The Decision That Splits Players at the Machine
You are dealt three aces, a seven, and a deuce. The machine pauses, waiting. Your hand is already a winner, but the pay table on the glass shows something unusual: four aces with a low kicker pays far more than four aces alone. The question is whether to keep that low card alongside your three aces, or discard it and draw two fresh cards hoping for the fourth ace. Double Double Bonus is one of the few video poker variants where this choice matters, and the correct answer is not a feeling. It is arithmetic built from the exact pay table in front of you.
The kicker question appears in two distinct situations. The first is holding three aces, where a low kicker can multiply the value of a completed four-aces hand. The second is holding three low cards of a kind, such as three twos, threes, or fours, where the same kicker logic applies on a smaller scale. In both cases the decision hinges on how much the pay table rewards the kicker version of the four-of-a-kind, and how many cards you give up to chase it.
What the Kicker Does in Double Double Bonus
In most video poker games, a kicker is a side card that only matters as a tiebreaker between equal hands. In Double Double Bonus, the kicker is promoted into a paying feature. The game splits four-of-a-kind payouts into categories: four aces with a two, three, or four as the fifth card; four aces without that kicker; four twos, threes, or fours with an ace, two, three, or four as the kicker; and the same low quads without a qualifying kicker. Each category carries its own payout, and the gap between the kicker and non-kicker versions is what drives the hold decision.
Because the kicker only pays when you complete four of a kind, holding a kicker alongside three of a kind is a trade. You preserve the chance at the larger jackpot, but you reduce the number of draw cards from two to one. That single-card draw is less likely to complete the four-of-a-kind than a two-card draw. The pay table decides whether the larger prize is worth the lower completion probability.
The Two Kicker Hold Situations
The first situation is the one players ask about most: three aces with a low card. You hold the three aces no matter what. The decision is whether to also hold the two, three, or four. The second situation is three twos, threes, or fours with a kicker. Here the four-of-a-kind payout is smaller than the aces version, so the arithmetic changes. The table below shows how the two situations differ in what you are protecting and what you give up.
| Situation | What You Hold | What the Kicker Protects | What You Give Up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three aces with a low card | Three aces plus the two, three, or four | The larger four-aces-with-kicker payout | A second draw card for the fourth ace |
| Three twos, threes, or fours with a kicker | Three low cards plus the ace, two, three, or four | The larger low-quads-with-kicker payout | A second draw card for the fourth low card |
| Three aces with a high card | Three aces only | Nothing; high cards do not qualify as kickers | Nothing; you draw two cards |
| Three low cards with a high card | Three low cards only | Nothing; only ace through four qualifies | Nothing; you draw two cards |
Only the ace, two, three, and four function as kickers in Double Double Bonus. A five or higher never qualifies, so holding a high card alongside three of a kind is almost always a mistake. The machine does not care that a king feels valuable; the pay table does not reward it.
Reading the Pay Table Before You Touch a Card
The hold decision cannot be answered without the specific pay table on the machine. Double Double Bonus appears in many pay table versions, and the four-of-a-kind payouts vary between them. The standard full-pay version pays a fixed amount for four aces with a kicker and a smaller fixed amount for four aces without one, but the exact numbers are printed on the glass or in the game's information panel. Those numbers are the inputs to the decision.
Before you play a single hand, locate the four-of-a-kind section of the pay table. Note the payout for four aces with a kicker, four aces without, four low cards with a kicker, and four low cards without. Then note the payout for a full house and a flush, because those values also shift the overall return of the game and can change borderline hold decisions. A pay table that shortens the full house or flush payout changes the expected loss of the entire game, which in turn affects how aggressively you should chase the kicker payouts.
The game information panel also shows the return to player percentage for that specific pay table. Return to Player is a theoretical percentage of total wagered money a game returns to players over a very large number of spins or hands. It is a long-run statistical average, not a per-session guarantee. House edge is the mathematical advantage the operator holds on a given game, expressed as a percentage of each wager. House edge and RTP are complements: they sum to 100% for the same game. A lower full house or flush payout raises the house edge, and that changes the expected cost of every hand you play, kicker decisions included.
Why the Kicker Hold Changes With the Pay Table
The decision to hold a kicker is a comparison of two expected values: the expected value of drawing one card with the kicker held, versus the expected value of drawing two cards with the kicker discarded. Both calculations depend on the payouts for the completed four-of-a-kind hands. When the kicker version pays a large multiple of the non-kicker version, holding the kicker becomes correct. When the gap is small, the extra draw card is worth more.
This is why no single answer applies to every Double Double Bonus machine. On a pay table where four aces with a kicker pays a large premium over four aces without, the hold is often correct. On a pay table where the premium is modest, discarding the kicker and drawing two cards may be the better play. The difference between the two choices is usually small in expected value, but over thousands of hands small differences in a negative-expectation game add up.
Strategy charts for video poker are derived from the exact rule set in use. A chart built for one Double Double Bonus pay table does not transfer cleanly to another. The chart assumes specific payouts for every hand category, and when those payouts change, the correct hold changes. If you use a published strategy chart, match it to the pay table on the machine you are playing.
The Sequence of a Hand, From Deal to Settlement
A hand of Double Double Bonus follows the same sequence as other draw poker variants. You place a wager, typically one to five coins, and press deal. The machine deals five cards from a standard 52-card deck, though the deck in video poker is virtual and reshuffled for every hand. You then choose which cards to hold and which to discard. The machine replaces the discards with fresh cards from the remaining deck, and the final five-card hand is compared against the pay table. If it matches a paying category, the machine credits the corresponding amount.
The kicker decision happens at the hold stage. You are not deciding whether to keep a winning hand; three of a kind is already a paying hand in Double Double Bonus. You are deciding whether to sacrifice a draw card for a chance at a larger four-of-a-kind payout. The machine does not care about your reasoning. It simply executes the draw and pays according to the final hand.
One procedural mistake new players make is holding a high card with three aces or three low cards, thinking the high card might pair. In Double Double Bonus, a high pair is a paying hand, but you cannot make a high pair from a single held high card and a single draw card. The draw only replaces the cards you discard, so a held king with three aces gives you one card to hit a king, not two. The expected value of that play is lower than drawing two cards to the three of a kind.
Another mistake is holding a kicker with three low cards when the pay table does not justify it. The low-quads-with-kicker payout is smaller than the aces version, and on some pay tables the correct play is to discard the kicker and draw two cards. Players who apply the aces rule to low cards without checking the pay table give away expected value on every occurrence.
A third mistake is playing a Double Double Bonus strategy on a different video poker variant. Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker, and Double Bonus Poker all have different pay table structures, and none of them reward the kicker the way Double Double Bonus does. Holding a kicker in Jacks or Better is almost always wrong because the game does not pay extra for four of a kind with a kicker.
Volatility and the Kicker Chase
Double Double Bonus is a high-volatility game. Volatility describes how payouts are distributed over time. High volatility means rarer but larger payouts; low volatility means more frequent but smaller ones. Volatility does not change a game's RTP. The kicker feature concentrates more of the game's return into the four-of-a-kind hands, which makes the game swingier than a variant like Jacks or Better. You will see longer stretches without a big hit, and when the hit comes, the kicker version pays a larger amount.
This matters for bankroll management. A high-volatility game with the same RTP as a low-volatility game will produce longer losing stretches, because the return is concentrated in rare hands. The kicker hold decision does not change the volatility; it changes which rare outcome you are chasing. Holding the kicker makes the four-of-a-kind outcome less frequent but more valuable when it arrives. Discarding the kicker makes the four-of-a-kind more frequent but less valuable. The pay table tells you which trade is better in expected value terms.
No hold decision changes the built-in edge of the game. Double Double Bonus is a negative-expectation game, meaning the operator holds a mathematical advantage on every hand. The kicker decision changes the rate of loss, not the direction of it. A correct kicker hold reduces the expected loss per hand compared to an incorrect one, but it does not turn the game into a winning proposition.
FAQ
Do you always hold a kicker with three aces in Double Double Bonus?
Not always. The decision depends on the pay table's premium for four aces with a kicker over four aces without. On pay tables with a large premium, holding the kicker is usually correct. On pay tables with a small premium, discarding the kicker and drawing two cards can be the better play. Check the four-of-a-kind payouts on the machine before deciding.
Which cards count as kickers in Double Double Bonus?
Only the ace, two, three, and four function as kickers. A five or higher never qualifies for the kicker payout. The kicker must be the fifth card alongside four aces, or alongside four twos, threes, or fours, to trigger the larger payout.
Does holding the kicker change the return to player percentage?
Holding the kicker changes the expected value of that specific hand, which in turn affects the overall return you achieve from correct play. The game's theoretical RTP is calculated assuming optimal strategy. If you hold the kicker when the pay table says you should not, your personal return falls below the theoretical figure for that pay table.
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