Double Double Bonus Poker Plus

Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker stands out as one of the bonus
poker variations with the most aggressive pay structures available to players.
In particular, the game awards players who can make four of a kind hands. If you
can manage those hands with aces through fours as either the four of a kind
cards or the kickers, you could really be in for a huge payoff.

If you are new to video poker, you might just be intimidated by a game like
Double Double Bonus Poker Plus based on its name alone. Yet, you shouldn’t worry
too much about any intimidation factor. After all, it plays just like the most
basic form of video poker, also known as Jacks or Better.

Double Double Bonus Poker Plus Logo

In

Jacks or Better
, you are looking to make the best possible poker hands out
of a five-card deal and a subsequent draw which allows you to discard your worst
cards in favor of new ones. The same process takes place when you are playing
Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker. If you know how to play one game,
you pretty much know how to play the other.

The main difference comes into play with the respective pay tables for these
games. Jacks or Better is a game that pays off pretty conservatively, stretching
payouts somewhat evenly throughout the most common winning hands before offering
a huge bonus to those who manage to obtain a royal flush. This pay structure
allows for steady gameplay but doesn’t offer much to those who want the
excitement of something resembling a jackpot.

Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, like other bonus games of its
kind, is a remedy for those players who want a better chance at a huge payout in
a single hand. It achieves this by putting a premium on all four of a kind
hands, especially those where the principal cards involved are aces, twos,
threes, or fours. These hands still come up short of the royal flush payoff, but
they pay significantly more than common winning hands.

Of course, no casino entertainment is going to give you something like higher
payments without taking something away. In the case of Double Double Bonus Poker
Plus video poker, that something is the payout for the two pair hand. It’s lower
in this game than it is in common Jacks or Better, which means that you’ll need
those big hands to come along if you want to sustain your bankroll.

The following article will explain how to play common video poker, which will
mean that you’ll also be able to play Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video
poker. In addition, it will explain the importance of the pay tables attached to
the game and how those tables relate to the payback percentages. Finally, we’ll
look at strategy for the game, while also making an honest assessment of both
its positive and negative aspects so that you’ll know if it’s the game for you.

How to Play Double Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker

There are some variations of video poker that put a twist on gameplay, making
them a little bit more difficult to learn. Luckily, Double Double Bonus Poker
Plus video poker is not one of those games. It plays the same as Jacks or Better
video poker, which itself closely mimics the actual card game known as
five-card draw.

As a matter of fact, the probability of you making winning hands, such as a
flush or a full house, are exactly the same in video poker as they are in
five-card draw. That’s because video poker simulates a 52-card deck, with the
same cards in it as if you were playing with a deck from your drawer at home.
So, if you have played five-card draw at some point in your lifetime, you’ll
have a pretty good idea of what to expect.

Even if you haven’t, we’re here to walk you through the process. The
following is a step-by-step tutorial on how to play video poker, whether you
come upon it in a casino, or encounter it on some sort of gambling website.

  1. You will insert money into the machine
    to get started. This will be your bankroll, which will be divided into
    credits or coins. Each credit or coin will be equal to the denomination that
    you choose, such as a quarter or a dollar. If playing the game online,
    you’ll have to first create an account with the website if you want to play
    for real money.
  2. You have to make a bet to begin each
    hand. The amount of the bet can range from one to five coins. As we’ll
    explain down the road, your wisest choice is to play the full five coins per
    hand, but, in the end, it’s completely up to you what the size of your bet
    will be.
  3. Once you have made a bet, five cards
    will appear on the screen. You will then check to see how these cards stack
    up in terms of the winning hands that pay back money in video poker. Winning
    hands include a simple pair of jacks or better, two
    pair
    , three of a kind, a straight
    (five cards of consecutive rank), a flush (five cards of
    the same suit), a full house (three of one rank and a pair
    of another in the same hand), four of a kind, a
    straight flush
    (five consecutive ranks of the same suit), and the
    royal flush (ten through ace of the same suit).
  4. After assessing your deal to see if
    there is a winning combination, or at least a seed of one or more in there,
    you then must decide which cards you want to hold and which ones you want to
    discard. The cards that you discard will be replaced by new ones. These new
    cards will come from the same deck from which you were dealt, meaning that
    you can’t ever get two of the same exact cards in your hand.
  5. Once you have made your decision,
    your draw will determine if you are a winner or not. Keep in mind that you
    don’t have to draw new cards if your original five-card deal makes up a
    winning hand with which you are satisfied. After the draw is over, the hand
    is over as well, and the machine will tally any winnings you might have
    amassed on the hand and add it to your bankroll.
  6. After the completion of each hand, you
    can start the process all over again and play as many hands as you wish,
    bankroll permitting. Alternatively, you can cash out and move on to
    something else. If playing in a casino, the machine will print out a ticket
    that you can cash out or use at other games.

Once you play a couple of hands of video poker, you really should have it
down pat. And once you play the game for a few sessions, you’ll probably start
to understand why so many people make it their preferred choice whenever they
frequent a casino or a gambling website.

On the one hand, video poker provides you with relaxed play, with no pressure
from casino employees or patrons. You can play at your own pace, going as fast
or as slow as you prefer. In that respect, video poker games resemble slot
machines.

Video poker also contains elements of table games as well. First of all, your
strategy will help dictate whether or not you win or lose, as it would in a
table game like blackjack. In video poker, strategy comes into play in terms of
the hand-by-hand decisions to hold or discard certain cards.

In addition, with pay tables right in front of you and probabilities of
achieving certain hands never changing, video poker removes a lot of guesswork
out of gambling. You’ll know going in, by doing some research, how much a
machine is expected to pay you back on average. And you’ll also realize that
video poker, in general, pays back at a very competitive rate compared to other
casino games.

Since you know all that, you can now start to explore what makes Double
Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker a unique variation of video poker. It all
starts with the pay table.

Pay Tables for Double Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker

Consider the pay table for a video poker machine to be its DNA. In the pay
table, you will find everything you need to know about how gameplay might
progress on that machine. You’ll also be able to tell how to conduct the optimum
strategy as well.

Basically, a pay table shows you how much each winning hand will pay off
depending upon how much was wagered. Let’s take a look at the pay table for the
version of Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker that is known as the
full-pay version because it returns the highest percentage to gamblers among all
other possibilities. It’s also called the 9/6 version of the game because the
full house pays off at 9 to 1 and the flush pays off at 6 to 1.

9/6 Double Double Bonus Poker Plus Pay Table

Hand / Coin 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 aces (2 / 3 / 4 kicker) 400 800 1200 1600 2000
Four 2s / 3s / 4s (A / 2 / 3 / 4 kicker) 160 320 480 640 800
Four aces (5 through K kicker) 160 320 480 640 800
Four 2s / 3s / 4s (5 through K kicker) 80 160 240 320 400
Four ks – 5s (A kicker) 80 160 240 320 400
Four ks – 5s (2 through K kicker) 50 100 150 200 250
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
One pair 1 2 3 4 5
All other 0 0 0 0 0

First, let’s talk about how to read that Double Double Bonus Poker Plus pay
table. Let’s say that you managed a flush hand with three coins as your wager.
Follow the “flush” row over to the “3 coins” column, and you’ll see the number
27.

That means that you won 27 coins on that hand. When you subtract the initial
three coins that were wagered, you come up with 24 coins of profit.

Let’s talk about another important aspect of the pay table for Double Double
Bonus Poker Plus: the concept of a kicker. A kicker is the odd card out in a
four of a kind hand. For example, look at the following hand:

Ace of Spades, Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds

In that hand, the queen of diamonds is the kicker. It isn’t included in the
four of a kind, which is comprised of the aces.

You should also be aware of how the payoff for the royal flush hand really
soars from one through four coins played to five coins played. That is why we
highly recommend that you play the maximum bet of five coins if you can.
Otherwise, you will be losing out should you be lucky enough to be dealt or to
draw that rare hand.

Now let’s talk about what makes Double Double Bonus Poker Plus somewhat
unique. To do that, we have to go back again to simple Jacks or Better poker.
That pay table only differs in a couple of areas from the one above, but those
areas are significant enough to alter gameplay severely.

First of all, the payments for four of a kind on a Jacks or Better pay table
are 25 to 1. This is the case regardless of how many coins you wager and what
cards are involved. There are also no kickers to be found on the Jacks or Better
pay table.

That means that Double Double Bonus Poker Plus possesses a significant
advantage in terms of payouts for a four of a kind compared to Jacks or Better.
At the least, the pay table above returns 50 to 1 for a four of a kind of fives
through kings with a two through king as the kicker. That is twice as much as
the uniform payment on a Jacks or Better machine for a quad.

When you start to add in the fact that the four of a kind hands involving
aces with a two, three, or four actually boosts payouts even further, you can
really see how Double Double Bonus Poker Plus distinguishes itself. A four of a
kind is a hand that is easier to achieve than the straight flush, yet it pays
out as much as or more than that hand in Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video
poker, depending on the cards involved.

On top of all that, note that four aces with a kicker of two, three, or four
pay off at 400 to 1. That is more than a royal flush for one through four coins
played, and half as much as the payout for the rarest hand in all of video poker
with five coins played.

All that means is that big payouts are much more likely for Double Double
Bonus Poker Plus video poker than in most versions of the game. It also means
that four of a kind hands are something that you should be on the lookout for on
every hand that you play.

So, where does Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker lack in terms of
payouts? Let’s take a look:

Two Pair Payout in Jacks or Better: 2 to 1

Two Pair Payout in Double Double Bonus Poker Plus: 1 to 1 (even money)

At first glance, you might not think it’s that big of a deal to reduce the
payments for two pair, but two pair is a hand that comes up often during video
poker play. That is opposed to a four of a kind, which, while more manageable
than a straight flush or royal flush, still is a relatively rare occurrence.

That is why gameplay for Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is much
different than it is for Jacks or Better in terms of the flow of play. With
Jacks or Better, you can sail along at a steady level without needing to hit the
huge payments to stay afloat. Doubling your bet on the two pair hands really
helps account for this.

But when playing Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, you are more
likely to encounter extremes in a single session. If you are fortunate enough to
hit a four of a kind hand early on in your play, your bankroll will swell, and
you will be looking at a hefty profit. But failing to hit those hands will mean
it’s much harder for you to stay afloat, and the discount in the payoff for two
pair is the main reason why.

What it boils down to is what you’re specifically seeking from your video
poker experience, either at a casino or on a top gambling website. Those looking for steady play should stick to Jacks or
Better, but if you’re looking for a huge payoff in a hurry, even if it means
that you might lose your whole jackpot searching for it, Double Double Bonus
Poker Plus video poker is the better game for you.

The Payback Percentages for Double Double Bonus Poker Plus

We talked earlier about how video poker takes away a lot of the guesswork
that comes into play for gamblers. That relates primarily to the payback
percentages of the various forms of video poker. A payback percentage is the
amount of return you can expect on your gambling investment.

Percent Sign in Front of Money

When you are talking about payback percentages, you are talking about an
average amount. No two sessions of video poker, including Double Double Bonus
Poker Plus, are likely to be the same. Luck will come into play, as will your
skill in making decisions.

But, over a long time playing, each version of the game will tend to return a
certain amount to you the player. This amount is the payback percentage, and it
can be figured out by doing a little math with probabilities and pay tables. You
can also do the research online to find out what each pay table is expected to
return.

In the case of 9/6 Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, which contains
the pay table shown above, the payback percentage sits at 99.44%. This
theoretically means that for every $10,000 played in a machine, the player will
walk away with $9,944, or a $56 loss.

Again, your experience in a single session or even a few sessions might
differ greatly depending on your luck and strategy. But your returns should
resemble that 99.44% number the more that you play. And the good news is that
figure represents an excellent percentage compared to other video poker and
casino games, one that we recommend that you take advantage of should you get
the opportunity.

The tricky part is that there are other pay tables that you might encounter
that will change this percentage. And, since we explained above that the 9/6
version of Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is the highest-paying
version of the game, it stands to reason that all the other pay tables will
return less.

Here is a look at some of the other pay tables that you might come upon when
you see Double Double Bonus Poker Plus at a casino or online. Again, the numbers
in front represent the payoffs for the full house and flush hands.

PAY TABLE PAYBACK
9/6 99.44%
10/5 99.42%
9/5 98.33%
8/5 97.25%
7/5 96.17%

When you see a version of this game, you should immediately check the pay
table for where the full house and flush payoffs stand. If at all possible,
choose the game that pays you back the most. Otherwise, your return will be
altered in a negative way, especially if you play the game for a decent amount
of time.

Developing Strategy for Double Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker

The only way that you can reach the payback percentages listed above for this
game is to utilize perfect strategy. That means that you are making the correct
decision each hand in terms of your holds and discards. By “correct,” we mean
the decision that gives you the best chance of returning value.

Again, as with the payback percentages, this concept is based on the notion
of someone who is playing the game for a long time and encountering a specific
deal time and time again. If you play the hand once and make the wrong choice,
you might still get lucky and win. By the same token, you might make the right
choice and lose a single or even several hands.

But, if you played the hand until infinity, there is a certain hold and
discard that will bring you the best return; that is the correct choice. But it
can get tricky, especially with hands where there are several possibilities for
winning hands in play.

For example, take a look at the following deal:

Eight of Hearts, Jack of Hearts, Queen of Hearts, King of Hearts, King of Spades

There are three seeds for potential winning hands that should immediately
jump out at you. First of all, there is the obvious pair of kings, which, by
itself, will return you even money. You could conceivably throw away the other
cards and try to build on that. Even if you don’t improve the hand on the draw,
you’ll still get your bet back.

There are also four hearts, one short of a flush. And, finally, the jack,
queen, and king of hearts leave you three cards toward a royal flush. So, what
should your choice be?

Based on the probabilities and the payouts for the winning hands that you
could possibly achieve, you should keep the jack, queen, and king of hearts and
discard the other two. The main reason for that is that you are still in play
for the royal flush, the highest-paying hand in the game. But, even if that
fails, you could possibly draw a high pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight,
flush, or even a straight flush with the remaining two cards.

That might be hard to distinguish in the heat of the moment, which is why you
should consider training yourself a bit before playing video poker for real
money.

How can you do that? Here are the top three methods available to you:

  1. Strategy Charts: These video poker strategy charts, which you can
    find online, list and rank all of the possibilities you might get in terms
    of combinations of cards on the deal. Using the previous example, it would
    show you that a jack, queen, and king of the same suit is a better deal than
    four to a flush or a pair of kings. Memorizing an accurate strategy chart of
    the video poker game you’re playing will help to yield perfect play.
  2. Video Poker Training Software: The software is
    set up so that it will alert you when you are making incorrect choices in
    terms of holds and discards. When you do make a mistake, it will also let
    you know the correct play. This is a great way to drill the right moves into
    your strategy without having to do a lot of memorization.
  3. Free Play: There are many websites which will
    let you play bonus versions of video poker, like Double Double Bonus Poker
    Plus video poker, for free. By doing this, you can get the hang of how to
    play the game. However, as these free-play options rarely show you proper
    strategy, they are the least recommended of these three possibilities.

Pros & Cons of Double Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker

Pros

  • Getting four of a kind will almost guarantee an extremely profitable
    session
  • A few pay tables associated with the game give you payback percentages
    above 99%
  • Gameplay is simple to learn
Cons

  • You will have a hard time keeping your bankroll alive in a long session
    without a four of a kind hand
  • Some pay tables will return you percentages that are less than ideal
  • Strategy is tougher to learn than with Jacks or Better

Conclusion

Double Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is the game for you if you’re
tired of waiting for the sudden, significant payoff that never comes with Jacks
or Better. A four of a kind hand will immediately put you well in the black.
Just be prepared to see red if you don’t get one of the quads or rare winning
hands that come with big payouts attached.