Video Poker Forum

bonus poker or deuces wild when jacks or better not available ?

Deuces Wild has many paytables , and Bonus Poker has a couple of different paytables as well.so I don't believe there is a single correct answer. Some paytables are fantastic, over 100%, and others are inferior to Bonus Poker. You have to read the paytables. 9-6 Bonus is a very good game. 8-6 not so much.
You don't need to memorize the paytables but you really should become familiar with them so you can identify the best games. Denomination matters, as well. Casinos usually offer slightly better games at $5 a spin as opposed to $1.25.
It may seem like a complicated answer to a simple question, but there is no simple answer.

VPfree.com is a good site to compare games at the casinos you have access to.

billryan wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 20, 2020 6:18 pm

Some paytables are fantastic, over 100%, and others are inferior to Bonus Poker. You have to read the paytables. 9-6 Bonus is a very good game. 8-6 not so much.

Do you perhaps mean Bonus Deluxe poker? I've played a lot of video poker in a lot of casinos, and never seen a 9/6 or 8/6 payable for Bonus Poker.

You are right, I was thinking of the deluxe version. My local casino had a version of BP that paid well, and then replaced it with the lesser pay table. It was slightly positive with the $10 per $1,000 in cash bonus plus the mailers and food comps but then they lowered it. It was strictly for low rollers as cashback was limited to $20 a day.

Going back to the original question --- which was is BP or DW a better substitute when no JoB available?

Everything said here about pay tables is accurate (other than billryan's talking about BPD game rather than BP). There are good and bad versions of every game.

That said, BP has a very similar strategy to JoB. These are the only two common games where you get your money back for high pair and get paid 2-for-1 for two pair. 8/5 is the most common "good" pay schedule, but it's a third of a percent lower than 9/6 JoB. Even with 8/5, check the payout for quads. the tradition payout for these include 80-for-1 for aces. If all quads pay the same, it can still be called BP, but it's actually JoB. Unless the quads pay 35-for-1, it's a lousy game.

DW is a totally different game --- with many variations. Do not use JoB strategy on this game. If your only experience is JoB, it will require considerable study and practice to play DW well.

BobDancer wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:39 am

Going back to the original question --- which was is BP or DW a better substitute when no JoB available?

Everything said here about pay tables is accurate (other than billryan's talking about BPD game rather than BP). There are good and bad versions of every game.

That said, BP has a very similar strategy to JoB. These are the only two common games where you get your money back for high pair and get paid 2-for-1 for two pair. 8/5 is the most common "good" pay schedule, but it's a third of a percent lower than 9/6 JoB. Even with 8/5, check the payout for quads. the tradition payout for these include 80-for-1 for aces. If all quads pay the same, it can still be called BP, but it's actually JoB. Unless the quads pay 35-for-1, it's a lousy game.



DW is a totally different game --- with many variations. Do not use JoB strategy on this game. If your only experience is JoB, it will require considerable study and practice to play DW well.

Motorcity Casino here on their 100 play machines have Bonus Poker Deluxe bust it's listed as "Jacks or Better"


Always check everything before playing!!

Jstark wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 28, 2020 8:54 am

Always[/b] check everything before playing!!

good advice.

BPD pays more for quads and less for two pair than JoB does. for the same pay schedule, BPD pays a bit more.

the strategy is very similar --- with the major difference being inside straight draws with 0 or 2 high cards are held in BPD and not in JoB.

If all quads pay the same, it can still be called BP, but it's actually JoB.
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Interesting. Can you elaborate on why the nomenclature would persist?

FAA wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 28, 2020 11:31 am

If all quads pay the same, it can still be called BP, but it's actually JoB.
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Interesting. Can you elaborate on why the nomenclature would persist?

Yes. Ballys has tons of these machines. It looks like this. 98.5% I guess.