Video poker is the game of choice for many experienced players who enjoy frequenting casino floors and employing a combination of skill, strategic play and acuity to beat the house at its own game. Each variation of video poker has its own peculiarities and, by understanding both its pros and cons, players can reduce the built-in house advantage to less than half a percent. Furthermore, video poker is among the few casino games where the player can even gain a slight edge over the house by mastering the optimal strategy.
There are numerous variants of video poker and one of the most popular and widely available options is Bonus Poker. In fact, when it comes to popularity, Bonus Poker is second only to Jacks or Better and Deuces Wild. The game is also offered by a large number of respected online casinos and, in most cases, players can enjoy it in a multi-hand format as well. Players who are familiar with the rules and strategy for Jacks or Better will experience no difficulties in understanding Bonus Poker, since the two games share many similarities.
Basics of Bonus Poker
Since Bonus Poker is based on Jacks or Better, the basic rules and gameplay of the two variants are quite similar. Both follow the hugely popular five-card draw format. Bonus Poker, too, utilises a standard French deck containing only 52 cards, as no jokers are in play. In fact, the greatest difference between the two variants is the “bonus” payout on Four of a Kind hands with cards of specific ranks. The game takes its name from this additional payout, which we will examine in detail in the next section.
The game starts with players deciding how much they want to bet per hand. Usually they can stake between one and five credits on each round, with common denominations being 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00. Once the bet is made, the player presses (or clicks) the Deal button, at which point five cards are dealt randomly from the deck. This forms the starting hand. The objective is to evaluate its strength and decide which cards are worth holding and which should be discarded in order to complete a hand that qualifies for a payout. Following the rules of five-card draw, Bonus Poker allows players to keep or discard any, or indeed all, of the five cards they receive on the deal.
Once players have decided which cards to hold, they click the Deal button again to draw replacements for their discards. This forms the final hand – if it appears among the qualifying hands in the paytable, the player will collect a payout based on its rank and the number of credits initially staked.
One great thing about Bonus Poker (and video poker in general) is that players are able to calculate the probability of forming specific hands on the draw. Another advantage is that it uses a standard 52-card deck (with four cards of every rank and 13 cards of each suit), which makes it possible to determine an optimal playing strategy.
This is achievable because after the initial deal only 47 cards remain in the deck, and, judging by the starting hand, players can evaluate the odds of drawing certain qualifying hands. Additionally, one can calculate the theoretical payout percentage of a given Bonus Poker variant by using the payouts in the paytable and the probability of forming each hand.
The Paytable and Hand Rankings in Bonus Poker
| The Pros | The Cons |
|---|---|
| The additional payouts for quads make the gameplay more exciting. | The game’s medium variance requires a larger bankroll. |
| The game is not as volatile as some other bonus video-poker variations. | The strategy is more difficult to learn and master. |
| Bonus Poker is ideal for players looking for something different. | The paytables vary widely across online casinos. |
The paytable is the core of all video-poker variations, and the same applies in full force to Bonus Poker. As mentioned earlier, many of the qualifying hands in this variant coincide with those in Jacks or Better. There is one key difference, though, and it lies in the extra payout for Four of a Kind hands with Aces, which usually pay up to 400 credits if you bet the maximum of five coins. Accordingly, the payout is 80 to 1 if you bet the minimum of one coin.
Additionally, there are two other payouts for Four of a Kind. Quads made up of four 2s, 3s or 4s pay 40 to 1 for one-credit wagers and 200 for five-credit bets. Meanwhile, quads of 5s through Kings offer a maximum payout of 125 credits if you stake the maximum. These additional payouts are the main attraction that draws players to Bonus Poker, not to mention they can help you salvage what might otherwise be a disastrous betting session.
There is one drawback that stems directly from these “quad bonuses”. A closer look at a Bonus Poker paytable will reveal a reduction in the payouts for two other important hands, the Full House and the Flush. Full-pay Jacks or Better variants pay 9 to 1 for a Full House and 6 to 1 for a Flush, while in Bonus Poker the payouts for these two hands are reduced to 8 to 1 and 5 to 1, respectively.
This may not seem like a big deal, but it is, because it reduces the expected return, which in Bonus Poker is around 99.17% as opposed to 99.54% in full-pay Jacks or Better. From this it follows that if players fail to hit a quad, they will lose money more quickly in 8/5 Bonus Poker because the Full House and the Flush do not pay as much as they normally would.
Other than that, the hand rankings and their corresponding payouts are the same as those in other popular video-poker variants. The highest-ranking hand is, of course, the Royal Flush and, as such, it offers the most generous prize of 4,000 coins per five-credit bet. On that note, it is important to mention that the Royal Flush makes it worthwhile for players to wager the maximum, because hitting it offsets the reduction in the payouts for smaller bets.
The lowest-ranking winning hand in the game is a pair of Jacks or other high pairs – Kings, Queens and Aces. As such, it rewards players with even-money payouts, so they receive exactly the amount originally wagered if they hit a high pair.
Another thing to watch out for is a reduction in the payouts for Two Pair hands. On occasion, you may come across 8/5 Bonus Poker games that offer even-money on winning Two Pair hands. Bear in mind that most other video-poker variants pay two credits per credit wagered for Two Pairs, so anything less than this is a complete rip-off. Because of this, always make sure you examine the entire paytable of your preferred Bonus Poker variant and look for discrepancies in the other hands’ payouts.
| Bonus Poker Paytable | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coins | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Royal Flush | 800 | 1600 | 2400 | 3200 | 4000 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
| Four Aces | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s | 40 | 80 | 120 | 160 | 200 |
| Four 5s – Kings | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
| Full House | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | 40 |
| Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
| Straight | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| Two Pair | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
| Jacks or Better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Bonus Poker Deluxe
Some online casinos offer a variation of Bonus Poker called Bonus Poker Deluxe. The game follows the same rules as other variants based on Jacks or Better, but the key difference lies in the improved payouts for any Four of a Kind hand: here the ranks of the cards that make up the hand are irrelevant. This “improvement” is compensated for by paying less for Two Pairs. In most full-pay video-poker variants, Two Pair pays 2 to 1. This is not the case in Bonus Poker Deluxe, where a Two Pair pays even-money, similarly to the lowest-ranking high-pair hands.
Another parallel that can be drawn between Bonus Poker Deluxe and Jacks or Better is that both games are available in full-pay and short-pay formats. As is usually the case, the discrepancies occur in the payouts for the Full House and the Flush, which in some instances are dramatically reduced, to the disadvantage of bettors. Players are likely to encounter Bonus Poker Deluxe variants that offer 8/6, 8/5, 7/5 and, in the worst-case scenario, even 6/5 payouts for the Full House and the Flush.
The result is decreased theoretical payout percentages and long-term losses for players. To avoid this, look for a full-pay 9/6 version of Bonus Poker Deluxe, which offers one of the highest return percentages in video poker, 99.64%. Compare this with the 95.36% RTP of the 6/5 variation and you will see why the latter should be avoided at all costs.
Double Bonus Poker
Full-Pay Deuces Wild
Aces and Faces
Pick’em Video Poker
Video Poker for Real Money
Basic Strategy for Bonus Poker
Since Bonus Poker shares many similarities with its predecessor Jacks or Better, it is hardly surprising that the basic strategies for the two games largely coincide. We will now focus on the basic strategy for Bonus Poker that pays 8/5 for Full Houses and Flushes, as this is the most widespread variation.
As mentioned earlier, the only decision players must make after the initial deal is which cards to keep and which to discard. It may not sound like a big decision, but what you choose can have a dramatic effect on whether you win or lose.
The rule of thumb is not to discard anything if you have been dealt unbeatable or strong pat hands, such as a Royal Flush (one would be a fool to break up a made Royal, after all), a Straight Flush, a Full House, a Flush or a Straight. There are two exceptions to this rule regarding a made Flush or Straight. If you receive a Flush that could improve to a Royal, you should replace the card that blocks you. The same applies to Straights – keep it as it is unless you are only one card away from the Royal Flush.
The strategy also recommends drawing one card when you are dealt any of the following opening hands – four cards to a Royal Flush, four cards to a Straight Flush, four cards to a Flush, Four of a Kind and Two Pair. You also draw a card whenever your starting hand consists of four cards to a Straight with at least three high cards, or an open-ended four-card Straight where improvement is possible at either end. By contrast, an inside Straight has a gap in the middle, so usually only four cards (out of the remaining 47 in the deck) can complete the hand.
The following opening hands require players to draw two cards – Three of a Kind, three-card Royal Flushes, three-card Straight Flushes and three-card Straights that contain three high cards (i.e. Ace, King, Queen or Jack).
Whenever players are dealt a qualifying pair of Jacks or higher, two high cards (such as King-Jack), or are holding two cards to a Royal Flush, they should replace the three irrelevant cards in an attempt to improve the hand. Finally, in Bonus Poker, the basic beginner strategy dictates that when holding only one high card, players should keep it and discard the rest.