Video Poker Archive
 Basic Strategy Variations -Part 3

One casino in my neighborhood has a 9/7 Double Bonus game which features a progressive on all the quads, the straight flush and the Royal . Four Aces seldom gets over 840 coins and quad 5-K almost never gets over 270 coins, but the Royal often gets to 6000 coins or higher. You should know that the house has trimmed the payout by making the Full House 45 for 5 instead of 50 for 5, so the longterm payback is barely 99.1% with all the progressives at their minimums. But, with a 6000-coin Royal, the game has a long term payback of about 99.9% and a bit is added by the other progressives. With a decent slot club, it's a fairly good game, though the payback of 5 for 5 on two pair makes it volatile from a bankroll point of view. Still, I play it often and have done well by recognizing that certain plays change with the Royal at 6000 coins or more. Here is a list of the changes I make:

Hand Basic Strategy Play Variation Play
K,10 suited with an unsuited A Hold Ace only Hold K, 10
Q,10, low card suited Hold all three Hold Q, 10 only
J, 10 suited with unsuited 7 AND 8 Hold inside straight Hold J, 10 only
T,J,Q suited with a pair of Aces. Hold Aces only Hold 10, J, Q
(In fact, hold ALL 3-card Royals over 2 Aces)
J,Q,K suited with another suited low card. Hold 4-card flush Hold J, Q, K only
(Again, hold ALL 3-card Royals over 4 flushes)
K,A suited with another suited low card. Hold 3-card flush Hold K, A only
(Another general rule: hold any 2-card Royal with an Ace, high card over a 3-card flush)

There are a lot more variations which one can make, but the proper strategy for Double Bonus is confusing enough without them. I think the important ones are here, but if you think something should be added, please e-mail me.



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