Royal Aces Bonus Poker Video Poker

Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker creates excitement for gamblers who like the idea of making a lot of money in a hurry on a single bet. Most video poker games only allow that kind of payment for a royal flush. But Royal Aces Bonus Poker gives you the chance of an equally substantial payoff if you end up with four aces.

Video poker stands as one of the best games you can play in a casino or on a gambling site. It gives you the chance of lucrative payback without having to learn a difficult set of rules. But it also lets you use strategy, so it’s not quite the mindless experience that slot machines can often seem to be.

Many video poker games are based on a Jacks or Better pay table. Jacks or Better rewards winning hands strictly based on how often they show up during gameplay. The rarer the hand, the more it will pay off.

Video poker manufacturers quickly saw the opportunity to tinker that formula. To do that, they created Bonus pay tables. Specifically, Bonus video poker games reward four of a kind hands at the same or even higher levels than a straight flush, even though you have a better chance of getting four of a kind.

What’s Different About Royal Aces Bonus Poker

Aces
Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker might be one of the most extreme Bonus Poker pay tables you’ll find. For the most part, it looks like a standard Bonus Poker pay table. But the big difference comes into play when you manage four aces.

If you do get four aces on a Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker machine, you’ll get payback just as high as the royal flush. On most video poker machines the royal flush easily stands out as the highest-paying hand in the game. To have another hand pay as much really gives you an improved opportunity at a jackpot-style payoff.

Such a boost to that payoff doesn’t come without some sort of discount elsewhere on the pay table. In the case of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, that comes when you end up with two pair, which pays off only even money. Compared to basic Bonus Poker, where you get 2 to 1 for two pair, that discount can hurt.

As a result, Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker can be a game that makes it hard to keep your bankroll afloat. If you can, you’ll end up with an increased opportunity for a major payoff in one fell swoop.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know to play Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker without any problem. We’ll explain how to play a hand of normal video poker and talk about what the unique pay table will do you to your payback. We’ll also discuss how the quest for four aces will affect your strategy.

Learning Basic Video Poker

Real money video poker takes just a few minutes to figure out in terms of how you actually play hands. That’s all it will take for you to learn a game that will provide you a lifetime of enjoyment.

Once you learn the basic game, variations like Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker won’t be hard at all to learn. The rhythm of play is the same. You just have to pay attention to the different pay table so that you can play with the proper strategy.

If you’ve never played video poker before, you might not understand just how beneficial it is to gamblers. In fact, you might equate it with slot machine play, since both video poker and slot machines are often found in the same area of the casino.

But video poker also has a lot in common with table games, making it an interesting combination of the two extremes. From that combination, you get a lot of advantages.

Advantages of Video Poker

  • There are many different types of video poker. You never have to get tired of playing the same one over and over. Whether you choose a game with a unique pay table or one with special features, you can always find something new.
  • You don’t need to worry about getting any help to play video poker from casino employees. It’s just you and the machine playing at your own leisure.
  • You get to use strategy when you play video poker. As easy as it is to play, it still provides a challenge. And, the better you play, the better your outcome will be in the long run.
  • Video poker is based on probability math contained in a deck of 52 cards. That means you don’t have to guess your chances of hitting one of the winning hands.
  • By using that probability math and combining it with the pay table, you can get a clear reading of how much a video poker machine is expected to pay you back. As a result, you will know, going from one machine to the next, what you can expect.
  • Overall, payback for video poker tends to be much higher than for slot machines. And the highest-paying video poker games even do a little better than the best table games.
  • Video poker translates to an online experience much better than most casino games. It can be difficult to play certain table games online without losing something. That’s not the case with video poker.

On top of that, we mentioned how easy it is to play video poker. With that in mind, let’s walk you through what it takes to play the game, from setting up a bankroll through making bets to playing a hand. Then, we can move to the unique nature of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker.

Step-By-Step Video Poker

Step 1: Insert Your Money

Putting money into a slot at the bottom of a video poker machine will help you create your bankroll. This will be what you’ll use to make your bets and will be the place to collect your winnings. If playing online, your bankroll will come from a gambling website account that you’ll fund.

Video poker bankrolls will show up on the screen as credits or coins. These units will correspond to the denomination of the machine you’re playing. Some machines have predetermined denominations (like a dollar or a quarter), while others let you choose.

You can tell how many credits you’ll have by some simple math. For instance, if you put $10 into a 25-cent machine, you’ll have 40 credits to use. (10 divided by .25 equals 40).

Step 2: Make Your Bet

Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker is similar to the majority of video poker games in that it allows you to wager between one and five credits for each hand you play. You can keep changing up the bet for each hand if you wish. Or you can keep playing the same amount.

The right strategic move is to bet five credits for each hand you play. This is also known as making the “Max Bet.” Only by making this bet can you unlock the highest payback for the royal flush.

As we said earlier, the royal flush is generally the highest-paying hand in video poker. In the case of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, four aces actually matches it. But the best ratio of payback for the royal flush (800 to 1) can only be achieved with a five-coin wager.

If you find that a five-coin wager is putting too much of a strain on your bankroll, you should consider switching to a machine with a lower denomination. This will keep the high payout of the royal flush available to you while lessening your financial burden.

Step 3: Play Your Hand

For those who are familiar with the table game known as Five-Card Draw Poker, you will immediately recognize the format of play for video poker. Both feature five-card deals. And both give you a chance to improve your hand on the draw by replacing cards from your deal with ones from the deck.

But there are differences. Five-Card Draw requires you to have a hand that beats all other players at the table. Or you can win if all other players give up, which usually means you have to bluff them into believing you have a better hand.

None of that comes into play in video poker. It’s just about making a winning hand, which will allow you to collect some payback from the machine. Winning hands are listed on the pay table of the machine.

In the case of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, here are the winning hands that you’ll be trying to form:

  • 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)

As listed, these combinations get increasingly difficult to achieve as you move down. The hands at the top of the list pay the least. Meanwhile, the ones at the bottom, which are rare, will pay the most.

Once you make your bet, five cards will appear on the screen. These cards will come from a 52-card deck simulated by the software in the machine. That software will also keep these cards constantly shuffling so that both your deal and draw are guaranteed to be completely random.

Your first job is to assess the five cards to see if there are any possibilities of making a winning combination. You might have a winning hand on the deal. If you think the hand is good enough as it is, you can simply hold onto all five cards and use that as your completed hand.

But, on most deals, you’ll need to utilize the draw. You get to choose which cards you want to hold, if any. The remaining will be discarded and replaced by cards taken from the same deck which dealt you the first five.

That means there will be 47 cards remaining from which to draw. You’ll use that knowledge as you start to think about the probabilities you have of making a winning hand. And you’ll also have to take into consideration how much those winning hands might pay.

Let’s take a look at a sample hand to see what your decision-making process might be. Here’s a possible deal you might get when playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker:

Five of Diamonds, Six of Diamonds, Six of Hearts, Seven of Diamonds, Queen of Diamonds

You don’t have any winning combinations right off the bat with this deal. But you do have several possibilities which you might want to pursue on the draw. This is the moment where you get to exert strategy while playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker.

You can hold on to the pair of sixes. Remember that Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker puts a premium on four of a kind.

You can also hold on to the four diamonds in the deal. That means you would be discarding the six of hearts in an effort to draw one more diamond for a flush. Doing the math, you can see that you have a 9 (diamonds left in the deck) in 47 (cards left in the deck), or a little less than 1 in 5, chance of this occurring.

One other possibility is holding onto the five, six, and seven of diamonds. This will give you an outside chance of a straight flush. You’ll need an extremely lucky draw to achieve this, but the potential reward is enticing.

You have to take all of this into consideration when you make your choice. As you play more Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, you’ll find out that you can make those choices much quicker. You’ll also see that most hands aren’t as tricky as our example.

In any case, you will decide then press the buttons corresponding to the cards you want to hold (if any). The machine will then replace them when you hit the “draw” button, which completes the hand. Any winnings from the hand will be added to your bankroll.

You can keep playing in this manner if you choose as long as there are credits remaining in your bankroll. Or you can cash out whenever you wish.

That gives you an idea of how to play basic video poker. Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker carries the same format. But the pay tables are the area that separates this game from the rest.

Pay Tables Royal Aces Bonus Poker

For the most part, Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker sets up like a Bonus poker pay table. Bonus pay tables award more for four of a kind than a standard Jacks or Better machine. And it ladles out payment for four of a kind hands, or quads as they’re often known, based on the rank involved.

But Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker really separates itself with the massive payout it offers for a hand with four aces. The 800 to 1 odds that it offers for such a hand equals what you would get from a royal flush.

Very few video poker games offer you an opportunity to make that kind of profit with a hand other than the royal flush. For that reason, Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker is ideal for gamblers who want increased chances at a jackpot-type score.

Let’s start by taking a look at a common Bonus video poker pay table to give you context and show where Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker diverges.

Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 50 100 150 200 250
Four of a kind (aces) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 40 80 120 160 200
Four of a kind (any other) 20 40 60 80 100
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 pairs 2 4 6 8 10
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5

You can see some of the characteristics we mentioned, including higher payouts for four of a kind and payoffs for the quads based on rank. Now, let’s take a look at the full-pay version of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker. By full-pay, we mean that this is the game that presents players with the highest payback percentage compared to all other Royal Aces Bonus Poker pay tables.

Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 100 200 300 400 500
Four of a kind (aces) 800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (any other) 50 100 150 200 250
Full house 9 18 27 36 45
Flush 6 12 18 24 30
Straight 4 8 12 16 24
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5

It shouldn’t be too hard to spot the major difference in the payout for four aces. But can you spot the other difference that makes the most impact on gameplay?

The difference we’re referencing comes on the two pair hand. You can see that the Bonus pay table awards 2 to 1 for that hand, meaning you get two coins back for every one you bet. But the Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker pay table offers even money, which is one coin back for one bet.

In other words, if you get two pair on a Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker machine, you will essentially be making no profit. You’ll just be getting your money back.

Why does that matter so much?

Well, two pair is a hand that will come up quite often during video poker play. In fact, you can expect it about once every 10 hands or so.

When you don’t get a profit from this hand, your bankroll will suffer. It also means that more of the payback in Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker is tied up in rare hands, especially that four aces jackpot.

Hence, Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker stands as a volatile form of video poker. By that, we mean that you will have a harder time salvaging your initial bankroll than you would if you were playing a less-volatile game like Jacks or Better.

The tradeoff is that you can possibly see your bankroll rise much higher above its original level in a hurry than if you were playing a game with less volatility. You’ll have to decide if you want to make that tradeoff before playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker.

Keep in mind that the pay table listed above represented only the full-pay version of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker. You’re likely to find many other pay tables from casino to casino, or even online. These pay tables will usually differ in terms of the payoff for a full house or a flush.

Here are some of the other pay tables you might encounter playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, listed from highest to lowest payback percentage:

Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 100 200 300 400 500
Four of a kind (aces) 800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (any other) 50 100 150 200 250
Full house 10 20 30 40 50
Flush 5 10 15 20 25
Straight 4 8 12 16 24
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5
Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 100 200 300 400 500
Four of a kind (aces) 800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (any other) 50 100 150 200 250
Full house 8 16 24 32 40
Flush 6 12 18 24 32
Straight 4 8 12 16 24
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5
Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 100 200 300 400 500
Four of a kind (aces) 800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (any other) 50 100 150 200 250
Full house 9 18 27 36 45
Flush 5 10 15 20 25
Straight 4 8 12 16 24
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5
Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 50 100 150 200 250
Four of a kind (aces) 800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (any other) 50 100 150 200 250
Full house 9 18 27 36 45
Flush 5 10 15 20 25
Straight 4 8 12 16 24
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5
Coins/Hand 1 Coin 2 Coins 3 Coins 4 Coins 5 Coins
Royal flush 250 500 750 1,000 4,000
Straight flush 100 200 300 400 500
Four of a kind (aces) 800 1,600 2,400 3,200 4,000
Four of a kind (2s, 3s, or 4s) 80 160 240 320 400
Four of a kind (any other) 50 100 150 200 250
Full house 8 16 24 32 40
Flush 5 10 15 20 25
Straight 4 8 12 16 24
Three of a kind 3 6 9 12 15
Two pairs 1 2 3 4 5
Jacks or better 1 2 3 4 5

Payback Percentage for Royal Aces Bonus Poker

We’ve already told you that Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker is a bit of a volatile game. But volatility won’t matter as much if you are serious about playing video poker for a long period of time and committing a big bankroll to it.

If you’re one of those looking to play the game on a serious level like that, you should be more concerned with payback percentage. Consider payback percentage to be what you can expect from a Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker machine from the long haul after the volatility evens out.

Payback percentage is computed by combining the probabilities of achieving certain winning hands with the amount each of those hands pays. You can take a pay table like Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker and try to do the math yourself. Or you can use a video poker calculator and have the work done for you.

You can also find accurate payback percentages for most popular games like Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker. This information lets you choose games that will return the most money in the long run.

That last phrases, “in the long run,” is important when considering a payback percentage. A short session of video poker will be dictated by luck more than anything else. Your payback percentage could be extremely high or low.

If you play the game for a long period of time, luck—like volatility—will even itself out. And the amount of payback you receive will likely be similar to the payback percentage. That’s assuming you played with expert strategy, which we’ll get to in a bit.

The payback percentage for the full-pay version of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker sits at around 99.6%. In other words, those who bet $1,000 can reasonably expect somewhere in the neighborhood of $996 to be in their bankroll at the end of it. That would mean a loss of $4.

Even though you’re technically expected to lose money with a payback percentage like this, you can still come out on top. Don’t forget that casinos or top gambling websites that offer Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker will give you rewards for playing the game often. Those rewards should be able to push you over the top into a profit with any payback percentage over 99%.

Of course, as you go down through the pay tables above, where certain hands are discounted from the full-pay, your expected payback will drop. For example, the last pay table we listed, the “8-5” pay table because of the 8 to 1 odds for a full House and 5 to 1 for a flush, pays off at just 97.1%. Even loyalty rewards won’t be able to push you over 100% for a game like this.

Again, payback percentage should matter more to you if you plan on playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker on a consistent basis. Those dipping into the game for a few hands now and then might be satisfied enough by the chance at the big payout for four aces to play the game.

Strategy for Royal Aces Bonus Poker Video Poker

Playing with perfect strategy should be your goal if you’re going to play video poker games like Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker often. That’s the only way you can match the listed payback percentage. But what does it mean to achieve “perfect play,” and how can you get there?

Perfect play means that, on every single deal that you get, you respond with the mathematically correct combination of holds and discards. By this, we mean you’re playing the deal in a way where the potential value is maximized.

With Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, that might require making some concessions to the unique pay table. Take a look at the following deal for an example:

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

You might see the two pair that you have on the deal and jump to the quick conclusion that the proper play is to hold those four cards and drop the four of diamonds. And, in most cases, you’d be right.

But on a Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker, you would be looking at only even-money return for a two pair hand. That’s the same amount that you would get for just a single pair of jacks or better, which you also have with the aces.

The only way you can improve the two pair is by drawing a full house, a mid-priced hand. But by keeping the pair of aces only, you’re leaving the opportunity open for four aces and the massive payout. That potential is valuable enough to make the proper play.

How can you make choices like this on the fly while playing Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker? Well, you might be able to do it if you were a math genius. But you can also make life easier on yourself by getting some help.

We suggest testing the following two methods to learn perfect play for Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker. It might take some time and, in the case of the software, perhaps even some money. But it will be worth it if you can max out your winnings.

Video Poker Training Software

With video poker training software, you can play a simulated version of Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker and will be faced with decisions like the one above. When you make your choice, the software will let you know whether you’re right or wrong. If you’re wrong, it will tell you the correct play.

We suggest you purchase software that’s customizable. That will allow you to input the precise pay table for Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker so your instruction will be based on it. After using this software for a while, the right selections should become second nature.

Strategy Charts

A strategy chart lists all of the possible combinations of cards you might get on the deal then ranks them in terms of their potential value. When you look at your own deal, you can see which combination you have ranks the highest. The cards, which aren’t included in that group, can be discarded.

Make sure the strategy chart that you find is tailored specifically for Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker. Then, try to memorize it. Once you have all that information in your head, you can take it with you when you play.

Pros and Cons of Royal Aces Bonus Poker Video Poker

Pros of Royal Aces Bonus Poker

  • Four Aces pays the same as a royal flush
  • Competitive payback percentage for full-pay pay table
  • Game is play is basic and easy to learn
Cons of Royal Aces Bonus Poker

  • Two pair only pays even money, less than typical Bonus video poker machines
  • Much of payback is tied up in two extremely rare hands
  • Lower-paying pay tables fall below preferred payback percentage threshold

Royal Aces Bonus Poker Video Poker Conclusion

Royal Aces Bonus Poker video poker lets you in on a second chance to score the biggest payoff in the game. Four aces will put you in the same rarefied air as the royal flush. If you can handle the volatility, the chances to make those massive payoffs might be too good to pass up.