Bonus Deluxe Video Poker

As the title suggests, the video poker variant Bonus Deluxe Poker was created
by consolidating the original offshoot of Bonus Poker.

By taking the template provided by video poker’s classic game, Jacks or
Better, and simply adding “bonus” payments for various four of a kind
combinations, Bonus Poker was born. But in that game, the crucial four of a kind
hands are divided into three tiers, with four aces paying 80 coins per coin
wagered, four 2s, 3s, or 4s paying 40 coins, and all other quads offering 25
coins.

The conceit of Bonus Deluxe Poker is that all four of a kind hands should be
treated equally, so this game does away with that three-tiered payment
structure. Instead, any four of a kind combination is good for the full 80-coin
bonus payout. That’s even better than the straight flush reward of 50 coins,
making quads the hand to chase – along with those elusive royal flushes of
course – when playing Bonus Deluxe Poker.

Aside from that reversal between straight flushes and four of a kind, Bonus
Deluxe Poker essentially mimics the pay table used in 9 / 6 “full pay” Jacks or
Better. That is, royals pay out an 800-coin jackpot, full houses 9 coins,
flushes 6 coins, straights 4 coins, and three of a kind 3 coins.

Only when the bottom rung of the payout ladder is reached does Bonus Deluxe
Poker claw back a bit of equity for the house – turning the typical 2-coin
payout for two pair into a 1-coin prize.

And of course, the minimum hand needed to earn a 1-coin payout still stands
at one pair of Jacks or Better.

Many video poker aficionados prefer Bonus Deluxe Poker to basic Bonus Poker
because they don’t need to worry about which four of a kind to chase. Rather
than run through the relative disappointment of hitting quads – only to see that
four 7s only pays out 25 coins compared to 80 coins for quads in aces -these
players enjoy the streamlined structure that ensures all four of a kind hands
trigger a big-time bonus pay.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a session of Bonus Poker, but thought the wonky
three-tiered payout scheme didn’t make much sense, Bonus Deluxe Poker is the
game for you. By combining the enduring appeal of Jacks or Better with the
excitement of incentive payouts for all four of a kind combinations, Bonus
Deluxe Poker brings the best of both worlds to your game screen.

Bonus Deluxe Poker Basics

We just referenced players who have encountered original Bonus Poker before,
but this section is dedicated to pure video poker beginners who are just now
discovering this great game of ours.

With that said, if you already know your way around a traditional Game King
machine, feel free to skip ahead to our discussion on payback percentages in the
following section.

Now, back to the beginners.

At first glance, a basic video poker machine looks and sounds a lot like the
slots – what with onscreen graphics, bells and whistles when big winners hit,
and buttons being clicked all around. But unlike slots, which present players
with a purely chance-based gamble – and one with standardized payouts across the
board – video poker machines are more than meets the eye.

The first thing to look for when you find a Bonus Deluxe Poker machine is the
pay table grid, which is usually flashing onscreen within a yellow outline.
We’ll dive deeper into the role of pay tables as this page progresses, but all
you need to know at the moment are the numbers 9 and 6.

These are the payouts assigned to a full house and a flush, respectively, on
the “full pay” version of Bonus Deluxe Poker. We’ll get into the impact of pay
tables on your payback percentage in the following section, but sufficed to say,
any adjustment to the 9 / 6 payout scheme for full houses and flushes will
significantly affect your overall bottom line.

Once you’ve located a Bonus Deluxe Poker machine which pays out in the 9 / 6
combination for those crucial hands, take a seat and insert your cash or casino
credit voucher. This will activate the game and get you in the mix.

Another aspect of video poker pay tables to be aware of is that they’re
almost always divided into five- one for each of the 1 to 5 coins you can wager.

Those coins may be pennies, nickels, quarters, or even dollars depending on
your bankroll limitations, but in each case the game will allow you to bet 1, 2,
3, 4, or the maximum of 5 coins. On penny machines, the max bet would be $0.05
per hand, while max-betting on quarter machines bumps the action to $1.25 a
hand, and dollar players put in $5.00 each time out.

Each coin amount offers its own pay table, increasingly incrementally along
with the poker hand rankings – except for the maximum bet, which tends to attach
a jackpot payout for making a royal flush.

Video poker experts have long since “cracked the code” behind the game’s
mathematics, realizing that this single tweak to the pay table makes max-betting
the most profitable play every time out.

As we said, you’ll learn all about why
that is later on, but for now just take our word for it and select the max-bet
of 5 coins at your preferred denomination.

Once you’ve chosen to bet the maximum, the game screen will bring you to the
real deal, with a virtual dealer (really a random number generator) programmed
to dispense a five-card starting hand from a 52-card deck. To grab your first
hand, just click on the “DEAL” button and wait to see what the cards have in
store.

With a five-card starting hand onscreen, the game truly begins. This is when
your skills and card sense come into play, as you’ll be able to hold or discard
any, all, or none of them before drawing replacements. Simply put, the best
video poker players know exactly when to “hold’em or fold’em” based on their
five-card starting hand.

Let’s imagine you’ve been dealt the Ah-Kh-Ks-9h-3h combination. In this case,
you may elect to hold the four hearts and hope to find a fifth to form a flush.
A more conservative player may opt to keep the pair of kings – and a sure payout
– rather than chase. You’ll learn all about the perfect strategy for Bonus
Deluxe Poker a few sections down the road, so we’ll let you know then which play
is optimal given this example.

For now, however, let’s stick with the theme of Bonus Deluxe Poker and try to
land four of a kind. That means holding the pair of kings and discarding the
other three cards. To achieve this, just look for the small button underneath
each card graphic. One click will hold the card in place, while a second click
can change your mind.

After pressing “HOLD” under the two kings, clicking the “DRAW” button (likely
the same “DEAL” button you used earlier) will direct the dealer to pass out
replacements. You’d get three new cards at this point – let’s say the Kc, Qs,
and 2h – and from there the machine simply determines your hand strength and
awards the commensurate payout.

That’s 3 coins per coin wagered for three of a kind in this case, so we’d
collect $15.00 when max-betting for $5.00 on a dollar machine.

Once you’ve completed a hand and your payout (if you earned one) is awarded,
this cycle simply repeats itself over and over again: take a five-card starting
hand, run through the hold / discard process, and hope to hit your hands.

That’s how all video poker games are played, and now that you’ve received a
tutorial, you’re ready to tackle the clever offshoot known as Bonus Deluxe
Poker.

What Is a Payback Percentage in the Context of Bonus Deluxe Poker?

Whenever you read about gambling games – from video poker to blackjack and
everything in between -the writers will tend to employ two terms above all
others:

  1. The house edge
  2. The payback percentage

The term “house edge” is exactly what it sounds like: a metric used to
determine the casino’s expected return on a wager or game. House edge is usually
applied to table games like blackjack (0.50 percent), baccarat (1.06 percent on
Banker bets; 1.24 percent on Player bets), and roulette (2.70 percent on
single-zero wheels; 5.26 percent on double-zero wheels).

In essence, those percentages simply stand for the amount of dollars the
house can expect to earn based on every $100 wagered over the long run. Thus,
blackjack is a game preferred by thinking players, as the house edge sends just
$0.50 per $100 bet to the house. And games like roulette are left for the
recreational players just looking to have a little fun, because a whopping $5.26
of every $100 put up will be scooped in by the house.

You may be asking yourself by now, “how can the casino win $0.50 on a $100
blackjack bet?” Well, they can’t – not on a single bet anyway. But when the
infinite long run is considered, which includes thousands of players wagering
millions of dollars, 24 hours a day and seven days per week, for years and even
decades, the average win for the house per $100 wagered will fall in line with
that 0.50 percent house edge.

For players who prefer machine games like video poker and the slots, the term
“payback percentage” is the preferred nomenclature.

In this case, the focus has been reversed, as payback percentage measures the
amount of money the player can expect to bring back over the long run. For
instance, Bonus Deluxe Poker using the 9 / 6 full pay table offers a 99.64
percent payback rate – which means you’d collect $99.64 for every $100 wagered.

But if you take a look at those numbers, you’ll realize that house edge and
payback percentage are just two ways of assessing the same thing: win and loss
rates.

You can expect to “win” $99.64 for every $100 put up on Bonus Deluxe Poker,
but that’s really just a loss of $0.36. In other words, this game holds a house
edge of 0.36 percent.

You don’t have to be bound by these distinctions of course, so many video
poker players will refer to a machine or pay table using the term house edge.
Most prefer the payback percentage system, but in both cases the information is
the same, allowing players to compare the relative profitability of a given
machine or pay table setup.

If you ever see a payback percentage figure and would like to convert it into
house edge, just take the figure and subtract it from 100. That’s how we arrived
at 0.36 percent house edge for full pay Bonus Deluxe Poker, as 100 – 99.64 =
0.36.

And conversely, any house edge rate can be subtracted from 100 to find the
corresponding payback percentage.

Understanding how to calculate – and more importantly, to compare – these two
figures is crucial to becoming a successful video poker player. We’ll explore
this in detail when the next section begins, but let’s just say that casinos
have found many clever ways to tinker with pay tables, significantly lowering
the payback percentage offered to players (while boosting their own house edge
in the process).

Now that you know the gist of things, let’s move on to a few important
caveats:

1 – These Are Theoretical, Long Term Predictions Only

Nobody is saying that you’ll always bring back $99.64 per $100 wagered when playing full pay Bonus
Deluxe Poker – far from it. That’s simply an average borne out of the infinite
long run, and that’s a scope no single player can ever hope to approach.

Instead, you’ll be forced to withstand the swings of gambling known as
variance, as your sessions will always constitute the short run rather than the
long. Even if you put in 10,000 hands in a week, that wouldn’t come close to the
volume and sample size needed to bring your results back to the baseline payback
percentage.

This means you’ll experience big wins and losses, interspersed with breakeven
sessions, rather than anything that comes close to the true 99.64 percent
payback percentage. But, as you continue playing for years, decades, and
eventually a lifetime – putting your coins behind the highest possible payback
percentage will naturally produce more profits (or fewer losses).

2 – These Numbers Assume You’re Playing with Optimal Strategy

Whenever you see a payback percentage or house edge rate, they’ll always be based on a player
employing optimal strategy. This means any mistakes made, or long shots taken,
will eat away at your expected return. For blackjack experts, the basic game
offers a 0.50 percent house edge, but that balloons to 1.5 percent for novices
playing by blind instinct alone. The same holds true for video poker, so you’ll
need to study up on optimal strategy in order to derive full equity from high
payback percentage games like Bonus Deluxe Poker.

How the Pay Tables for Bonus Deluxe Poker Work to Create a Transparent
Payback Percentage

Below you’ll find the 9 / 6 pay table, also called the “full pay” table, used
for Bonus Deluxe Poker:

Full Pay 9 / 6 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal Flush 250 500 750 1000 4000
Straight Flush 50 100 150 200 250
Four of a Kind 80 160 240 320 400
Full House 9 18 27 36 45
Flush 6 12 18 24 30
Straight 4 8 12 16 20
Three of a Kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two Pair 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or Better 1 2 3 4 5
All Other 0 0 0 0 0

We’ve already explained how the full pay concept works, but just in case you
forgot; take a look at the payouts for a full house and flush, which are set at
9 coins and 6 coins, respectively.

These are the key hands / pay outs to watch for, because the vast majority of
Bonus Deluxe Poker machines will keep all other payouts intact. But by adjusting
the full house and flush pays downward, even by just a single coin, casino
operators can severely diminish the overall payback percentage offered to
players.

The most common downgraded pay table for Bonus Deluxe Poker is the 8 / 6
variety, which bumps the payout for a full house down from 9 coins to 8 coins –
while leaving all others intact. This may not seem like a big deal, but this
adjustment drops your payback percentage from 99.64 percent all the way to 98.49
percent.

Within the world of casino gambling, when every margin is razor thin,
sacrificing a full percentage point from your expected return is akin to
bankroll suicide. Simply put, playing Bonus Deluxe Poker on an 8 / 6 pay table
instead of the 9 / 6 full pay version will cost you tons of money over the long
run.

And it doesn’t end there, as some machine designers have even rolled out
inferior 8 / 5 (97.40 percent payback) 7 / 5 (96.25 percent), and 6 / 5 (95.26
percent) pay tables. As you might suspect, unwitting players – usually on The
Strip with no full pay options on the floor – park themselves at these machines
every single day, mistakenly believing the title Bonus Deluxe Poker ensures a
99.64 percent payback.

As important as learning optimal strategy is – and trust us, it’s important –
taking care to educate yourself on pay table discrepancies is what separates
recreational video poker players from those who take the game seriously.

And by the way, anybody who needs a refresher course on how video poker hands
stack up in the first place can check below for a full rundown of Bonus Deluxe
Poker hand rankings:

  • Royal Flush

    The most elusive hand in all of poker, coming in just once
    in every 40,000 hands or so, is the royal flush – which consists of the 10 J
    Q K A “Broadway” straight in the same suit. This hand is a rarity, but when
    you snag one while max betting, be prepared for lights, sirens, and a cool
    4,000 coin hand pay to be delivered.

  • Four of a Kind

    The game’s bonus payout of 80 coins can be earned by
    collecting all four cards of a given rank (2 2 2 2 A, A A A A 2).

  • Straight Flush

    When you hold a straight, but all five cards are also
    suited for a flush, you’ve landed yourself a straight flush. That’s usually
    the second strongest hand in poker, but Bonus Deluxe Poker prioritizes four
    of a kind with its bonus 80 coin payout, which is why it’s ranked third
    here.

  • Full House

    Take three of a kind and add a pair to form a full house.
    Examples include 6 6 8 8 8, Q Q Q 2 2, or 7 3 7 3 7.

  • Flush

    To find a flush, you’ll need to group five suited cards of any
    rank together. Examples include 3h 8h 10h Qh Ah or 2s 7s 9s 10s Ks.

  • Straight

    A straight combines five consecutive card ranks that aren’t
    suited. Think something like the A 2 3 4 5 “wheel straight,” the 10 J Q K A
    “Broadway” straight, or a less prominent version like 7 8 9 10 J.

  • Three of a Kind

    Three of a kind – Also known as “trips,” three of a kind involves
    matching three of any one card rank (7 7 7 4 3, A A A K Q, or 3 3 3 9 2 are
    all examples).

  • Two Pair

    Two is better than one, at least when it comes to pairs in
    video poker, so you’ll earn a 2 coin reward for pairing up twice (A A 5 5 2
    or 7 7 6 6 4).

  • One Pair (Js or Better)

    The minimum qualifying hand to earn a payout in
    this game takes its cue from Jacks or Better, so you’ll need one pair of
    face cards or aces (J J, Q Q, K K, or A A) to collect 1 coin.

An interesting aspect of video poker pay tables, at least in our minds
anyhow, is how they can be used to determine the payback percentage for a game
as a whole. Basically, you have certain odds of hitting any particular hand, and
by comparing those probabilities with the payouts on offer, you can calculate
individual payback percentages for each hand.

This may have been mentioned once or twice, but math isn’t our strong suit
(we’re wordsmiths if you can’t tell), so nobody is asking you to perform these
calculations on your own. Instead, let’s walk through the known data on Bonus
Deluxe Poker hands to see exactly where we stand.

Take a look at a few crucial examples of the math underpinning Bonus Deluxe
Poker below:

You can expect to form no qualifying hand (anything less than one pair of
jacks) on an astounding 54.8 percent of deals. That means more than half the
time you play a hand, you’ll wind up shipping your coins to the house.
Obviously, the expected return on these hands is nothing at all, as 54.8 percent
x 0 coins paid = 0.

The minimum payable hand is one pair of jacks or better, which will show up
on 21.1 percent of hands played. It pays just 1 coin of course, making the
expected return on this hand 21.1 percent using the same Probability x Payout
formula.

Two pair will turn up just 12.8 percent of the time, and with its 1-coin
payout, that equates to an expected return of 12.8 percent on this hand.

You’ll make three of a kind on 7.4 percent of hands, but this time the payout
climbs to 3 coins, producing an expected return of 22.2 percent (7.4 percent x 3
= 22.2 percent).

Next up on the pay table is the straight, which arrives on only 1.27 percent
of hands. But with a payout of 4 coins, the expected return when playing for a
straight stands at 5.1 percent.

This process can be applied to any hand in the game, all the way through the
royal flush – which you’ll see just 0.0024 percent of hands. But with that
jackpot payout of 800 coins for max-betting players, the expected return on a
royal flush hits 1.92percent (0.0024 percent x 800 = 1.92 percent).

Averaging all of the individual expected return rates for all hands in Bonus
Deluxe Poker produces that 99.64 percent payback we’ve mentioned before.

Now, that assumes you’re playing the game perfectly – a feat you can surely
accomplish after studying our Bonus Deluxe Poker optimal strategy table in the
next section.

Bonus Deluxe Poker Strategy Tips

Players continue flocking to the video poker machines year after year for one
simple reason: skill.

Unlike the slot machines and their purely chance based outcomes, every hand
of video poker presents players with a puzzle to put together. By assessing the
relative strength of any five card starting hand combination – comparing
prospective payouts with the odds of holding made hands and / or completing
various draws – even a novice can sort through the situation and arrive at the
optimal play.

Of course, not all hands can be easily boiled down into a binary choice, and
indeed most starting hands in Bonus Deluxe Poker will contain several seemingly
viable routes to take. Remember that example hand from earlier, when we were
dealt Ah Kh Ks 9h 3h? Well, that’s just one of the thousands of five card
combinations awaiting you – and as we alluded to already, it’s a tricky one at
that.

The goal for video poker experts is to take every single hand they see and
make the most profitable decision possible. They won’t hit every draw, that’s a
given, but by continually selecting the best play on the board, the most skilled
players ensure that they’re wagers are backing bets which offer the highest
probability of success.

With a hand like Ah Kh Ks 9h 3h staring you in the face, your options are
twofold. You can hold the four-flush and trying to earn a 6-coin payout, or
stick with the pair of kings and its guaranteed 1-coin reward – with added
opportunity to improve with three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind.

As we mentioned earlier, some players swear by the “more risk, more reward”
strategy inherent to drawing at the flush, while others are content to play
conservative and take the sure money.

But the question remains: which play really is the best?

We’re no mathematical geniuses, this we can assure you, so rather than wade
into the murky waters of probability calculations and the like, we’ll simply
pass along the good news. The true geniuses out there have worked hard to
formulate an optimal strategy for Bonus Deluxe Poker, one which breaks down
every possible starting hand combination before assessing the expected return
inherent to all potential plays.

That’s a mouthful, admittedly, so just think about it like basic strategy in
blackjack. Given the information you know (your five-card starting hand and the
payouts for all final hands), you’ll always have one play available which
provides the highest possible expected return. Blackjack sharps now exactly when
to split or double down to increase their expected return, and video poker
experts can assess any five cards onscreen and intuit which to hold and which to
ditch.

They do that by studying the table below and committing its tenets to memory.
To use this Bonus Deluxe Poker optimal strategy table, your job is to scan a
five-card starting hand, determine which hands and / or draws you hold, and
choose the play ranked highest on the list:

Key: T = 10, J = Jack, Q = Queen, K = King, A = Ace

  1. Full House or better

    Obviously, when the screen lights up with a full house, straight flush, four of a kind,
    or royal flush, you don’t have much to think about. Hold these pat hands and
    collect the instant payout.

  2. Four to a Royal Flush

    The second-strongest hand in the game is any four-card combination that puts you
    on the precipice of a royal flush. So whenever you hold four suited Broadway
    cards, always opt to take a shot at beating those 40,000 to 1 odds.

  3. Three of a kind

    This one may seem counterintuitive at first, as three of a kind is ranked higher than
    flushes and straights on the strategy table, despite being a lower-ranked
    poker hand. But when the bonus payout factor for four of a kind is added to
    the equation, starting with three of a kind becomes that much more powerful.
    Thus, holding three of a kind while ditching a made flush or straight is
    actually the most profitable play in terms of expected return.

  4. Flush

    This made hand, and the one below it, should always be held in lieu of higher-ranked alternatives.

  5. Straight
  6. Four to a Straight Flush

    Just
    like the four-card royal flush draw, any four-card combination that gives
    you a chance at making a straight flush is considered a powerful hand – more
    powerful than the guaranteed payout for two pair or one pair in fact.

  7. Two pair

    Two more made hands
    which should be kept when there’s nothing else cooking onscreen.

  8. One pair: Js / Qs / Ks / As
  9. Three to a Royal Flush: TJQ, TJK
    / TQK, JQK, JQA / JKA / QKA

    We’re now into the nitty gritty of video poker
    strategy, as tentative drawing hands like this will appear much more often
    than you’d suspect. Whenever your five-card starting hand is unconnected,
    forming only two-, three-, or four-card draws, do your best to size them all
    up and locate the highest-ranked hand on our list.

  10. Four to a Flush
  11. Three to a Royal Flush: TJA / TQA / TKA
  12. Four to a Straight: TJQK
  13. One pair: Tens or lower
  14. Four to a Straight: 2345, 3456, 4567, 5678, 6789, 789T,
    89TJ, 9TJQ
  15. Three to a Straight Flush: 345, 456, 567, 678, 789, 89T,
    89J / 8TJ, 8JQ, 9TJ, 9TQ / 9JQ, 9JK / 9QK
  16. Four to a Straight: JQKA
  17. Two to a Royal Flush: JA / JQ / JK, QA / QK, KA
  18. Four to a Straight: 9JQK, TJQA / TJKA / TQKA
  19. Three to a Straight Flush: Ace-low, 234 / 235 / 245, 346
    / 356, 457 / 467, 568 / 578, 679 / 689, 78T / 79T, 78J / 79J / 7TJ, 89Q /
    8TQ, 9TK
  20. Three to a Straight: JQK
  21. Four to a Straight: 89JQ / 8TJQ, 9TJK / 9TQK
  22. Two to a Straight: JQ
  23. Two to a Straight: QK
  24. Two to a Royal Flush: TJ, TQ
  25. Two to a Straight: JK
  26. Two to a Straight: JA / QA / KA
  27. Two to a Royal Flush: TK
  28. One high card
  29. Three to a Straight Flush: 236 / 246 / 256, 347 / 357 /
    367, 458 / 468 / 478, 569 / 579 / 589, 67T / 68T / 69T
  30. Four to a Straight: 2346 / 2356 / 2456, 3457 / 3467 /
    3567, 4568 / 4578 / 4678, 5679 / 5689 / 5789, 678T / 679T / 689T
  31. Discard everything

A table with 31 listings isn’t exactly easy to learn in one sitting, so don’t
expect to become a Bonus Deluxe Poker sharp overnight. But by taking advantage
of the free video poker simulators found online, and gradually working into the
real money climate, you can put these precepts into practice until your strategy
begins approaching perfection.

Finally, let’s take one last look at that Ah Kh Ks 9h 3h example hand from
earlier to see how this optimal strategy table really works. Remember, we have
two main hands to choose from: a four-card flush draw or one pair of kings.

By taking a look at the table, you’ll notice that one pair of jacks or better
is ranked in the eighth position. And two spots down, you’ll find the four-flush
draw. Thus, the best play when faced with these five starting cards is to hold
the pair of kings and draw three cards.

This ensures a payout of at least 1 coin, while giving you a shot at catching
another king for 3 coins, a full house for 9 coins, or even four of a kind for
the big 80-coin bonus. Alternatively, when drawing to a flush your results are
essentially capped, with a loss on one end of the spectrum, a win of 6 coins on
the other, and no middle ground in between.

As you can tell, making use of the optimal strategy table can turn some of
those tough Bonus Deluxe Poker decisions into a piece of cake – as you’ll always
be putting your money behind the highest expected return offered.

Bonus Deluxe Poker Variants

Our page contains dedicated reviews for every video poker variant, but we
located a fun addition to the mix that expands on Bonus Deluxe Poker
specifically:

Pyramid Bonus Deluxe Poker


A product of Betsoft, the Pyramid concept
has been applied to several video poker base games, including Bonus Deluxe
Poker. This game offers three separate payouts for each hand: one based on
the first three cards (from left to right), another on the last three cards,
and the traditional five-card poker hand. Of course, you can’t make the
game’s pivotal four of a kind hand using only three cards, so the bonus
payout switches to straight flushes for the three-card variety.

Pyramid Bonus Deluxe Poker is certainly entertaining, and even quite
challenging in its own way, but we must advise you against actually playing this
online variant. Like most novelty games, the gimmick looks fun at first, but
with a total payback percentage of only 83.6 percent – it’s one of the worst
video poker games ever designed from the player’s perspective.

Where to Find Bonus Deluxe Poker Games (Online or Off)

Back in our day, searching for full pay machines formed much of the “work”
involved in high-level video poker.

Calling casino managers and asking for the scoop, driving from venue to venue
to conduct reconnaissance missions, and diligently mapping out confirmed full
pay locations in our trusty notebook involved investing hours and hours of time.
And as every skill-based gambler knows well, time really is money.

The internet age changed all that though, and today the friendly folks
running VPFree2.com have created a comprehensive database which includes information on every video poker machine in America.

Head to the VPFree2.com search page and use the drop-down tabs to select
Bonus Poker Deluxe – which is referred to as Bonus Deluxe here under the code
“Bdlx.” From there, you can input your chosen coin denominations, the region
you’re in, and most importantly the pay table configuration before clicking on
“SEARCH.”

Within seconds you’ll be presented with a full listing of 9 / 6 full pay
Bonus Deluxe Poker machines in a given area, complete with coin denominations
used in a particular venue. That’s how we learned that Las Vegas generally
relegates its full pay machines – and their 99.64 percent payback percentage –
to the off-Strip areas of Sin City. Casinos like South Point, Aliante, and the
Stations family are all home to several banks of 9 / 6 full pay Bonus Deluxe
Poker.

On the other hand, players confined to The Strip will be faced with an uphill
climb, as the favored pay table there is the inferior 8 / 5 model with its much
lower 98.49 percent payback.

By taking advantage of the VPFree2.com search function, you’ll never need to
put in the same legwork we once did to get your money in a full pay machine.

And while we’re on the subject of online wonders, today’s top online casino
software companies like Betsoft, Microgaming, International Game Technology
(IGT), and more all offer their own version of Bonus Deluxe Poker.

But as always, be sure to study your pay tables diligently before playing, as
they aren’t all that standardized across the major software platforms. Betsoft
casinos, for example, offer the 9 / 6 full pay table, while Microgaming opts for
the 8 / 5 route to pad its own bottom line.

Conclusion

Bonus Deluxe Poker is the perfect remedy for players who have grown bored
with Jacks or Better, but find the three-tiered quad payouts in Bonus Poker to
be tedious. It really does fuse the best elements from both variants, including
the 9 / 6 full pay model, an extremely high payback percentage, and the added
thrill of a secondary jackpot hand.

And while these machines aren’t the most popular models on the casino floor,
you’ll still find plenty of them scattered throughout the outskirts of Las
Vegas’ off-Strip casino territory. With coin denominations ranging from $0.05 to
$50.00, Bonus Deluxe Poker is built for bankrolls of all size and scope, so
everybody is invited to take their shot at finding four of a kind in this
exciting extension of the video poker landscape.