Guide to Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker

Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker adds an interesting twist to gameplay not normally seen in other video poker variations. When you get certain four of a kind hands and the cards involved are lined up in a row on the screen without any cards interrupting them, you get a big bonus. It’s a game that requires unique strategy and adds a jolt of excitement to the action.

Video poker has become so popular that it has spread far beyond its simple origins. For instance, the pay tables, which determine how much is paid out for each winning hand, are often altered. One common variation is known as Double Bonus Poker. This game is characterized by aggressive payouts for four of a kind hands at the expense of payback for common hands like two pair.

Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker spins off from Double Bonus Poker. The pay tables are similar. But when you manage four of a kind with certain ranks on a Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, you get paid significantly more if the cards are adjacent to each other. When you look at them on the screen, the cards are alongside each other with no interruption.

The kicker, which is the fifth card in the hand not involved with the four of a kind, would have to either be the first or last card in the row. You would see the four of a kind cards right next to each other starting from either the first or second position and moving right across with no card in between.

In most video poker games, you can form your hands in any way without worrying about positioning.

The good news about Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is that it adds this twist without adding an extra bet. Most games with twists ask to you wager more to access them. But you do have to worry about the payout for some hands on the Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker pay table being a little bit lower. This helps the game compensate for the increased payback on adjacent four of a kind hands.

In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker. We’ll explain how basic video poker is played and tell you about the unique twist in this game. Finally, we’ll explore the pay tables involved, talk about how they affect payback percentage, and look into how to devise proper strategy.

Learning Basic Video Poker

When you play video poker games like Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker for the first time, you might not realize what a beneficial game it is for you, the gambler. In many ways, video poker mashes up many of the best elements of slot machines and table games. But it leaves out some of the disadvantageous features from those games.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways that video poker really helps out gamblers.

• You can play video poker without dealing with anyone else. It’s just you and the machine or you and your online game. There’s no hassle or unnecessary pressure from casino patrons.
• You can learn video poker in no time at all. Next to slot machines, video poker might be the easiest of all casino games to understand. Anyone could have a good grasp of it quickly.
• You can find a wide variety of video poker games in casinos or online. Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is just one of the many twists available. You’ll never get bored.
• You can use strategy to improve your chances of winning. Because they’re often situated in the same part of casinos, video poker often gets lumped in with slot machines. But you have no way to impact gameplay in slot machines like you do when playing video poker.
• You can benefit from playing card probability when playing video poker. The probability will show how often you can expect winning hands and what you can expect in payback. As a result, you won’t have to guess what video poker has in store for you.
• You can expect competitive payback. For the most part, video poker pays back much more than slot machines.
• You can play video poker online. Many casino games suffer in the transition to online play. But playing video poker at top gambling websites is pretty much the same as playing it in the casino.

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to love video poker. You just have to settle down and learn how to play. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial for those who are new to the game.

Step 1: The Bankroll

You need a bankroll when playing video poker to make your bets and collect your winnings. To create a bankroll for a video poker machine, you need to put money into the machine. If you’re playing online, a gambling account at the website you choose.

You’ll see your bankroll rendered on screen in units known as coins or credits. Each coin or credit is worth the same as one unit of whatever denomination you’ve chosen to play. For instance, a five-coin bet at a nickel machine would cost you 25 cents (5 times .05).

Step 2: The Bet

As we said above, Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, even though it contains a slight twist, doesn’t require an abnormal bet. It’s just like common video poker in that you have the choice of betting between one and five credits per hand. You can switch the bets up every time or keep betting the same amount.

The royal flush is the highest-paying hand in all of video poker, and it’s also the hardest to achieve. If you achieve a royal flush, you’ll get paid 250 coins for each one you bet. That’s a significant payback.

But it’s nothing compared to the 800 to 1 you’ll receive if you wager five coins and hit a royal flush. It might seem like an expensive way to play the game. But you’ll actually be hurting yourself if you don’t bet the max every time.

Step 3: The Hand

The basic process of playing video poker closely resembles the card game known as Five-Card Draw. You get a five-card deal, get to discard cards from that deal, then draw new cards to replace the onesyou discarded. In the end, you’re trying to make the best possible five-card poker hand.

But Five-Card Draw Poker is a game for multiple players. As such, you have to beat everybody at the table. With video poker, all you have to do is make one of the winning hands on the pay table.

Here are the card combinations you’ll be trying to make while playing Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker:

• 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)

The card combinations at the top of the list are easy to achieve and will come up often during gameplay. As you move down the list, you’ll see the higher-paying hands, which are harder to achieve. In fact, the rarer the hand, the more it will tend to pay.

The first step in a hand of video poker is the deal. Five cards, coming from a simulated, regulation deck of 52, will appear on the screen. Each deal is random, determined by the outcome of a random number generator within the software the moment you hit the “deal” button.

You’ll assess these cards for similarities to the winning combinations above. It’s possible to get a winning combination on the deal. If it involves all five cards, you might not need to try to improve it.

In most cases, however, you won’t have any winning combinations on the deal. But you might have several cards which, with one or two more specific cards, might make one of those combinations. And that’s where the draw comes into the picture.

You can discard any of the cards in your deal. They’ll be replaced on the draw by others from the deck which gave you your first five cards. Since those five cards are out of play, you’ll be drawing from a deck of 47 (52 minus 5).

Let’s take a look at how the decisions about what to hold and what to discard are made. Imagine that you were playing Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker and received the following five-card deal:

There aren’t any winning combinations right off the bat in this deal. But there are several card combinations which are lacking just one or two cards to complete a winning hand. You just have to decide which of these winning hands to pursue.

For example, you can hone in on the pair of threes. If you were to decide to discard the other three cards from the deal, you could draw to improve the hand. With the right cards on the draw, you could conceivably end up with two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind.

Another possibility for that deal would be to hold on to the four hearts. By doing that, you’d be giving yourself an opportunity for a flush if you could draw one more heart. With nine more hearts in the deck out of 47 total cards, you would have about a one in five chance of pulling it off.

Perhaps the most enticing possibility in this hand would be to hold on the three, four, and five of hearts. Doing this would mean you would need to draw the right two cards for a straight or a flush. But if you could draw two more specific hearts (ace and two, two and six, six and seven), you would end up with the high-paying straight flush.

In any case, once you make your decision, you have to push the buttons next to the cards you want to hold. Then, you’ll press the “draw” button. At that point, any cards you’ve discarded will be replaced and your hand will be complete.

You can continue playing in this manner as long as you have credits remaining in your bankroll. If you choose, you can cash out your winnings at any time. Now that you know how to play video poker, it’s time to talk about how Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker works as a slight variation on the game.

The Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker Twist

If you were to just focus on the name of the game, you’d probably spot that Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is based on Double Bonus Poker. The pay tables are almost the same, as we’ll show you when we get to that section. But what about the “Plus?”

Well, it all comes down to a unique twist that factors in where the cards are positioned on the screen. In most cases, video poker players don’t have to worry about the positioning of the cards when it comes to winning and losing hands.

For example, look at the following hand:

That is a royal flush. But let’s say the cards looked like this on the screen:

That’s also a royal flush. It doesn’t matter that the cards are out of order. Most video poker variations operate in this way.

But Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker pays more if you make certain four of a kind hands (those with aces, twos, threes, or fours) with all the cards lined up next to each other. For example, look at this hand:

This hand would qualify as an adjacent four of a kind. The fours are all right in a row from the first through fourth position on the board. Meanwhile, the kicker, the king of hearts, is at the end of the line in the fifth position, not interrupting the row of fours.

Let’s take a look at that hand configured another way:

This would not qualify as an adjacent four of a kind. The king gets in the way, so to speak, by being positioned between the first and second four.

Keep in mind, you would still get paid for having four of a kind with fours according to the pay table. You just wouldn’t get the boost that you would get if you did have the adjacent quads.

Other than that, Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker plays pretty much like any other form of video poker you could name. But you should always have the idea of the adjacent four of a kind in the back of your mind so you don’t miss out on a big payout opportunity.

Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker Pay Tables

When it comes to Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, its pay tables operate in a similar fashion to Double Bonus Poker. The name “Bonus” should tell you that you’ll be looking at a boost in four of a kind payback. Such a game gives the player a little bit better chance at a high, single-hand payout than a game like Jacks or Better would.

The “Double” part of the name comes from the fact that Double Bonus Poker generally pays twice as much for four of a kind hands as does regular Bonus Poker. As a result, you’re getting some significant payoffs for quad hands, especially if they contain some of the lower ranked cards: aces, twos, threes, and fours.

There is a drawback to the pay table for Double Poker Bonus and, in conjunction with that, the pay table for Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker. That comes from the payback you’ll receive from the two pair hand.

In both Jacks or Better and Bonus poker, the payoff for two pair is 2 to 1, meaning you’ll receive two coins back for a one-coin bet if you get that hand. But in Double Bonus Poker and Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, that payoff drops to even money. If you hit two pair, you’ll only receive your original bet in return.

But, in the short term, your ability to keep your bankroll afloat will be greatly affected by this nuance. Two pair is a hand that will appear often during video poker gameplay. In fact, according to probabilities, you can expect it maybe once out of every 10 hands or so.

Common winning hands like that are crucial in terms of keeping your bankroll level until you have the chance to score a big winner. Since you are getting a discount in Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker on one of the most common winning hands, you might find your bankroll taking an occasional dive.

But you’ll also have more of an opportunity to build that bankroll in a hurry because of the amplified payback for four of a kind, both adjacent and normal variety. As a result, Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker can be considered a volatile game. Both your highs and your lows can be exaggerated during the course of playing the game.

When it comes to long-term payback percentage, the highest-paying version of Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker is extremely competitive. You can expect payback of 100.08% playing this version of the game. That comes in above our recommended video poker payback threshold of 99%.

Anytime you can make over 99% of your betting investment back, it means you’re only losing less than 1% of your bankroll. You can easily make up those losses by utilizing casino and gambling websites rewards given for frequent play. In that way, you have a chance to eliminate the house edge.

In the case of Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, you have a game where you’re expected to make money even before the rewards come into play. As a result, it’s a highly beneficial game for gamblers who are worried about their bottom line.

Here is the highest-paying pay table for Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, also known as the full-pay table.

Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

You can see that there are special payouts for the adjacent four of a kind with aces and also with twos through fours. And you can also see what we mentioned about the even-money payoff for the two pair hand.

For a quick comparison, take a look at the full-pay version of Double Bonus Poker:

Double Bonus Poker Pay Table

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	7	14	21	28	35
Straight	5	10	15	20	25
Three of a kind	3	6	9	12	15
Two pair	1	2	3	4	5
Jacks or better	1	2	3	4	5

For the most part, everything is the same on the two pay tables when you ignore the obvious difference of the adjacent four of a kind payouts on the Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker machine. But there’s one slight difference in that the Double Bonus table has the edge in the flush department. It pays 7 to 1 for the hand compared to 6 to 1 on the Plus game.

That’s a relatively small difference but it does even things out. Still, you can see that Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker pretty much gives you the bonus of the adjacent hands without taking too much away.

Some of these pay tables don’t drop the payback too much and are still recommended. However, if you see those hands dropping down significantly, you have to realize your chances of making a profit on that Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker are reduced significantly.

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	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

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	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

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	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

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	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

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	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

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	7	14	21	28	35
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
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

Coins/Hands	1 coin	2 coins	3 coins	4 coins	5 coins
Royal flush	200	400	600	800	4000
Straight flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four of a kind (adjacent aces)	400	800	1200	1600	2000
Four of a kind (adjacent 2s, 3s, or 4s)	160	320	480	640	800
Four of a kind (aces)	160	320	480	640	800
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	6	12	18	24	30
Flush	5	10	15	20	25
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

Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker Strategy

When we talk about the payback percentage for a given game, we’re assuming perfect play. The only way to achieve perfect play is to make the right decision about what to hold and discard. This means that you have maximized the potential value of the cards you’ve been dealt every single time.

In the case of Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, the twist with the adjacent four of a kind confuses strategy just a bit. You might want to keep the possibilities in mind if you have a few matched cards that are next to each other on the screen.

For the most part, though, you don’t have to overthink it too much. You’ll usually be holding pairs or three of a kind anyway.

You should focus instead on learning to play all the deals. Since we’ve mentioned that Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker possesses a pay table similar to Double Bonus poker, you should look for help based on that, since it’s a more popular game. You can use one of the following two methods below to learn perfect video poker strategy.

Strategy Charts

A strategy chart ranks all of the possible combinations of cards you might receive on the deal. When you see the cards in your own hand that are ranked the highest, you know you should be holding them. And you’ll also know to discard the other cards.

Video Poker Training Software

Training software lets you customize your instruction based on the pay table you choose. In the case of Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker, you’ll simply look for a Double Bonus pay table and set that as your base game. You can then play hands of video poker as if you were playing for real money.

As you play these practice hands, you’ll inevitably end up with tough decisions about what to hold and discard. When you make a mathematically incorrect selection, the software will let you know. It will also tell you the right set of holds and discards so you don’t make the same mistake again.

Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker Pros and Cons

Conclusion on Double Bonus Poker Plus Video Poker

Double Bonus Poker Plus video poker doesn’t change the game too much from the basic Double Bonus format. But it gives just a little twist by including the notion of adjacent four of a kind hands. And the fact that you get access to that twist is a nice little boon for this unheralded game.