How to Play Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Video Poker

Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker is the perfect game for those who feel like normal bonus games don’t reward enough for quad hands (four of a kind). It does this by providing an extra feature for those who bet a single extra coin above the normal maximum bet of five coins. When you make this extra bet, you get a chance to pile on bonus coins through a special extra draw.

Basic video poker is more than enough casino-based excitement for most people. Based on the common card game known as five card draw, the most common form of video poker known as Jacks or Better lets you try to make the best possible hand out of a five-card deal and a subsequent draw round. Make winning hands and get paid. It’s that simple!

But for some people, that basic brand of video poker doesn’t provide enough of an opportunity for huge payouts. In reality, only the Royal Flush hand, which comes around very rarely, can give you the kind of jackpot you might hit playing other casino games. As a result, playing Jacks or Better means that the only way you can usually amass significant winnings is if you grind them out over a long period of time.

Bonus poker games were created with the idea of resolving that situation. The pay tables for Bonus poker, which decide how much each winning hand will pay, were adjusted so that four of a kind hands were rewarded much more handsomely than they are in Jacks or Better. Depending on which Bonus game you find, you might even be able to approach a royal flush-style payback if you manage certain quad combinations.

Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker goes even further than that in attempting to reward the players who manage to achieve the quad on either the deal or the draw. You can play the game normally, and you get to choose from among a variety of pay tables. Or you can bet six coins per hand, in which case each hand will come with an extra feature attached to it.

When making the extra bet on Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker, the player is entitled to a special draw of anywhere from one through four cards when first achieving a quad on either the deal or the draw of their normal hand. This draw comes from a separate deck of 53 cards (the normal set of 52 plus the joker). Each rank of card carries with it a certain value of coins that will be added to the winnings that you achieved with the quad in the first place.

The winnings on Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker can be huge when you add together the initial payout for the quad with the bonus. But betting six coins a hand can really bring down your bankroll if you don’t manage any quads over a decent period of time. As a result, this is a relatively volatile game in terms of how your bankroll could rise and fall.

In the following article, we’ll explain Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker in terms of its gameplay and how it compares to basic video poker. We’ll look at the pay tables and how the game’s twist affects payback percentage. And we’ll also look at how you should try to achieve perfect strategy for game play so that you can maximize your winnings.

Learning Video Poker

Although Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker is a twist on basic video poker, it doesn’t deviate that much that you need to learn a different set of skills. Once you learn how to play a hand of basic video poker, you should have this game well in hand. Since video poker in its most basic form is easy to learn even for novices, this twist should also be easily understood.

If you’ve never played video poker of any kind, the good news is that it shouldn’t take you more than a few hands to learn. This is especially true if you have a little background in poker and know how to make winning hands. Even newcomers should be able to get the hang of it quickly.

When you play video poker, you are playing against the machine only, making for a solitary, hassle-free experience like slot machines. But slot machines lack any way for the gambler to impact gameplay. And they also don’t allow for those who play the machines to have any idea of their expectations to come up with a winning spin.

Video poker, by contrast, allows you to make some kind of impact on the outcome through the decisions that you make for each hand. The outcomes of the hands are also bound by the probabilities that are inherent in a deck of 52 cards (53 if playing with a joker). You can combine the information in the pay tables with these probabilities to determine how much payback a given machine will give you.

Speaking of that payback, it is generally much higher than what you can expect from slot machines. And it even ranks competitively with the top table games. As a matter of fact, you’ll see when we discuss pay tables and payback percentages that certain variations of Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker even give the gambler a positive payback expectation, which is extremely rare in the gambling world.

Of course, none of that will matter if you don’t know how to play. So, let’s walk you through the process in step-by-step fashion.

Step 1: Building a Bankroll

Your first step will be to insert money or a redemption ticket into the machine. If you’re playing online, you’ll need to have an account with some sort of funds in it. This initial money will be your bankroll.

Your bankroll will be rendered in the form of credits or coins. Each credit will be equal to one unit of the denomination that you are playing. Some machines determine the denomination for you, such as a nickel or a quarter, while others allow you to choose between several options.

To figure out how many credits you’ll have, simply divide the amount that you put into the machine by the denomination. For example, $10 in a quarter machine will give you a total of 40 credits (10 divided by .25). Your credits will be reduced by each bet that you make, but it will increase again for all winning hands that you make.

Step 2: Making Your Bet

You can choose to bet between one and six credits when playing Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker. Most basic video poker games only allow you to wager up to five coins. But the sixth coin here is available to you if you want to activate the game’s extra feature.

As you will see when we talk about payback percentages, it is advisable for you to go for the six-credit bet when playing Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker. That is the wager that gives you the highest possible payback percentage when playing the game. But you might not be playing the game over the long haul and might find betting two credits more is a bit too much for your budget.

If that’s the case, you should at least consider betting five coins. When you bet five coins, you are assured of the highest possible payout for the royal flush hand, which is the most lucrative hand in video poker. When you only bet one through four coins, you will get paid for the royal flush at a much lower proportion to your wager than at the five-coin level.

Step 3: Playing Your Hand

As we said above, video poker is essentially a simulation of the card game known as five card draw. The big difference is that five card draw is normally played with multiple people and you have to beat all those other players with your hand. In video poker, all you have to do is make a winning hand as determined by the pay table.

What are those winning hands? Well, the threshold for a winning hand might be higher or lower depending on what kind of game you are playing and whether or not there are wild cards involved. But, in general, the most common winning hands in video poker are these:

• Pair of jacks of 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)

You will be dealt five cards once you make your bet. These cards will appear face-up on the screen so you can assess how they potentially match up with the winning hands above. You might have a winning hand on the deal, or you might have the potential to make winning hands based on what you’ve been dealt.

For example, take a look at the following deal:

In this deal, you don’t have any winning hands right off the bat. But there are a number of different scenarios which might allow you to make a winning hand on the draw. The draw is when you discard the cards from your deal which you don’t feel are helpful and then have them replaced by others from the same deck which dealt you.

For example, you might decide that you want to stick with the pair of nines and discard everything else, hoping to improve to two pair, three of a kind, a full house, or even four of a kind, which is a great hand to make in Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker. You can also discard one of the nines, hold the rest, and hope that you get a five or a ten on the draw to make your straight. Finally, you can hold the six, eight and nine of hearts and hope that you can get the seven of hearts and either the five or ten of hearts, which would make the lucrative straight flush.

You have to decide based on your probabilities of making each hand and the potential payouts for those winning hands. What you shouldn’t do is try to guess the next cards coming up on the draw based on a hunch and make your decision based on that. Deals and draws are completely random thanks to the software inside the machine, so you really have no way of guessing what’s coming next.

Once you do make your decision, simply press the buttons underneath the cards you want to hold, and then hit the “Draw” button. This will initiate the draw and your discards will be replaced with others from the deck that dealt you. Once that is complete, your hand will be scored, and it is complete.

Step 4: Play Again or Cash Out

You can continue playing video poker as long as you have credits in your bankroll by constantly replaying steps two and three. Or you can cash out whatever credits you have remaining and get a redemption ticket. Once you run out of credits, you will have to replenish your supply to play some more.

It’s as simple as that. And, truly, you can sit down at a machine and be up and playing multiple hands per minute in no time. That’s how easy it is.

Now that you know the basics, it’s time to look at how to play with the extra feature of Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker.

Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker Special Feature

When you play Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker, you have a choice to make. You can play the game normally without any special feature by simply betting one through five coins. Then, it would just be a matter of choosing between the pay tables that are available to you (more on that below).

You could also bet six coins per hand, which would activate the special feature. And that special feature is fired up if you are lucky enough to draw or be dealt 4 of a kind on any hand. First of all, those hands will pay out according to the pay table as if you were betting the normal max bet of five coins.

To make that extra coin worthwhile, you get to draw between one and four cards from a special 53-card deck that is separate from the one that dealt you. This deck contains the standard 52 cards and a joker. And you will get a bonus depending on which card or cards that you draw.

First of all, you have to know how many cards you will get to draw. That will be based on the rank of cards that you have in your four of a kind. Here is how it breaks down.

• Four aces: Three cards
• Four twos, threes, or fours: Two cards
• Four fives through kings: One card
• Four of a kind on the deal: Add one card

What that last one means is that you will add an extra card to however many you cards you get based on the rank. For example, if you were dealt four aces, you would get three cards for the aces, and an extra card for having the quad on the deal. That would be the only way you could get the chance to draw four cards in the Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker extra round.

Once you find out how many you get to draw, then you need to know how much each rank on the draw is worth. It is as follows:

• Joker: 3,996 coins
• Aces: 400 coins
• Twos, threes, or fours: 300 coins
• Five through king: 200 coins

You get to add up the coins that you receive if you have multiple cards. However, the most that you can receive in bonus coins is 3,996. In other words, if you draw the joker in the bonus round, that immediately maxes out what you can win, nullifying the bonus that you might receive from other cards.

Let’s take a look at how this might play out in theory. Imagine that, while playing Jacks or Better and having a pair of aces on the deal, you discard the other three cards and draw the two remaining aces for a four of a kind. You would get the amount named on the pay table for the hand, which, on a Jacks or Better pay table, is worth 125 coins for the max bet.

Now, let’s move on to the bonus round. You made your four of a kind hand with aces, which entitles you to draw three bonus cards. Imagine that you get the following on the draw:

For the ace, you would receive 400 coins. You get 300 for the three, and you get 200 for the king.

That adds up to 900 coins. Plus, there are the 125 coins that you receive for making four of a kind in your hand. It all adds up to 1,025 coins, which is a profit of 1,019 coins when you consider your six-coin wager.

If you were playing the game without the bonus with a normal max bet of five coins, your profit would be greatly reduced. It would be just 120 coins (125 minus a five-coin bet). By betting the extra coin and incurring the Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker extra feature, you end up making 899 more coins.

That is why you have to be looking for four of a kind hands as much as possible. Much of your payback in the long run will be tied up in those quad hands. And that means that a long stretch without the quads could really lead to a big drop in your bankroll when playing Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker.

After all, you are essentially betting six coins for a five-coin payout. Think about when you get a pair of Jacks or Better in normal video poker and make your money back, getting five coins in return for a five-coin wager. If playing the extra coin on Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker, you would get five coins back on a six-coin bet, meaning a net loss of one coin.

That kind of thing can add up after a while. It’s why Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker is such a volatile game. You are trading off the risk of losing all your credits quicker than usual for the increased chance at a substantial, one-time payout.

Pay Tables for Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker

Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker lets you choose from among the most popular pay tables in all of video poker. Here are the variations that you can play:

• Jacks or Better
• Bonus Poker
• Bonus Poker Deluxe
• Double Bonus
• Double Double Bonus
• Super Deuces Wild
• Deuces Wild Bonus
• Joker Poker

Here is a sample of how four of those pay tables look:

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	50	100	150	200	250
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	200	400	600	800	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)	45	90	135	180	225
Four of a kind (any other)	20	40	60	80	100
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 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	50	100	150	200	250
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	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
Pair of jacks +	1	2	3	4	5

Super 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	16	32	48	64	80
Straight flush	10	20	30	40	50
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

Payback Percentages for Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker Video Poker

Video poker, as mentioned earlier, gives you the chance to know how much you can expect to make from a machine. Keep in mind that payback percentage is only accurate if you play a certain game a lot. If you only play it occasionally, luck can skew the results.

You should look for pay tables that return you at least more than 99% of what you put into it. Even though a 99% return means that you would be dealing with a 1% loss, you can make that up by indulging in casino rewards. 99% or higher gives you a legitimate chance to make a profit playing video poker.

The good news is that the best-paying pay tables on Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker mostly pass that 99% threshold. Full-pay Double Bonus falls just short at 98.89%, which is still pretty close. Meanwhile, the other seven all are over 99%.

In fact, the full-pay versions of Jacks or Better and Double Double Bonus are actually over 100%. That means that, if you play every hand correctly (more on that below in strategy), you can expect to actually “beat” the game and make a profit even without any casino rewards. That is rare in any casino or online gambling website game.

Unfortunately, you might have a hard time finding the full-pay versions of the games in casinos and online. Many pay tables fall short of the full-pay, which will negatively affect your expected payback. Look for the payouts on hands like the full house, flush and straight, since these are the hands most often discounted on lesser pay tables.

What you also need to know about the payback percentages for Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker is that they all increase when you bet the sixth coin and go for the extra feature. Many video poker games with extra features can’t boast that. That means that, if you are going to play this game regularly, you should really consider making that extra bet.

Strategy for Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker Video Poker

We mentioned above that the way to maximize your payback percentage is by making the correct decisions each and every hand that you play. You need to understand that correct means that the hand is played in a way that maximizes its expected value. There is one correct combination of holds and discards that can achieve that for every possible five-card combination on the deal.

You might get lucky with wrong choices over a short period of time, since the draw can always turn your way out of luck. But constantly playing hands incorrectly will eventually have a negative bearing on your payback percentage. And that can often be to the tune of several percentage points, giving you very little chance of turning a profit on a particular game.

So, how can you learn how to play Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker with ideal strategy. First, you should decide on a pay table that you want to play. Your strategy should always be tailored to the pay table and the specific payouts for certain winning hands.

Once you’ve done that, you need to drill the correct plays into your head. There are two excellent ways to do this. They are:

• Video Poker Trainers
• Strategy Charts

Video poker trainers can be purchased online and downloaded onto your computer. You can also find free versions of apps. These free versions don’t quite cover the same kind of ground, since they generally don’t allow you to customize your instruction based on the pay table.

When you use a video poker trainer, you can play out hands as if you were playing for real in a casino. If you make an error in terms of a hold or discard, the software will let you know. After a while, you won’t be making any mistakes.

Strategy charts are a free option, but they require you to memorize them. That can be a cumbersome chore, since you’ll often have to remember dozens of card combinations. These card combinations, which mimic what you might receive in a deal, are based on what you might receive on a deal and ranked according to their expected value.

When you have a strategy chart memorized, you can carry that information with you to the casino. For each deal that you get, you can then compare it to those combinations of cards. Whichever one has the highest value will let you know which cards aren’t essential to the hand and can be discarded.

Pros and Cons of Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker Video Poker

Conclusion on Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker

Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus Poker video poker, whether you’re enjoying it in a casino or playing it on a top real money online casino, can really make four of a kind a hand that rivals even the royal flush. That’s what adding the extra draw with bonus coins to the regular payout can do. But it’s a relatively expensive bet to make all that happen, which means that this might not be the best game for casual video poker players.