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Luckily, game developers have found a way to make up for this oversight with Bonus Poker. This variant has all traditional video poker traits but offers better chances at top prizes. Read on to learn:
- How to Play Bonus Poker
- Pay Tables
- Odds
- Paybacks
How to Play Bonus Poker
As mentioned above, Bonus Poker rules and gameplay aren’t different from the ones you’ll find in a standard video poker game. So, if you’ve played it before, you should have a good handle on Bonus Poker’s basics. However, in case this is your first time, here’s a short overview of how this variation works.
You will be required to make a bet before the game starts. You’ll get to choose between 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 coins. Choose the maximum bet option if your budget allows it since it will give you the best possible winning odds when using the optimal poker strategy (we’ll cover this topic in more detail in one of the sections below).
Once you’ve made a bet, Bonus Poker will deal a virtual hand comprising 5 cards. You’ll get a chance to review them and discard as many as you want (0–5) to make the best possible hand. Then, the computer will give you new cards to replace the ones you have rejected. You’ll receive a payout based on the pay table that particular game features.
Bonus Poker has the same hand-ranking system as Jacks or Better. The lowest-paying hand is a pair of jacks or better, and the highest-paying one is a royal flush. The main difference between the two is their payout for four of a kind. Bonus Poker offers bonus rewards for some versions of this hand, hence its name.
Bonus Poker Pay Tables Explained
Video poker pay tables are charts with returns on all paying poker hands, depending on your bet size. They’ll allow you to calculate the payback percentage you’ll get if you’re playing with the optimal poker strategy.
As stated earlier, Bonus Poker pay tables offer similar returns to the pay tables in Jacks or Better, with one exception — the four-of-a-kind hands. Jacks or Better usually pays 25:1 for all versions of four of a kind. However, most Bonus Poker pay tables will pay 40:1 for all four 2s, 3s, or 4s and 80:1 for the hands with all four aces. Four 5s through Kings are the only hands where Bonus Poker and Jacks or Better payouts match.
These two video poker variations differ in other hand returns as well. To balance out the generosity of the four-of-a-kind payouts, Bonus Poker developers have lowered this game’s full house and flush returns. As a result, these hands pay slightly more in Jacks or Better.
We’ve provided Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker pay tables below so that you can compare them and see these differences clearly.
Jacks or Better Pay Table
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal Flush
250
500
750
1,000
4,000
Straight Flush
50
100
300
400
500
4 of a Kind
25
50
75
100
125
Full House
9
18
27
36
45
Flush
6
12
18
24
30
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a Kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 Pairs
2
4
6
8
10
Jacks or Better
1
2
3
4
5
Bonus Poker Pay Table
Hand
1 Coin
2 Coins
3 Coins
4 Coins
5 Coins
Royal Flush
250
500
750
1,000
4,000
4 Aces
80
160
240
320
400
4 2s, 3s, or 4s
40
80
120
160
200
4 5s or Higher
25
50
75
100
125
Full House
8
16
24
32
40
Flush
5
10
15
20
25
Straight
4
8
12
16
20
3 of a Kind
3
6
9
12
15
2 Pairs
2
4
6
8
10
Jacks or Better
1
2
3
4
5
Bonus Poker Odds and Payback
The Bonus Poker pay table in the picture above is the full-pay or best-paying Bonus Poker game available. It offers a 99.17% payback percentage when you make the maximum bet and use the optimal poker strategy. This percentage is 0.37% lower than the full-pay Jacks or Better payback table, which is why many players prefer this game. However, full-pay Bonus Poker has its perks.
If you translate the returns for some of the top-paying hands in both variants to dollars and count in the number of times they occur on average, you’ll see why players love Bonus Poker so much. Four aces will come around every 5,100 hands and pay 80:1, so you can bag some hefty prizes over long gambling sessions.
Full-pay Bonus Poker is also much easier to find in casinos than full-pay Jacks or Better. Plus, the strategy is pretty straightforward, so you have a great chance of mastering it.
However, we should note that 8/5 Bonus Poker is only one of the many pay tables you can come across in casinos. The gambling scene offers a variety of games with slight variations in returns, and some of them aren’t as profitable. For instance, some provide 30:1 payouts for all four-of-a-kind hands and come with 98.48%. Theoretical returns are even lower with 7/5 and 6/5 pay tables — 98.01% and 96.87%, respectively. So, it’s crucial that you check out the pay table for each game you intend to play before you commit.
Conclusion
Bonus Poker is among the most popular video poker variants in the gambling community. The game is fun to play, and it gives you a chance to win great prizes using a bonus poker strategy that is relatively simple to master.
On top of that, Bonus Poker is much easier to find than many other video poker variants. You’ll encounter full-pay Bonus Poker in numerous real money online casinos and land-based casinos. It’s definitely worth a try, so make sure you give it a shot.
FAQ
- Aces and Eights
- Aces and Faces
- Bonus Poker Strategy
- Common Mistakes
- Deuces Wild
- Double Bonus Poker
- Double Double Bonus Poker
- Full Pay Video Poker
- Full vs. Short Pay
- How To Win
- Jacks or Better
- Jacks or Better Strategy
- Joker Poker
- Joker Poker Strategy
- Land-Based vs. Online
- Single vs. Multi-Hand
- Strategy Charts
- Tens or Better
- Tens or Better Strategy
- Video Poker Pay Tables
- Video Poker vs. Slots
- Video Poker vs. Table Poker
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