How to Play No Risk Double Up Video Poker
No Risk Double Up video poker gives you the chance at the kind of hefty multipliers that can boost your winnings through the roof. You have to achieve winning hands to get those multipliers, and you also have to get a little lucky in the bonus round. But the rewards can certainly be worth the extra bet that it takes to activate multiplier action.
Video poker stands as a casino game that charms gamblers of all kinds. You can play it casually for a little while at the casino or online casino site and hope that you get lucky with a high-paying hand or two. Or you can play it seriously, since it’s one of the few casino games where you can hope to eke out a profit if you play the game right and find the right viseo poker machines.
Jacks or Better became the first video poker game and is still the most popular. It awarded payouts strictly based on the likelihood of forming winning poker hands. Other pay tables soon followed, which allowed players to go for more jackpot-style winnings to spice up gameplay even more.
But video poker manufacturers kept branching out from there. Soon, video poker games arrived with all kinds of extra features that, for the most part, kept the basic rhythm of play but added a lot of twists and turns. No Risk Double Up video poker falls into that category of video poker play.
Why Choose No Risk Double Up Video Poker
For those who wish to choose the pay table they like the best, No Risk Double Up video poker proves ideal. It allows you access to some of the most popular pay tables around. And it even lets you play with wild cards if you choose.
You can play any of those styles in basic fashion in No Risk Double Up video poker. Or you can double your bet and activate the extra features within the game. These features open up the possibility of serious multipliers.
Certain winning hands will activate the multiplier bonus round all the time, while others will activate some percentage of the time. The higher the winning hand, the more likely you’ll get the bonus round.
Once you’re in the bonus round of No Risk Double Up video poker, you’ll be choosing one out of five cards that are displayed face down on the screen. Each card of the five will either be an ace or a joker.
Choose an ace and you’ll get a multiplier and move on to the next round, where the multipliers increase. At any point should you choose a joker, the bonus round will end. If you can make it through all four bonus rounds of this pick-a-card game, you will earn a massive 16x multiplier.
Since the multipliers only come after winning hands in No Risk Double Up video poker, you’re guaranteed they’ll actually amplify your winnings. And the reason they call the game “No Risk” is that, even if you pick the wrong card right off the bat, you’ll still have your basic winnings from the hand. In that way, the bonuses are all pretty positive.
The negative side to No Risk Double Up video poker is that you’ll need to double your bet to even get a chance at the extra feature. And no winning hand in the basic round of video poker means you won’t get access to the multipliers.
Considering the size of the bet, you can end up losing your bankroll pretty quickly.
In the following article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the game known as No Risk Double Up video poker. We’ll show you how to play the basic hands of video poker that form the foundation of the game, and we’ll also explain the extra feature in-depth. Finally, we’ll take a look at the pay tables and how they impact your strategy for playing the game.
Playing Basic Video Poker
When it comes to No Risk Double Up video poker, you first need to know how to play the game in its most basic form. Once you get the basic rhythm of video poker play down pat, you can easily move on to any other variations.
All of the variety available to you, in terms of different pay tables and extra features offered by specific machines, should give you an idea of why video poker is so popular. If you’ve never played before, you might be under the assumption that video poker machines are just like slot machines. After all, they are located in the same section of the casino.
In actuality, video poker holds more in common with table games in the way that strategies and probabilities come into play. With slot machines, you are left in the dark in a lot of ways. You have no way to control the outcome, no way of knowing how often winning spins might come up, and no chance of discerning how much each machine pays in comparison to others.
But video poker has an answer for all those concerns. First of all, your decisions will make an impact on gameplay. That gives you the control that slot machines lack.
In addition, the fact that video poker is played with a simulated deck of 52 cards limits the outcomes somewhat. You can figure out, through probability math, how often winning hands will generally show up during gameplay. That takes a lot of uncertainty out of the equation.
On top of that, video poker machines, based on the probabilities and the pay tables, will offer you their payback percentage. In other words, you can judge each machine based on how much you can expect to get back in an average session. Slot machines don’t give you that chance.
As we said, the dynamics of video poker come much closer to table games. But unlike table games, you don’t have to worry about the other patrons or casino employees giving you a hard time. You can play at your own pace with no worries, since it’s just you and the machine.
One more great thing about video poker—it’s the perfect game to play online. With the emergence of gambling websites, no casino game fits that experience quite as well as video poker.
Let’s find out how to play the basic form of the game, so that we can move to on what makes No Risk Double Up video poker unique.
Step 1: Your Bankroll
Your bankroll will come from the money you put into the machine. If you’re playing online, it will come from an account you create at the website that you choose to utilize. In any case, the bankroll will show up on your screen in the form of credits or coins.
The credits or coins will correspond to the denomination of the machine you’ve chosen to play. In other words, if you choose a 25-cent machine, one credit will be equal to 25 cents. If you make a five-credit bet, you’ll be betting $1.25, as just one example of how this works.
Some machines give you the option of choosing your denomination. Others will have the denomination set beforehand. Try to choose a machine with a denomination that will allow you to bet a decent amount of coins per hand, since that will help your payback percentage.
Step 2: Your Bet
On each hand of No Risk Double Up video poker, you will have a choice of how much you want to bet. You can play the game without the special feature by betting between one and five coins. Or you can play the game with the special feature by betting 10 coins per hand.
If you do choose to play at the basic level, we recommend that you bet five coins per hand. This will maximize your payout for the royal flush, which is the rarest and highest-paying hand in the game. At one through four coins, the royal flush pays off at 250 to 1, but that total jumps to 800 to 1 when you bet five coins.
Betting 10 coins will still only return you winnings as if you were betting five coins. But it opens up the multipliers, which can amplify your winnings significantly. In fact, playing the 10 coins per hand gives you the highest payback percentage when playing No Risk Double Up video poker.
Step 3: Your Hand
Have you ever played Five-Card Draw Poker at home or with friends? If you have, you’ll quickly get the gist of video poker. In both cases, you’re trying to make the best hand out a five-card deal and a draw which allows you to replace cards with others from the deck.
You have to beat however many players are at the table to win the pot. You can do this by forming the best hand. Or you can outwit them by bluffing and getting them to fold their hands.
Video poker doesn’t require any bluffing. And you don’t have to worry about beating anybody else. You just have to accomplish one of the hands that pay off as deemed by the pay table you’re playing.
Winning video poker hands may change depending on the pay table you’re playing. Wild card games, for one, require a higher threshold for a winning hand and include certain winning hands that don’t even exist in normal play. But, for the most part, you’ll be trying to achieve the following winning hands when playing No Risk Double Up 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)
When you make your bet, five cards will appear on your screen. These five will come from a simulated deck of 52 just like the kind you probably have at home. You will assess the deal to see if you have any of the winning combinations listed above.
If you do have a winning combination on the deal, you might not want to mess with it and you can choose to hold all five cards. In that case, the draw round will essentially be eliminated.
Most of the time, however, you will be looking to improve your hand on the draw. On the draw, you can replace any or all of the cards you’ve been dealt. They’ll be replaced by other cards from the deck that dealt you the original five.
That means the deck will have 47 cards remaining when you decide on the draw. It also means none of the cards that you discard will show up on the draw.
Let’s take a look at a sample deal to explain how this all works. Imagine you receive the following five cards:
There are no winning combinations in that deal. But there are several so-called “seeds,” meaning that there are combinations which can turn into winning hands with just a card or two. You have to decide which of these seeds you want to pursue.
For example, you can hold on the pair of sixes. That isn’t a winning combination by itself. But you could improve it on the draw to two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or four of a kind, all of which will pay you back on your wager.
You might also notice that you are just one card short of a straight, thanks to the five, six, seven, and eight. If you choose to go that route, you would discard one of the sixes. If you get a four or a nine on the draw, you’ll make that straight.
Finally, you also have three hearts of consecutive rank. Two more hearts on the draw could give you a flush. And, if you get the right combination of hearts (three and four, four and eight, or eight and nine), you could walk away with a straight flush, one of the highest-paying hands in the game.
All of these possibilities must be considered until you come up with the cards you want to discard and the ones you want to hold. You’ll have to look at your chances of making each winning hand and consider how much those winning hands pay. It’s a risk-reward scenario.
Many video poker deals will contain cards that make your choice pretty obvious. And there will be other examples, like the one above, where the possibilities are tough to separate. You’ll get better at deciding the more you play, or you can check out the strategy section below to find out how to play perfectly.
In any case, once you make your final decision, you’ll press the buttons beneath the cards you want to hold. The machine will then complete the draw by replacing the cards you’ve discarded. At that point, any winnings you’ve earned will be added to your credits.
You can continue playing in this fashion for as long as you have credits left. Or you can cash out at any point. If you run out of credits, you’ll have to replenish your supply before you can continue.
Now that you know how to handle basic video poker gameplay, you should be able to move on to No Risk Double Up video poker. Let’s take a look.
No Risk Double Up Special Feature
No Risk Double Up video poker gives you access to many different pay tables. The first thing you’ll be doing is deciding which one you want to play. We’ll go over them in a bit.
Your next decision will be on whether you want to play the game with or without the special feature. One though five coins bet will allow you to play any of those pay tables normally. 10 coins will put the extra feature into play.
We already showed you above how to play normal video poker. Now, let’s look at the twist to No Risk Double Up video poker. That twist is a bonus round offering multipliers.
Multipliers do just what they say. For example, a 4x multiplier on winnings of 20 coins means you would actually receive 80 coins (4 times 20).
These multipliers are earned in No Risk Double Up video poker when you have the extra feature activated. You need a winning hand on the draw to put the bonus round into play. The winning hands depends on the pay table you’ve chosen.
In general, high-paying winning hands automatically kick the bonus round into gear. As you get to more common winning hands, they might only show up one out of every several times that you achieve them. Each pay table has different percentages attached to different winning hands in terms of how often they’ll activate the bonus.
Once you get to the bonus round, you’ll see five cards appear on your screen face down. Each card will be either an ace or a joker. Your job is to pick one of the aces.
Each time that you pick an ace correctly, your multiplier will go up. When you pick a joker, your bonus round ends and you get the last multiplier that you achieved applied to your winning hand. Here is where those multipliers stand:
- Win Round 2: 4x
- Win Round 3: 8x
- Win Round 4: 16x
The trick is that picking the ace gets more and more difficult. Here’s why:
- Round 1: 4 Aces, 1 Joker
- Round 2: 3 Aces, 2 Jokers
- Round 3: 2 Aces, 3 Jokers
- Round 4: 1 Ace, 4 Jokers
Some simple math shows that your percentages for picking the ace will be dropping as you go. In Round 1, you have an 80% chance of getting it right. By the time you get to Round 4, your chances drop to 20%.
Still, as the name No Risk Double Up video poker implies, you don’t lose anything even if you lose in Round 1. Your winnings from the hand won’t be taken away from you. Once you make it to the bonus round, it’s all gravy.
The risk that you assume in No Risk Double Up video poker comes from the extra bet. You’ll be betting 10 coins and getting paid at a five-coin level. That hurts you in two ways.
First of all, if you get a winning hand that doesn’t kick the Bonus Poker round into gear, you’ll be getting paid at a discount. That means smaller winning hands won’t keep you afloat as they would if you were playing the game normally.
The real damage comes from those hands that end up losers. 10 coins deducted from your bankroll at a time can really deplete it quickly. And that could be a reason why No Risk Double Up video poker isn’t quite the game for you if you want to keep your gambling on the cost-effective style.
It depends on your temperament. Those who want to win big in a hurry might love the multipliers aspect of No Risk Double Up video poker. And those who prefer to play for a long time with even a modest bankroll might want to head in another direction.
Pay Tables for No Risk Double Up Video Poker
Being able to choose a pay table that fits your preferred style of play can make No Risk Double Up video poker more beneficial to you than other games where pay tables are limited. Here are the variations available to you on these machines:
- Jacks or Better
- Bonus Poker
- Double Bonus
- Double Double Bonus
- Triple Bonus
- Triple Triple Bonus
- Not So Ugly Ducks Deuces Wild
- Joker’s Wild
Each of these pay tables have distinctive payouts for certain hands. Jacks or Better represents the most conservative pay table, while the Bonus Poker pay tables pump up the payments for four of a kind hands at the expense of more common hands. Joker’s Wild and Not So Ugly Ducks Deuces Wild bring wild cards into the mix.
It’s always important to study the pay tables. They let you know what your overall strategy should be and what hands you should try to pursue.
Here are the full-pay tables for each of the variations found in No Risk Double Up video poker:
Jacks or Better 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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 275 |
Four of a kind | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
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 pairs | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 285 |
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) | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
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 |
Double 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 | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
Four of a kind (aces) | 160 | 320 | 460 | 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 pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Jacks or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Double Double 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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 285 |
Four aces without any 2,3,4 | 400 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,600 | 2,000 |
Four 2s, 3s, 4s without any A,2,3,4 | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
Four aces | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
Four 2s, 3s, or 4s | 80 | 160 | 240 | 320 | 400 |
Four 5s through Ks | 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 pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Pair of jacks + | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Triple Bonus 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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 285 |
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, or 4 kicker | 800 | 1,600 | 2,400 | 3,200 | 4,000 |
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s A, 2, 3, or 4 kicker | 400 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,600 | 2,000 |
Four of a kind – aces 5s – Ks kicker | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 5s – Ks kicker | 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 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Two pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Pair of jacks + | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Triple Triple Bonus 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 | 55 | 110 | 165 | 220 | 285 |
Four of a kind – aces 2, 3, 4 kicker | 800 | 1,600 | 2,400 | 3,200 | 4,000 |
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s with A kicker | 800 | 1,600 | 2,400 | 3,200 | 4,000 |
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 2, 3, or 4 kicker | 400 | 800 | 1,200 | 1,600 | 2,000 |
Four of a kind – aces 5s – Ks kicker | 160 | 320 | 460 | 640 | 800 |
Four of a kind – 2s, 3s, or 4s 5s – Ks kicker | 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 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
Three of a kind | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Two pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Pair of jacks + | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Ugly Ducks Deuces Wild Pay Table
Coins/Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
Four deuces | 200 | 400 | 600 | 800 | 1,000 |
Wild royal flush | 25 | 50 | 75 | 100 | 125 |
Five of a kind | 15 | 30 | 45 | 60 | 75 |
Straight flush | 9 | 18 | 27 | 36 | 45 |
Four of a kind | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
Full house | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 |
Flush | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
Straight | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Three of a kind | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Joker’s Wild Pay Table
Coins/Hand | 1 Coin | 2 Coins | 3 Coins | 4 Coins | 5 Coins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Royal flush | 250 | 500 | 750 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
Four deuces | 200 | 400 | 600 | 800 | 1,000 |
Wild royal flush | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 |
Straight flush | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 250 |
Four of a kind | 15 | 30 | 45 | 60 | 75 |
Full house | 7 | 14 | 21 | 28 | 35 |
Flush | 5 | 10 | 15 | 20 | 25 |
Straight | 3 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
Three of a kind | 2 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
Two pairs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Kings or better | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
In terms of payback that you can expect for these tables, the Bonus Poker pay tables come in the highest at about 99.4 %. All of them come in at around 98% or 99%. Other pay tables you might find within certain No Risk Double Up video poker machines, with payouts for certain hands slightly lower than the ones listed above, will force a drop in the percentage.
Payback percentage won’t matter much to you if you only play No Risk Double Up video poker occasionally. But for those who play the game seriously, you need to pay attention to it. It will determine the level that you can expect from each table when playing for a long period of time.
In general, pay tables over 99% are recommended. With the pay table at that level, you can hope to make a profit when you factor in loyalty rewards from casinos and online gambling websites. Anything lower will make it hard for you to come out in the black.
Video Poker Strategy for No Risk Double Up
The fact that you get to exert strategy when playing video poker is a good thing. But if you play with poor strategy, your results will suffer. This is especially the case for those who plan to play often.
When you’re faced with a specific hold or discard decision, your goal should be to make the choice that maximizes the value of the deal. In other words, there is one specific combination that would return the most profit from that deal compared to all others. This would be measured by playing the hand hundreds of times.
You might get lucky with the wrong choice occasionally. But constantly making the wrong choice will eventually hurt your chances of winning.
How do you know the right choice? That isn’t easy in the case of No Risk Double Up video poker, since you have so many different pay tables from which to choose. Not to mention the fact that there are so many combinations of cards that you can possibly receive on each deal.
You should also be aware of the fact that, if playing with the extra feature, you should be pushing for winning hands that will give you the best chance at the bonus. This is just another factor you’ll need to take into account.
Your first order of business should be to decide which pay table you’d like to play. This will keep you from having to needlessly learn every play for so many different pay tables.
Then, you should get some help. Figuring out the right plays on the spot is next to impossible unless you’re a math genius. But these two methods can teach you the right plays, which will work just as well.
Video Poker Training Software
With video poker training software, you can input all the specifics of No Risk Double Up video poker, from the pay table to the special feature. The software will then digest this information and come up with a strategy tailor-made for the game. You will then be able to simulate play as if you were playing for real money.
Each time you’re faced with a decision about what to hold and what to discard, the software will be watching. Make the wrong choice, and it will let you know and tell you the right one. In this way, you can learn the right play in every situation through trial and error.
Strategy Charts
If you’re good at memorization, strategy charts can actually help you learn faster than training software. The hard part is finding a chart for a game like No Risk Double Up video poker, which has special features. Once you do find one online, you can begin memorizing.
Strategy charts rank all of the possible combinations of cards you might end up with on the deal in terms of their expected value. When you look at your own hand, you’ll be looking for the combination ranked highest on the list, which is the one you should pursue. Any of the cards not included in the combination as listed should be discarded.
No Risk Double Up Video Poker Conclusion
No Risk Double Up video poker might have a name that’s a little deceptive. After all, betting 10 coins per hand can be quite risky. But if you can activate the bonus rounds and get those multipliers flying, the risks will certainly be worth the potential rewards.