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Bob Dancer writes a video poker column for beginners to experts. He also writes a column with Jeffrey Compton, "Player's Edge", featuring information on promotions at various Las Vegas casinos. Player's Edge is published each Friday in the Neon section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click here to send Bob Dancer an e-mail.

Oct. 28, 2003

Differences in Double Double Bonus strategies

Double Double Bonus (DDB) players tend to be insensitive to pay schedules. The best pay schedules are 10/6 (100.07%) and 9/6 (99.98%), where the first number represents the return on full houses and the second represents the return on flushes. The strategies for these games are very similar to each other, because it's the return on the flush that dominates strategy.

Some casinos offer 9/5 (97.87%) or even 8/5 (96.79%). Clearly no player with a clue would play such games. You can hit 4 aces with a kicker and win today, but you have no long term chance. (As a side note, you might notice that whenever the return on a full house or flush decreases by one unit, the overall return on the game is decreased by approximately 1.1%. The reason for this is that full houses and flushes occur about once every 90 hands, and losing one unit every 90 hands costs you 1.1%.)

Knowing that people are going to be playing these poorer games, at least they should know that the strategy changes when you go from 9/6 to 9/5. There are 8 different changes at the łbasic strategy˛ level. Here are examples of each of them.

a. 9/6 FL4 (including A and T) > RF3
9/5 All RF3 > FL4

From Ah Kh Th 4h 3s, hold AKT4 in 9/6 and AKT in 9/5.

b. 9/6 SF3 0hi 0i > suited QJ
9/5 suited QJ > SF3 0hi 0i

From Qc Jc 4h 5h 6h, hold the hearts in 9/6 and the clubs in 9/5

c. 9/6 Suited AK, AQ, AJ > ST4i 3hi
9/5 ST4i 3hi > suited AK, AQ, AJ

From Ah Kh Qs Td 5c, hold AK in 9/6 and AKQT in 9/5

d. 9/6 SF3 1hi 2i > KQJ, ST4i 2hi
9/5 KQJ, ST4i 2hi > SF3 1hi 2i

From Kd Qc Jh 8h 6h, hold J87 in 9/6 and KQJ in 9/5
From Kc Qd Td 9c 8d, hold QT8 in 9/6, and KQT9 in 9/5

e. 9/6 SF3 0hi 1i > A
9/5 A > SF3 0hi 1i

From 4c 6c 7c Ah 9d, hold 467 in 9/6 and A in 9/5

f. 9/6 Suited JT > KJ
9/5 KJ > suited JT
There are no hands where you hold JT in 9/6 and KJ in 9/5. EXCEPT, when there's a flush penalty to the JT, KJ is barely better than JT in 9/6 and a whole lot better in 9/5.

g. 10/6 From a suited KTx, hold KT
9/6 From a suited KTx, hold KTx
9/5 From a suited KTx, hold K

This was discussed at length in my September 23 column located a few clicks away.

h. 9/6 Usually prefer a high pair to a 3-card royal
9/5 Always prefer a high pair to a 3-card royal
From Kh Ks Qs Js 5d, hold KQJ in 9/6 and KK in 9/5

Although there are several penalty card considerations on several of the above hands, the list is complete. These are the only differences in the strategy for the two games.

But even though there aren't very many, not one player in a hundred makes the appropriate adjustments. Players who play all games more or less the same aren't winners. Winning players study each game individually.