Bonus Poker

Bonus Poker is a variation on Jacks or Better in which the payouts for the full house and flush are reduced in exchange for an increased payout on certain fours of a kind.  An excellent Bonus Poker game has a paytable indicating 8/5 for the full house and flush.  The payout for four aces is then  increased to 80 coins, and for four 2s, 3s, or 4s, to 40 coins.  The four 5s through Kings payouts remain the same (25 coins).  This game provides a return of 99.166% -- not quite as good as 9/6 JB (99.5439%), but it provides the player with the possibility of a sizable payout in addition to the rare royal and straight flushes.  Most Bonus Poker games have a statistical variance of about 21 -- a little higher than JB to account for the reduction in full house/flush payout which was moved to the fours of a kind. Below, we list the possible hands in Bonus Poker, the payout (when five credits are bet), and the approximate frequency with which each hand occurs (the 8/5 variation is listed below), given correct play of the game:

Following are the computed returns for the common machines (assumes max-coins played):

Strategy Tip:  When you see the 8/5 Bonus Poker with a progressive jackpot of, for example, $1,500, the game will pay back more than 100% of coin-in.  However, be cautious of some of the newer games which are presented as "Bonus Poker", but providing a payout of only one coin for two pair.  These machines are becoming more common, and should be avoided, as they provide the worst payouts of any common machines (see our Payouts pages).  There is also a variation called "Bonus Poker Deluxe", which reduces the two coin payout on two pair to one coin, but increases the payout on ALL fours of a kind to 400 coins.  The 8/5 version of Bonus Poker Deluxe returns only 97.4%, and should be avoided.