FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most common questions about video poker, Double Double Bonus, expected value, and the Video Poker Analyzer.

What is video poker?
Video poker is a casino machine game based on five-card draw poker. You are dealt five cards, choose which to hold, and draw replacements from the remaining deck. Your final hand is compared to a fixed pay table, not to other players or a dealer. Unlike slots, the strategy you apply meaningfully affects your return over time. See What is Video Poker for a full introduction.
How is video poker different from slot machines?
Slots are purely random. Every spin has a fixed house edge and no skill component. In video poker, your hold decision determines which draw outcomes are possible. An optimal hold on a full-pay machine can reduce the house edge to under 1%, something no slot machine offers. The trade-off is that you must study strategy to realize that return.
What is Double Double Bonus (DDB) video poker?
Double Double Bonus adds a second layer of bonus payouts on top of regular four-of-a-kind hands. The standout payouts:
  • Four Aces + a 2, 3, or 4 kicker: 400×
  • Four 2s/3s/4s + A/2/3/4 kicker: 160×
  • Four Aces (no kicker): 160×
The trade-off is Two Pair pays only 1× (vs. 2× in standard Jacks or Better), making the game more volatile. The full-pay 9/6 version returns 98.98% with optimal play.
What is expected value (EV)?
Expected value is the average payout for a given hold decision, calculated across every possible draw outcome weighted by its probability. An EV of 1.50 means that hold returns 1.50 credits per credit bet on average over many repetitions. Optimal strategy always selects the hold with the highest EV for the current hand. See the Glossary entry for EV for the formal definition.
What is RTP (Return to Player)?
RTP is the percentage of all money wagered that is returned to players over the long run, assuming optimal play. DDB 9/6 has an RTP of 98.98%, meaning for every $100 wagered you expect to receive $98.98 back across many thousands of hands. The remaining 1.02% is the house edge. RTP is always a long-run average; short-session results vary widely.
What is optimal strategy?
Optimal strategy is the hold decision that maximizes expected value for every possible five-card hand. It is computed by evaluating all 32 possible hold combinations and selecting the one with the highest EV. The DDB 9/6 Strategy Guide provides a priority order for quick reference, and the Video Poker Analyzer calculates the exact optimal hold for any hand you enter.
How does the Video Poker Analyzer work?
Select five cards from the full 52-card deck on the analyzer. It evaluates all 32 possible hold combinations by computing the EV for each: the average payout across all possible draw outcomes (up to C(47,5) = 1,533,939 combinations). The highest-EV hold is highlighted, and the EV for every alternative is shown. All calculations run in a Web Worker so results are instant without blocking the interface. The analyzer uses the DDB 9/6 pay table.
Why should I always bet maximum coins?
The Royal Flush pays 250× for 1–4 coins, but jumps to 800× at the 5-coin max bet. Since the Royal contributes roughly 2% of total RTP, playing fewer than max coins permanently reduces your effective return by approximately 1.4 percentage points. On a $0.25 machine, max bet is $1.25. The Royal Flush premium alone justifies the extra $1.00 per hand.
What is a "full-pay" machine?
A full-pay machine offers the highest available pay table for its game variant. For Double Double Bonus, full-pay is 9/6 (9× for a Full House, 6× for a Flush), returning 98.98% with optimal play. Inferior tables (8/5, 7/5, 6/5) return significantly less. See Pay Table Comparison for the full breakdown.
How often will I hit a Royal Flush?
With optimal play on DDB 9/6, a Royal Flush occurs approximately once every 40,800 hands. At 500 hands per hour, expect a Royal roughly once every 80 hours of play. In any given session you are statistically unlikely to hit one. See Odds & Probabilities for a full frequency table.
What is the kicker rule in Double Double Bonus?
In DDB, you sometimes hold a fifth card (the kicker) alongside three of a kind to unlock a bonus payout if you complete the four of a kind:
  • Three Aces + a 2, 3, or 4 → hold the kicker (hitting the fourth Ace pays 400× instead of 160×).
  • Three 2s/3s/4s + an A/2/3/4 → hold the kicker (hitting the quad pays 160× instead of 80×).
  • All other three-of-a-kinds (5s–Kings): discard both non-matching cards. No kicker bonus applies.
This is the most common strategy mistake new DDB players make. See the Strategy Guide for full details.
Can the casino change the outcome of my hand?
No. Video poker machines use a certified Random Number Generator (RNG) that determines the full card sequence before you press Deal. The cards drawn to replace your discards are already determined at deal time. The machine cannot and does not change them based on which cards you hold. Each hand is statistically independent of all previous hands.