BONUS POKER STRATEGY

Bonus Poker differs from Jacks or Better. This game pays a bonus for some of the four of a kind hands. Four 5s through Kings are paid 25 for one just as they are in Jacks or Better. However four 2s, 3s, or 4s are paid at a rate of 40 for one. Four aces are paid at the still higher rate of 80 for one.

As you learned in chapter one, this game and others that followed were developed to satisfy the gambling public’s quest for larger jackpots. Jacks or Better has only the royal flush as a true jackpot. In that game any four of a kind pays enough for you to play 25 additional hands so they are not really jackpots, although it really helps out. Bonus Poker on the other hand pays 80 for one for four aces. On a quarter machine this amounts to $100 with five credits played. While this is not a huge jackpot, it is enough to make you feel like you have won something substantial and you may even decide to stop playing at that point with what you consider a nice win for the session. Also, where the royal flush happens only once every 40,000 hands or so, four aces will occur roughly once every 5,100 hands, which is eight times as often. Playing at a rate of 500 hands per hour, the Bonus Poker player will get four aces once every 10 hours of play, on average.