Bonus Poker

This is one of the most common video poker machines known today. Bonus Poker is a standard draw video poker machine closely related (indeed inspired) by Jacks or Better. The game is played with a standard 52 card deck that contains no wild cards. The paytable has minor differences when compared to Jacks or Better. The Four-of-a-Kind hand has been subdivided into three categories. There are separate payouts for the following types of Four-of-a-Kinds:

Four Aces
Four 2, 3 or 4's
Four 5 through Kings

The Four Aces is the highest paying hand below the Royal Flush. The higher payouts for Four-of-a-Kinds do not compromise other payouts in the table; nonetheless, Bonus Poker normally is not offered with a Full-Pay table. As seen on the paytable below the Full House gives out 8 coins and the Flush 5 coins on a one-coin bet; which makes this a short-pay video poker game.

Bonus Poker can be played with a standard video poker optimal strategy. Below you will find the best tips for this game as well as a proven video poker strategy.

Where to Play Bonus Poker

It is not hard to find this game on the internet or at land-based casinos. The internet has a profusion of casinos developed by several gaming software companies such as Microgaming, RTG, Grand Virtual, Playtech, Rival, Vegas Technology and Cryptologic, among others. Each casino software brand has different video poker games, on average a total of 8.

Bonus Poker is available at online casinos that operate with the following software:

Microgaming
Real Time Gaming (RTG)
Grand Virtual

Each software has different graphics, speeds, sounds and features for its video poker games.

Microgaming video poker games have bright colors and electronic sounds. They offer an analyzer tool that helps the player decide what the best move is after receiving the initial five cards. The dealing speeds are customizable, as well as sound effects.

Real Time Gaming (RTG) video poker games have a vintage look. The graphics are more opaque but are quite realistic. At the options menu players can customize dealing speeds, the volume of the sounds and the size of the poker window.

Grand Virtual casinos have "fluffy" colors for their video poker games. The games have exotic sound effects from the Far East. The options menu allows you to change the casino window size, mute the sounds but does not allow you to speed up the dealing speed which is quite slow.

All three casino softwares allow you to play Bonus Poker in multi-hand version.

How to Player Bonus Poker

If you are new to video poker this is a good game to start with. The rules are simple for draw video poker. The goal of the game is to create a strong poker hand in two draws from the deck. There are no other players involved as you play and you do not need to beat a dealer. If you can complete a good poker hand, you will receive a payout from the Bonus Poker Paytable:

Poker Hands	Coin 1	Coin 2	Coin 3	Coin 4	Coin 5
Royal Flush	250	500	750	1000	4000
Straight Flush	50	100	150	200	250
Four Aces	80	160	240	320	400
Four 2,3 or 4's	40	80	120	160	200
Four 5-K	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 Pair	2	4	6	8	10
Jacks or Better	1	2	3	4	5

The minimum hand you must have is a pair of Jacks or anything higher. If you do not have at least a pair of Jacks no payout will be made. On average a winning pair should appear once every 5 hands, a two pair ever 10 hands, a three-of-a-kind every 14 hands, and so on until the Royal Flush which is hit on average every 40,000 hands. To get the best results while you play you must apply an optimal video poker strategy, let's have a look at it next.

Tips and Strategy for Bonus Poker

Each video poker game has a payback rate which is displayed as a percentage. The higher the percentage the better chances you'll have of winning. Typically a video poker machine will have a 97% or higher payback rate. This means that over a very (very) long period of time the machine will put out 97% (or more) of the money that it received in that time period. This is only true, of course, if the player has been playing correctly and making the right choices. In order to know what a "right" choice is, the player must be aware of the statistical probabilities for every hand, as well as the possibilities of being dealt the desired card(s) before dealing for new cards. Naturally this is a superhuman feat, therefore computers are needed to calculate these odds and develop a hierarchy of which are the best cards to be held.

So, if you want to beat a video poker machine such as Bonus Poker you must hold the most valuable cards that have been dealt. Follow this list and hold the cards that are highest on the list:

Four-of-a-kind, Straight flush or Royal Flush
4 cards to a Royal Flush
Straight, Flush, Full House
Three-of-a-kind
4 cards to a Straight Flush
Two Pair
High Pair
3 cards to a Royal Flush
4 cards to a Flush
Unsuited K,Q,J,T
Low Pair
4 cards to an outside Straight
3 cards to a Straight Flush with at least one high card and no gaps
AKQJ unsuited
2 suited high cards
3 cards to a Straight Flush with no high cards and no gaps
4 cards to an inside straight with 3 high cards
Unsuited J,Q,K
Unsuited J,Q
3 to a Straight Flush with one high cards and two gaps
Unsuited KQ, KJ
Suited JT
Unsuited AK, AQ, AJ
Ace
3 cards to a Straight Flush with no high cards and one gap
Suited KT, QT
Jack, Queen or King
3 to a Straight Flush with no high cards and two gaps

If you have none of the above then discard all five cards and deal for five new.

By the way, you can find information about free video poker games on our friend's site. And about free slots on our other slot machines website.

Internet Video Poker