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In any video poker game, expert strategy changes with the pay table. Do flushes pay 5-for-1, 6-for-1 or 7-for-1? Do you get 2-for-1 on two pair, or 1-for-1, with enhancements elsewhere on the pay table?
But when the online gamer settles on games such as Double Double Bonus Poker or Super Aces, at least part of our focus has to be on the top of the deck. What happens in Double Double Bonus, when four Aces pay 800 coins for a five-coin bet, or 2,000 if the Aces are accompanied by a 2, 3 or 4 as the fifth card? What happens if the game is Super Aces, and we get 2,000 for a five-coin bet on any four-Ace hand, regardless of the fifth card?
We chase Aces, of course. We don't change strategies to chase four of a kind of smaller denominations, but those Aces are worth pursuing.
For starters in Double Double Bonus Poker, we break up full houses that include three Aces, and hope for the fourth Ace. But there's another move we make in Double Double Bonus to go for the Aces, on a hand that occurs much more frequently than a full house with Aces up.
When we're dealt two pair, including a pair of Aces, it's time to do a little jackpot chasing in Double Double Bonus. We hold just the Aces, and discard the other pair.
One thing we don't do in Double Double Bonus is to try to force the big jackpot when we start with three Aces. Let's say we're dealt three Aces along with a 2 and an 8. We hold just the three Aces, giving us two chances to draw the fourth Ace, rather than hold the 2 along with the Aces and putting all our hopes on a single-card draw.
Some games emphasize the Aces even more than Double Double Bonus Poker. Take Super Aces, which pays 400-for-1 -- 2,000 coins for a five-coin bet -- on all four Ace hands instead of just those with a low card kicker.
Just as in Double Double Bonus, we'll break up full houses to draw to three Aces and we'll break up two pair to draw to two Aces. In Super Aces, we also forgo straight flush draws, such as Ace-2-3-4 of spades, in order to draw to a pair of Aces. In most Jacks or Better-based games, including Double Double Bonus Poker, we go for the straight flush. But in Super Aces, we'll hold a pair of Aces instead.
Or take a hand such as Ace of hearts, Jack of spades, 10 of spades, 7 of spades, 2 of clubs. Many players are tempted to keep Ace-Jack, maximizing opportunities to draw a pair of Jacks or better. But in Super Aces, we hold just the Ace and hope for a miracle.
The most Ace-intensive game of them all is Triple Double Bonus Poker. Four Aces accompanied by a 2, 3 or 4 is worth 800-for-1--the same 4,000-coin bonanza for a five-coin bet that you'll get on a royal flush. Four Aces without the kicker pays 400-for-1.
That's a nice jackpot with or without the kicker. But here, unlike Double Double Bonus, the potential reward is large enough to entice us to go for the big one when dealt a low card along with three Aces. Given Ace-Ace-Ace-2-6, for example, we hold the three Aces AND the deuce, where in most other video poker games we hold just the Aces.
That's true even when we're dealt a full house, with Aces over low cards. Dealt Ace-Ace-Ace-3-3, we hold the Aces and one of the 3s. We even prefer a single Ace over two other non-paired high cards. Dealt Ace-Queen-Jack-6-3 of mixed suits, in most games we keep Queen-Jack to give maximize straight and high pair possibilities. In Triple Double Bonus, we hold just the Ace and trust to luck.
After all, in these games, we wouldn't want to be aced out of a jackpot.
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