you'll get, but I can calculate a profit/loss range that you'll likely see and it's a real eye-opener. We call this range the "Standard Deviation" (SD) and 3 SDs will cover what happens 99.7% of the time.

Here are some calculations for various playing sessions at a 9/6 version of Double Double Bonus Poker in $.25 denomination:

Let me give you a quick explanation of this. First of all, because the game returns less than 100%, your expected losses will grow as you continue playing, but you will have profitable sessions at times. All we can really say for certain is that, if you play 4000 hands of Double Double Bonus Poker, you can expect to lose $51.00, but your result will actually be somewhere between a loss of $1485.68 and a profit of $1587.68.

Another certainty is that you'll eventually lose all the $$$ you care to risk at this game, unless a slot club cash rebate plan or some other form of bonus can get the total return over 100%, should you decide to play it "forever". Yes, you'll have some good days, but your ultimate destiny is to lose and neither you nor I can change that.

Okay, if the numbers above haven't scared you off, then what can you do to cut your risk of loss? The first step is to learn how to play the game correctly. I use a great program called "Video Poker Strategy Master" to create strategy cards for various games, and it will produce one for this game, so you might consider getting a copy of the software. It's available at www.zamzone.com/ When you get your strategy card, use it to practice at home on your copy of Bob Dancer Presents WinPoker, before you risk any $$$ at the casino.

Another way to cut your losses on this game is to look for versions that have progressive "jackpots" for the Royal and some of the other bonus hands. I have seen a version of Double Double Bonus Poker called "Double Royals", where the Royal Flush is a progressive that resets at 8000 coins. It also has progressives for the various four Aces hands and some of the others, too. The catch is that the Full House pays only 30 and the Flush pays 25. With the Royal at 8000 coins, the overall return on this 6/5 version is only 96.93%. But, if the Royal is at 13,000 coins ($3250 on a quarter machine), the overall return is above 100%. Of course, if the other progressives are above the reset level, that adds to the total return, so keep your eyes open.

But please take my advice and avoid this game if there is no way you can get the return over 100%. Bonus hands are a lot of fun, but you'll be much better off by learning Double Bonus poker in its 10/7 or even the 9/7 version.

See you here next time.