Bonus Poker is where the bonus poker family begins. Every Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, and Triple Bonus variant traces its lineage back to this game — a straightforward modification of Jacks or Better that adds tiered payouts for four-of-a-kind hands. Four aces pay more than four twos through fours, which pay more than four fives through kings.
It is a simple idea, and that simplicity is exactly why Bonus Poker remains one of the most widely available video poker games. The full-pay 8/5 version returns 99.17% with optimal strategy, making it a reasonable game by casino standards, even if it falls short of the player-positive territory of wilder variants.
But as with every video poker game, the pay table tells you whether you are getting a fair shake or subsidizing the casino's electricity bill.
How to Identify the Full-Pay Version
Bonus Poker pay tables are identified the same way as Jacks or Better: by the Full House and Flush payouts. The full-pay version is 8/5 (Full House pays 8 per coin, Flush pays 5 per coin). This is sometimes written as "8/5 Bonus Poker" in strategy references.
Quick identification:
- 8/5 — Full pay (99.17% RTP). The standard to seek out.
- 7/5 — One step down (98.01% RTP). Common and still playable.
- 6/5 — Short pay (96.87% RTP). Increasingly common and best avoided.
The numbers to check: Full House and Flush lines, in that order. Everything else in the bonus structure stays the same across versions — the casinos only adjust the middle-tier payouts.
Pay Table Comparison: Full Pay vs Short Pay
All payouts shown per coin wagered:
| Hand | Full Pay (8/5) | Medium Pay (7/5) | Short Pay (6/5) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 800 | 800 | 800 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 50 | 50 |
| Four Aces | 80 | 80 | 80 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Four 5s through Kings | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Full House | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| Flush | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Straight | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Two Pair | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Jacks or Better | 1 | 1 | 1 |
The bonus structure is identical across all three versions: four aces pay 80, four 2-3-4 pay 40, and four 5-K pay 25 per coin. Only the Full House line changes, dropping from 8 to 7 to 6. The Flush consistently pays 5 across common versions.
This is a clean illustration of how casinos extract margin. The exciting part of the pay table — the bonus four-of-a-kind payouts that attracted you to the game in the first place — stays untouched. The boring middle-tier hand that occurs in roughly 1 out of every 9 hands is where they take the money back.
The RTP Gap: One Coin Per Full House Adds Up
A full house occurs approximately once every 87 hands in video poker. With 400 hands per hour on a $1 machine at max bet, that is roughly 4.6 full houses per hour. Each one-coin reduction in the Full House payout costs you $5 per occurrence (on max bet), which translates to approximately $23 per hour.
The full picture:
- 8/5 (99.17%): House edge of $0.83 per $100 wagered. At $2,000/hour throughput, you lose about $16.60/hour expected.
- 7/5 (98.01%): House edge of $1.99 per $100 wagered. Expected loss of about $39.80/hour.
- 6/5 (96.87%): House edge of $3.13 per $100 wagered. Expected loss of about $62.60/hour.
The difference between the best and worst common versions is $46 per hour on a $1 machine. That is the cost of not checking the pay table.
Bonus Poker vs Jacks or Better: What Actually Changed
In standard 9/6 Jacks or Better, every four-of-a-kind hand pays 25 per coin. Four aces, four threes, four kings — all the same. Bonus Poker introduces a three-tier system:
| Four of a Kind | Jacks or Better | Bonus Poker |
|---|---|---|
| Four Aces | 25 | 80 |
| Four 2s, 3s, 4s | 25 | 40 |
| Four 5s through Kings | 25 | 25 |
To fund these bonuses, the base pay table is trimmed. Full-pay Jacks or Better pays 9/6 (Full House 9, Flush 6) for a 99.54% return. Full-pay Bonus Poker pays 8/5 for a 99.17% return. You are giving up 0.37% of base RTP in exchange for the excitement of enhanced quad payouts.
Whether that trade is worth it depends on what you value. The base Jacks or Better return is higher, which means lower variance and more consistent results. Bonus Poker adds volatility — you will have longer losing stretches punctuated by larger wins when the bonus quads hit. Mathematically, Jacks or Better is the better game. Experientially, many players prefer the adrenaline of hitting four aces for 400 coins instead of 125.
Strategy Differences from Jacks or Better
Bonus Poker strategy is remarkably close to Jacks or Better, which makes it an excellent transitional game for players who have learned JoB fundamentals.
The key differences:
- Three aces are more valuable due to the 80-coin quad payout. In rare situations, you might hold three aces over a made straight or flush when you would not do so in Jacks or Better. These situations are uncommon, but they exist.
- Three low cards (2s, 3s, 4s) gain value because the 40-coin quad payout is 60% higher than standard. The strategy adjustment here is minimal but technically present.
- Pairs of aces are slightly more attractive as starting holds. A pair of aces already ranks highly in Jacks or Better, but the enhanced quad payout makes it even more dominant in the hand hierarchy.
- Everything else is effectively the same. The 5-K four-of-a-kind payout is identical to Jacks or Better, so the vast majority of your hands play identically.
Practically speaking, if you use Jacks or Better strategy on a Bonus Poker machine, you will achieve very close to the theoretical return. The differences affect perhaps 1 in 200 hands — noticeable over millions of hands, negligible in a single session.
The Bottom Line
Bonus Poker is the gateway to the bonus poker family, and it remains one of the most widely available video poker games for good reason. The tiered four-of-a-kind structure adds excitement without demanding a completely new strategy, and the full-pay 8/5 version at 99.17% RTP offers a respectable return.
The game's simplicity is its strength. Two numbers tell you everything: 8 and 5 for the Full House and Flush. If you see those, you are on the best common version. If the Full House drops to 7 or 6, your expected cost per hour roughly doubles or triples. That is not a rounding error — it is the difference between entertainment and expensive entertainment.
For players stepping up from Jacks or Better, Bonus Poker is the natural next move. The strategy transfers almost directly, the bonus quads add meaningful excitement, and the game is available nearly everywhere. Just check those two numbers first.
Play Bonus Poker Free
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# Payout Table Articles — Batch 2
> 3 standalone blog articles for purevideopoker.com
> Each targets "[Game] payout table" search intent
> Publish as individual pages under /blog/ or /guides/
> ~800-1200 words each
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