Pick ‘Em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker Guide

Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker takes a popular video poker pay table and puts a unique twist. In this format, you will be making just a single decision per hand about which of two cards to include in your final five-card hand. You get to play this way with some of the high-paying hands of Double Double Bonus Poker attached to the action.

Video poker stands as one of the most popular games for real money in a casino. And much of its popularity comes from its variety. There’s never really a time when you have to play the same way twice if you choose not to do so, since there are hundreds of variations on the game.

Mobile Video Poker Machine With Several Chips and Cards Behind ItIn most cases, these variations stick with the same rhythm of play. They might toy with the pay tables, incorporate wild cards, or even include special features like multipliers or free hands. But the basic style of play is essentially the same as the Jacks or Better format which started video poker.

That format mimics Five-Card Draw. Players get the chance to choose which cards to hold from their five-card deal, then draw new cards. The goal is to create the best possible five-card poker hand. But Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker does away with that format. You’ll be trying to make the best possible poker combination but the way you get there is different.

Instead of deciding on the fate of all five cards on your deal in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, you only get to choose the third card of your hand. This will happen after you get a two-card deal. You then have the choice between two cards, one of which you’ll include on your hand and the other you’ll discard.

At that point, the final two cards will appear in your five-card hand. The five cards will then be scored upon the pay table you’re playing. Which brings us to how Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker sets itself apart.

The pay table for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker is based on the Double Double Bonus table. But all of the winning hands receive a big boost in terms of payback. Unfortunately, you’ll have much less control over what’s in your final hand when playing Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker. It’s very similar to playing Stud Poker in that way.

As a result, you’ll have less of a chance to make typical winning video poker hands. The higher payback compensates for that. Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker stands out as a nice variation. Once you get the hang of it, you can play quicker. And the boosted payback can be just what the doctor ordered for those who want the chance at jackpot-style scores.

The drawback is the lack of control. You might get frustrated by the fact that your single decision still leaves much of the outcome of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker up to chance. It might not be the right type of game for those who want to use strategy to control the action.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. We’ll show you how this game drastically veers off from basic video poker play. And we’ll talk about strategy and payback percentages so you can get a good feel for this game.

Why People Love Video Poker

We explained above how different Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker is from basic video poker. But they share enough characteristics to possess the same benefits for players.

There are many reasons why people love video poker. In fact, some enthusiasts won’t play anything else in the casino or when they gamble online. Those folks feel like they get the best of table games and slot machines all rolled up into a single game when they play video poker.

Many casino games contain some benefits for players, but few can match video poker in that department.

  • Video poker is simple to play. If anything, Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker is even easier than the basic game. You have one choice; the game plays out on its own.
  • Video poker only needs one person to play. As a result, you don’t have to deal with the hassles that come from nosy casino patrons or employees. All you need is your bankroll.
  • The game incorporates strategy. Although there’s only one decision to make when playing Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, it’s still more than slot machines give you.
  • Winning and losing is based on playing card probability. This means you can reasonably estimate your chances of making specific winning hands since the probabilities are always in place. It also means you can estimate the payback percentage of specific video poker variations.
  • Video poker pays back well. You can expect payback much higher than what you would get from slot machines. And the best video poker machines even pay back as much or more than the top table games, which are often much more difficult to play and understand.
  • Video poker makes for an excellent online gambling experience. You can expect the top gambling websites to carry a wide variety of video poker games for you to sample. And when you play online, you won’t notice any difference between online play and casino play.

These are just some of the reasons why you should try out video poker games such as Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker. Let’s take a look first at basic video poker play so we can then explain how this specific game separates from it.

Playing Basic Video Poker

Step 1: The Bankrol

Your bankroll will enable you to make wagers and collect your winnings while playing video poker. To create your bankroll when playing at a video poker machine, you’ll simply put money into the slot on the machine. If you’re playing online, you’ll create your bankroll by signing up for a betting account at the gambling website you choose.

Step 2: The Bet

Most video poker games give you the chance to wager between one and five coins per hand. You can make the same bet every single hand. Or you can switch it up every hand if you wish. It’s generally advised that you bet the maximum amount of five coins per hand. This unlocks the most advantageous payback for the royal flush, which is the highest paying hand in the game.

However, in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, payouts for all hands are directly proportional to how much you wager. You could bet less than five coins per hand.

Step 3: The Hand

A hand of basic video poker is played the same way as you would play the card game known as Five-Card Draw. You get five cards on the deal and decide which ones you want to hold based on your chances of making a winning combination. The cards you discard will be replaced by others from the same deck which provided the deal to complete it.

Here are the winning hands you’ll be trying to make on most video poker pay tables:

  • Pair of jacks or better
  • Two pair
  • Three of a kind
  • Straight (five cards of consecutive rank, like 3-4-5-6-7)
  • Flush (five cards of same suit)
  • Full house (three of a kind and two pair in the same hand)
  • Four of a kind
  • Straight flush (straight with five cards of same suit)
  • Royal flush (ten, jack, queen, king, and ace of the same suit)

Playing basic video poker, there are 32 possible combinations of holds and discards you can have from each deal. You have to make this decision based on the chances you’ll have of attaining one of the winning combinations above. And you also have to consider what kind of payout you’ll be getting for those winning hands.

On the list above, the hands at the top are common and don’t pay that much. The ones at the bottom are hard to achieve but pay more. As a result, you’ll have to weigh risk versus reward to decide on the best course of action.

The hand is completed when you decide which cards to hold and discard. Discarded cards will be replaced on the draw from the deck with 47 cards remaining (the original 52 minus the 5 you were dealt). This completes a hand of basic video poker.

Playing Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker

First of all, the first two steps of the process of playing Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker are the same as regular video poker. You still create a bankroll by putting money in the machine. And you still bet between one and five coins per hand.

Once you’ve done all that, Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker starts to create some separation from other video poker games. First of all, the deal is only two cards instead of five. You’ll also have no option but to accept these two cards, since they will definitely be part of your final hand.

As an example, let’s say that you received the following two-card deal in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker:

Ace of Hearts, Four of Hearts

That’s a pretty good start to your hand. When we get to the pay tables for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, you’ll see that aces and fours are valuable if they can be included in four of a kind hands. And you have two cards of the same suit, leaving you with flush possibilities.

Once these two cards arrive, you’ll see two cards that appear on your screen that are separate from the original two. You’ll be choosing between these two cards to make up the third card of your hand.

Let’s see what two cards you get for your choice in our Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker example:

Ace of Clubs or Two of Hearts

Remember that our first two cards were the ace of hearts and the four of hearts. As a result, here are your two possibilities for three-card combinations going forward in this hand:

Hand 1

Ace of Hearts, Four of Hearts, Ace of Clubs

Hand 2

Ace of Clubs, Four of Hearts, Two of Hearts

You can see that there are interesting possibilities with each of these hands. In Hand 1, you have a pair of aces with a four kicker. When you see the pay table for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, you’ll begin to see how these cards can become extremely valuable with the right draw.

Even if you don’t get one of the high-paying hands on the draw, however, you are ensured of a winning combination if you choose the ace of clubs. A pair of aces is a winning combination by itself on a Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker pay table. It returns 2 to 1.

If you choose the two of hearts in this hand, you would risk losing the hand completely. But you open up many possibilities if this is the card you choose to keep.

For example, you could draw two more hearts and end up with a flush. Or you might end up with a three and a five on the draw, which would make a straight.

Even more enticing is the possibility that you could draw the three and five of hearts. That would give you a straight flush on the draw. That’s a sweet payback on a Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker pay table.

For the sake of our example, let’s say you decide to hold onto the ace of clubs. In essence, that means you’re discarding the two of hearts. You cannot end up with that card on the draw.

The draw will take place from a deck of 48 cards. Why 48? The deck started with 52, but you’ve already used both the original two cards on the deal and the two that were given to you to choose.

Let’s see how the draw works out for you on this hand of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker:

Ace of Hearts, Four of Hearts, Ace of Clubs, Ace of Diamonds, Four of Spades

This draw turned out very well for you, as you ended up with a full house. When you consult the Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, you’ll see that you’ll win 20 coins for every one that you bet with a full house.

Obviously, this hypothetical example worked out in ideal fashion for you. In reality, most Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker hands will end up in losses. That’s a byproduct of the fact that you have no control over the hand with the exception of that single card.

The decision you faced in this example was a tricky one. And, depending on how the luck of the draw worked out, it could have gone either way. When you get to the strategy section, we’ll talk about how to make a mathematically correct decision for every hand of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker you play.

Most hands of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker won’t be that tricky. There will often be an obvious choice about which of the two cards you should keep in your hand. Once you begin playing the game regularly, you’ll be able to make decisions like this without even thinking.

As a matter of fact, there’s an advantage to having just one decision to make while playing Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. While it does cost you some control, it also streamlines the mechanics of play. You’ll press just one button for each hand, instead of multiple buttons when you play normal video poker.

You can usually play more hands of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker than you could play hands of normal video poker within the same amount of time. That can be a boost for those who like to play video poker in a fast and furious fashion.

One other factor to consider when deciding to play Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker is its high volatility level. Volatility in video poker is a measurement of how significant the swings are between winning and losing. High volatility means the swings are severe, while low volatility games offer more of a stable experience.

The reason that Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker possess high volatility characteristics is due to the difficulty of making even common winning hands. Since the game only allows you to make one choice to impact play, your chance of ending up with a winning combination is much more based on luck than regular video poker.

You have to realize then that there’s a chance your bankroll could suffer a serious swoon at any point. Losing streaks are common in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker because of the nature of the game.

The flipside is that you could easily build your bankroll up high thanks to one or two big winning hands. But you have to make sure your bankroll is stout enough to survive the losing streaks. Otherwise, you might not last long enough to have a chance at one of those massive winning hands.

Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker Pay Tables

Pay tables represent a crucial piece of information for smart video poker players. It will obviously show you how much you’ll get paid for each winning hand you achieve. But it will also point the way to important video poker concepts like strategy, payback, and volatility.

In the case of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, you’ll see a pay table that’s based somewhat on the basic video poker game known as Double Double Bonus Poker. In this game, four of a kind hands are paid off at a premium at the expense of common winning hands like two pair.

But the Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker pay table also accounts for the nature of the game. It offers higher pay for every winning hand than you would receive playing regular, Five-Card Draw-based video poker. Since you’ll have a hard time making winning hands, the pay table offers more payback to balance it out.

Let’s take a look at the full-pay table for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. By full pay, we mean that this is the highest-paying table that you’ll find when you locate this game in casinos:

Pick ‘Em Double Double Without Four of a Kind

Pick ‘Em Double Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Straight flush 200 400 600 800 1000
Four aces w/ any 2,3,4 800 1600 2400 3200 4000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s w/ any A,2,3,4 400 800 1200 1600 2000
Four aces 400 800 1200 1600 2000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s 200 400 600 800 1000
Four 5s through Ks 100 200 300 400 500
Full house 20 40 60 80 100
Flush 18 36 54 72 90
Straight 12 24 36 48 60
Three of a kind 6 12 18 24 30
Two pair 2 4 6 8 10
Pair of Jacks through Aces 2 4 6 8 10
Pair of Nines or Tens 1 2 3 4 5

As a way of comparison, let’s take a look at a common Double Double Bonus poker pay table.

Double Double Bonus Pay Table

Coins/Hands 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 w/ any 2,3,4 400 800 1200 1600 2000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s w/ any A,2,3,4 160 320 480 640 800
Four aces 160 320 480 640 800
Four 2s, 3s, 4s 80 160 240 320 400
Four 5s through Ks 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
Pair of jacks + 1 2 3 4 5

For the most part, winning hands are structured the same. Both games prioritize four of a kind, specifically with aces through fours. And both games also include specific payback for four of a kind hands with certain kickers.

You will notice, however, that the Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker pay table pays more for every single hand. Again, this is the byproduct of the lesser chance of making winning hands.

You’ll also notice that the Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker table includes payback for a pair of nines or tens, at even money. This gives you something to think about when those cards appear in your hand. It might cause you to hold a nine or a ten over a lower card, since matching them up would yield some payback.

Perhaps the better comparison for a Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker is another pay table that comes from the Pick ‘em Poker family. The table below comes from a game that plays exactly the same. But the pay table mirrors a Jacks or Better pay table.

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 1000 2000 3000 4000 6000
Straight flush 200 400 600 800 1199
Four of a kind 120 240 360 480 600
Full house 18 36 54 72 90
Flush 15 30 45 60 75
Straight 11 22 33 44 55
Three of a kind 5 10 15 20 25
Two pairs 3 6 9 12 15
Nine or better 2 4 6 8 10

You can see that the Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker pays much better for four of a kind and some other hands. But it only pays 2 to 1 for two pair, compared to 3 to 1 for the Jacks or Better-style game.

Such a comparison once again highlights the volatility of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. The common hands prop up a bankroll so you can shoot for the higher-paying hands. With the low payout for two pair, a relatively common hand, this game will make it harder to keep your bankroll level.

Finally, let’s take a look at a separate Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker pay table. This one pays back less than the full-pay table on hands like the full house, flush, and straight. It does, however, offer 3 to 1 for two pair, which lessens the volatility somewhat.

Coins/Hands 1 coin 2 coins 3 coins 4 coins 5 coins
Royal flush 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Straight flush 200 400 600 800 1000
Four aces w/ any 2,3,4 800 1600 2400 3200 4000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s w/ any A,2,3,4 400 800 1200 1600 2000
Four aces 400 800 1200 1600 2000
Four 2s, 3s, 4s 200 400 600 800 1000
Four 5s through Ks 100 200 300 400 500
Full house 18 36 54 72 90
Flush 15 30 45 60 75
Straight 11 22 33 44 55
Three of a kind 6 12 18 24 30
Two pairs 3 6 9 12 15
Pair of Jacks through Aces 2 4 6 8 10
Pair of Nines or Tens 1 2 3 4 5

Payback Percentage for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker

Payback percentage is a great way for video poker players to judge one game against another. If you find a beneficial machine, you can hope to make a profit playing the game over a long period of time. But lesser hands will lower that chance considerably.

The payback percentage measures how much you can expect to return on average from your initial bankroll. For example, if you were to put $500 in the machine and walk away after betting it all with the same amount of $500, your percentage is 100. A percentage of over 100 represents a profit and one under 100 represents a loss.

It’s important to realize that payback percentage comes from the math involved with the game. The probability of making winning hands are combined with the payback for those winning hands.

In the short term, payback percentage can be skewed by luck. But after playing thousands of hands of a particular game and pay table, luck will even out. The results will then start to resemble the payback percentage.

For the full-pay pay table listed above for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, the payback percentage sits at 99.1%. You’d be looking at an average loss of 0.9% playing the game (about $9 for every $1,000 wagered).

Yet this is considered to be a valuable video poker variation. How is this possible when you have to expect a loss during play? Well, the loss is minimal. It can easily be overcome by taking advantages of rewards offered by casinos and gambling websites for frequent play. In that way, you can hope to overcome the house edge.

By contrast, the lesser pay table for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker that we displayed above features a payback percentage of 97.8%. It would be difficult to overcome the expected loss in that case with loyalty rewards.

Payback percentage shouldn’t worry you too much if you’re only going to be a part-time player. You won’t be playing enough for the percentage to govern play.

Instead, luck will be the main driver of the outcome. This is especially the case in a game like Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker where there isn’t as much strategy in play.

Yet, if you decide to play Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker on a regular basis with the intent of making a profit, you should try to locate the full-pay table. It comes in above the recommended threshold of 99%, which allows you to hope to make money.

Strategy for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker

We talked above about how payback percentage lets you know how much you can make from a given video poker game like Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. But the only way you can attain that percentage is if you play the game with perfect strategy.

What does it mean to play with perfect strategy? Well, first of all, it’s all based on the math. The correct play in a hand of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker when you choose the right card out of the two at your disposal that returns the most value to the hand.

You can occasionally make the right mathematical choice and still end up losing the hand. By the same contrast, you can sometimes make the wrong mathematical choice and win the hand. Luck will dictate the results of a small number of hands.

But playing the wrong card consistently will eventually lower your payback percentage expectations. As a result, to play Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker perfectly, you need to make the right selection between the two cards on every single hand.

How do you do that?

Well, you should get some help. Trying to do all of that math on the spot will lead to incorrect decisions. The problem is that the normal methods of video poker instruction are not as effective for Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. Most video poker resources are set up for standard play. A game this unique is usually not available on common video poker training software.

You might be able to find a specific strategy chart for this game if you scour the internet. The strategy chart in this situation would rank all possible three-card combinations in terms of their expected values.

If you could find a chart and could memorize it, you could conceivably achieve perfect play on a Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker machine. Once you have this information, you’d know each time which of the two cards to add to your hand. It would be the card that’s a part of the more valuable three-card combination.

Barring that, we would recommend a video poker calculator. These allow you to input video poker pay table figures and the cards involved. You could do this for certain choices in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker you find particularly difficult.

Even if you can’t quite learn ideal strategy in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker, you shouldn’t be too discouraged. After all, strategy will have less of an impact on the outcome than it does for standard video poker formats.

On top of that, it’s easier to guess right when all you have is one or two options in Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker. Compare that to the 32 options you have when you’re deciding what to hold and discard from a five-card deal.

Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker Pros and Cons

Pros of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker

  • Different way to approach the game
  • You can play at a much faster pace with only one button to push per hand
  • Payback amounts for specific hands are much higher than in normal video poker

Cons of Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker

  • Less control over the outcome of each hand
  • Volatility is high because of the difficulty of making winning hands
  • Not many different pay tables available to you

Conclusion on Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker Video Poker

Pick ‘em Poker Double Double Bonus Poker video poker lets you take a look at video poker from a completely different perspective. If you don’t mind relinquishing some control, it can be an exciting experience. You just have to be prepared to rely a bit more on luck than skill when playing this video poker twist.