You Are Not Playing for One Royal Flush
Most new video poker players sit down, press deal, and hold any card that looks useful. In Bonus Poker, that habit costs more than it does in other games. The machine is not paying you for a royal flush alone; it is paying you extra for four aces, four deuces, four threes, and four fours. That single change rewrites which cards you hold and which you throw away.
Bonus Poker is a five-card draw video poker variant. You are dealt five cards, you choose which to keep, and the machine replaces the rest. Your final five-card hand is paid according to the pay table printed on the screen. The game's name comes from the bonus payouts attached to specific four-of-a-kind hands. A hand of four aces pays more than a hand of four kings, and that difference is the whole point of the game.
How a Round Works
A round of Bonus Poker runs through the same sequence as any draw poker machine, but the decision points matter more because of the bonus payouts. Here is the full loop from start to settlement.
You load credits into the machine or open the game in your account. You choose a bet size, typically between one and five coins or credits per hand. The machine deals five cards face up. You now make the only decision in the game: which cards to hold and which to discard. You can hold none, some, or all five. When you press draw, the machine replaces every card you did not hold with a fresh card from the remaining deck. The resulting five-card hand is compared against the pay table, and any win is added to your credit balance.
There is no dealer, no opponent, and no bluffing. The machine's random number generator determines the deal and the replacement cards. Your entire influence on the outcome is the hold decision, and that decision is governed by the pay table.
The Pay Table Is the Game
Every video poker variant is defined by its pay table, and Bonus Poker is defined by its four-of-a-kind line. A standard Bonus Poker pay table pays a higher amount for four aces than for four twos, threes, or fours, and pays those hands more than four fives through kings. The exact amounts vary from machine to machine, and those variations change the return.
The most important number on the screen is the full house and flush line. A common full-pay Bonus Poker table pays 8 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush on a one-coin bet, often written as 8/5 Bonus Poker. Lower-paying versions exist, and the difference is not cosmetic. The full house and flush payouts are the first thing to check because they move the long-run return more than almost any other line.
Return to Player (RTP) 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 pay table with a higher full house and flush payout has a higher RTP and a lower house edge than a reduced-pay version of the same game.
| Pay table element | What it changes | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Four aces | Pays a bonus above other four-of-a-kind hands | Makes holding a single ace more attractive |
| Four twos, threes, fours | Pays a smaller bonus | Changes low-card hold decisions |
| Full house | Typically 8 or 9 coins on full-pay tables | Large effect on long-run return |
| Flush | Typically 5 or 6 coins on full-pay tables | Second-largest effect on return |
| Straight | Usually 4 coins | Affects inside-straight hold decisions |
What the Bonus Does to Strategy
Bonus Poker strategy is built from the pay table. Because four aces pays a premium, a single ace becomes a more valuable hold than it is in a game without the bonus. In many situations you will hold a lone ace while discarding four other cards, hoping to draw into a pair of aces, trips, or the four-ace jackpot hand. The same logic applies, with less force, to twos, threes, and fours.
The trade-off is that the bonus payouts are funded by something. In a typical Bonus Poker table, the two-pair payout is reduced compared with a game like Jacks or Better. Two pair commonly pays 1 coin in Bonus Poker instead of 2. That reduction changes decisions involving two-pair draws and full house draws. You are giving up a little on the common hands to gain on the rare four-of-a-kind hands.
A strategy chart for Bonus Poker is not a generic video poker chart. Published basic-strategy charts derive from the specific rule set in use. A chart built for a 6/5 Bonus Poker table will not be correct for an 8/5 table, and a chart built for Jacks or Better will be actively wrong for Bonus Poker. Before using any chart, confirm that it matches the exact pay table on the machine you are playing.
Common Mistakes at the Machine
The first mistake is playing before reading the pay table. Two machines can look identical, both labelled Bonus Poker, and pay different amounts for the full house and flush. The difference between an 8/5 and a 6/5 table is a permanent reduction in the long-run return, and it is visible only if you look at the screen before you bet.
The second mistake is holding a low pair over a single ace. In many draw poker games, a low pair is a solid hold. In Bonus Poker, the premium on four aces means a lone ace is often the better play, depending on the rest of the hand and the exact pay table. Players who import Jacks or Better habits into Bonus Poker leave value on the table.
The third mistake is chasing the bonus hand at any cost. Four aces is a rare outcome. Holding three aces and a kicker is correct in some Bonus Poker pay tables, but holding an ace and discarding a made straight or flush to chase a fourth ace is a losing play. The bonus changes the margins; it does not turn a rare jackpot into a plan.
Volatility and the Shape of a Session
Volatility is 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. Bonus Poker sits at a moderate volatility point compared with other video poker variants. The reduced two-pair payout makes the small wins slightly smaller, while the four-of-a-kind bonuses make the rare wins larger. A session will feel streakier than a flat-paying draw game, but the long-run return is set by the pay table, not by the streak.
Because the bonus hands are rare, a player can go many sessions without hitting four aces. That is the variance doing its job. The RTP figure includes those rare hits, averaged across a very large number of hands. A short session is dominated by luck; the pay table only asserts itself over time.
How to Read the Machine Before You Sit Down
Before your first hand, look at the full pay table. Find the one-coin payout for a full house and for a flush. Those two numbers tell you which version of Bonus Poker you are looking at. Then find the four-of-a-kind line and check the separate payouts for aces, twos through fours, and fives through kings. The exact numbers vary, and the game's strategy depends on them.
If you are playing online, the pay table is usually available from the game's information or help screen before you place a bet. If you are at a physical machine, the pay table is printed on the glass or shown on the screen. There is no standard Bonus Poker pay table that applies everywhere; every machine states its own.
The bet size decision also interacts with the pay table. Many video poker machines pay a disproportionately large royal flush jackpot at the maximum five-coin bet. That affects the overall return of the game at different bet levels. The pay table shows the payout for each bet size, so check the royal flush line at one coin and at five coins before deciding how much to wager.
FAQ
Is Bonus Poker the same as Double Bonus Poker?
No. Double Bonus Poker pays even larger premiums on four-of-a-kind hands, including four aces, four twos through fours, and sometimes four fives through kings. It funds those bonuses by cutting other payouts, usually the two-pair line, more aggressively than standard Bonus Poker does. The strategy differences are significant, so a Bonus Poker chart should not be used on a Double Bonus machine.
What is a full-pay Bonus Poker pay table?
Full-pay refers to the highest commonly published version of the pay table, usually the one that pays 8 coins for a full house and 5 for a flush on a one-coin bet. Reduced-pay versions cut those numbers, often to 7/5 or 6/5. The full-pay label is a description of the pay table, not a guarantee about any particular machine, so the only way to know what you are playing is to read the screen.
Does holding a kicker with three aces help?
In some Bonus Poker pay tables, holding a kicker alongside three aces is the correct play because the four-ace payout is large enough to justify the slightly lower chance of completing the four-of-a-kind. In other pay tables, discarding the kicker is correct. The answer depends entirely on the exact payout for four aces on the machine in front of you, which is why the pay table must be read before the hand is played.
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This article is general information about how these mechanics work. It is not legal advice and not a recommendation to gamble or to use any particular operator. Availability and legality differ by jurisdiction — check the rules that apply where you are.