Double Bonus is five-card draw video poker with bigger four-of-a-kind awards. Two pair pays just 1 for 1—and on 10/7, even a full house of aces can be worth breaking.
Start here: match the full pay table, check the five cards, then learn the patterns behind the hold. This is ordinary Double Bonus: there is no special kicker bonus.
The first two numbers name the full-house and flush awards. We include the straight award too: 10/7/5. Check the quads, straight flush and royal as well; the short name cannot identify every variation.
This standard 10/7/5 table has a small theoretical player edge under optimal play. It does not guarantee a profitable session.
The table and analyzer use the five-credit royal bonus: 4,000 credits total, equivalent to 800 per credit bet. They assume one standard 52-card deck, no wild cards and no progressive jackpot.
What does “five credits” cost?| 10/7/5 Double Bonus | Per creditat five credits | Five creditstotal payout |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 800 | 4,000 |
| Straight flush | 50 | 250 |
| Four aces | 160 | 800 |
| Four 2s, 3s or 4s | 80 | 400 |
| Four 5s through kings | 50 | 250 |
| Full house | 10 | 50 |
| Flush | 7 | 35 |
| Straight | 5 | 25 |
| Three of a kind | 3 | 15 |
| Two pair | 1 | 5 |
| Jacks or better | 1 | 5 |
Returns assume each complete pay table above and its own optimal strategy, worked out exactly over all 2,598,960 deals. Reading a pay table shows how to tell the versions apart.
Tap a card to hold or discard it. Use Change card to enter your own hand. Compare your choice with the highest expected return across all 32 holds.
Examples load on the currently selected pay table. Switch the table to compare the same cards.
Draw 2 cards · 1,081 possible draws.
This is the best hold for the selected pay table.
The four-aces award makes holding the three aces worth 10.1147 per 1 bet. Keeping all five pays 10 for certain. Expected return favors the aces, but the draw gives up a guaranteed full house.
Scroll sideways for the full comparison
| Hold | Draw | Possible draws | Return per 1 bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| A♠ A♥ A♦BestYour hold | 2 | 1,081 | 10.1147 |
| A♠ A♥ A♦ 9♠ 9♥ | 0 | 1 | 10.0000 |
| A♠ A♥ A♦ 9♠ | 1 | 47 | 6.6383 |
| A♠ A♥ A♦ 9♥ | 1 | 47 | 6.6383 |
| A♠ A♥ 9♠ 9♥ | 1 | 47 | 1.5745 |
| A♠ A♦ 9♠ 9♥ | 1 | 47 | 1.5745 |
| A♥ A♦ 9♠ 9♥ | 1 | 47 | 1.5745 |
| A♠ A♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 1.1810 |
| A♠ A♦ | 3 | 16,215 | 1.1810 |
| A♥ A♦ | 3 | 16,215 | 1.1810 |
| A♠ A♥ 9♠ | 2 | 1,081 | 1.1064 |
| A♠ A♦ 9♠ | 2 | 1,081 | 1.1064 |
| A♥ A♦ 9♠ | 2 | 1,081 | 1.1064 |
| A♠ A♥ 9♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 1.1064 |
| A♠ A♦ 9♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 1.1064 |
| A♥ A♦ 9♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 1.1064 |
| 9♠ 9♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.7561 |
| A♠ 9♠ 9♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.4107 |
| A♥ 9♠ 9♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.4107 |
| A♦ 9♠ 9♥ | 2 | 1,081 | 0.4107 |
| Discard all five | 5 | 1,533,939 | 0.3112 |
| A♦ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2526 |
| A♠ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2461 |
| A♥ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2461 |
| 9♠ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2261 |
| 9♥ | 4 | 178,365 | 0.2261 |
| A♠ 9♠ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2044 |
| A♥ 9♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.2044 |
| A♥ 9♠ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.1332 |
| A♦ 9♠ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.1332 |
| A♠ 9♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.1332 |
| A♦ 9♥ | 3 | 16,215 | 0.1332 |
For each of the 32 ways to keep some of the five cards, the analyzer counts every possible final hand from the 47 unseen cards and weights each by its payout. These are exact counts, not random trials. Discarded cards stay out of the draw. Tied best holds are shown as ties; returns are rounded to four decimals.
An expected return of 1.20 means an average gross payout of 1.20 for every 1 bet, or an expected net gain of 0.20 for that decision. The wager is already committed when you choose a hold. These hand-by-hand values are not the game’s overall return.
Educational hand analysis only. If a game’s payouts differ from the complete table selected here, these results do not apply.
A generic Jacks or Better chart misses important Double Bonus decisions: played here unchanged, it gives up 0.5403% of every bet against perfect play. These are specific hands you can inspect in the analyzer, with their exact pay-table assumptions.
Work from the top and use the first matching hold, including its attached note. This is the site’s 44-line learning chart, not a guarantee of perfect play on every deal. The analyzer checks the exact cards.
The analyzer is using another pay table. This reference chart is for 10/7/5 only.
All 44 lines. Searching keeps the original rank numbers but can hide a higher-priority hold. Clear the search before playing by the list.
| Rank | What to hold | Example deal | Analyze the example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Royal flush | ||
| 02 | Straight flush | ||
| 03 | Four of a kind | ||
| 04 | 4 to a royal flush | ||
| 05 | Three aces | ||
| 06 | Full house | ||
| 07 | Flush | ||
| 08 | Three of a kind | ||
| 09 | Straight | ||
| 10 | 4 to a straight flush | ||
| 11 | Two pair | ||
| 12 | Pair of aces | ||
| 13 | 4 to a flush with 3 high cards | ||
| 14 | 3 to a royal flush: 10-J-Q or J-Q-K | ||
| 15 | Pair of jacks, queens or kings | ||
| 16 | 4 to a flush | ||
| 17 | Any other 3 to a royal flush | ||
| 18 | 4 to an outside straight | ||
| 19 | Pair of 2s, 3s or 4s | ||
| 20 | 3 to a straight flush: 9-10-J or 9-J-Q | ||
| 21 | Pair of 5s to 10s | ||
| 22 | A-K-Q-J, unsuited | ||
| 23 | 3 to a straight flush, type 1 | ||
| 24 | 4 to an inside straight with 3 high cards | ||
| 25 | Suited K-Q or K-J Note 1 | ||
| 26 | Suited Q-J | ||
| 27 | 3 to a straight flush, type 2 | ||
| 28 | K-Q-J, unsuited | ||
| 29 | 3 to a flush with 2 high cards | ||
| 30 | Suited A-K, A-Q or A-J | ||
| 31 | 4 to an inside straight with 1 or 2 high cards | ||
| 32 | 10-J-Q, unsuited | ||
| 33 | Suited J-10 | ||
| 34 | Q-J, unsuited | ||
| 35 | 3 to a flush with 1 high card Note 2 | ||
| 36 | Suited Q-10 | ||
| 37 | 3 to a straight flush, type 3 Note 3 | ||
| 38 | K-Q or K-J, unsuited | ||
| 39 | An ace Note 4 | ||
| 40 | Suited K-10 | ||
| 41 | A king, queen or jack | ||
| 42 | 4 to an inside straight, no high cards | ||
| 43 | 3 to a flush, no high cards | ||
| 44 | Draw five new cards |
No matching lines. Try “flush” or “aces”, or clear the search.
A discarded card is unavailable to complete your draw. That can change the best hold even when the cards you would keep look identical.
The chart is a learning aid for 10/7/5. Played exactly as written it returns 100.1717%, against 100.1725% for perfect play: it differs on 13,740 of the 2,598,960 deals, close calls worth 0.0008% in all. Use the analyzer for competing draws or when the table changes.
On the standard schedule, a royal pays 250 per credit at one through four credits, but 4,000 total at five credits. That is why the chart, analyzer and quoted returns assume the five-credit royal bonus.
The denomination determines the price: five credits at $0.25 costs $1.25 per hand; at $1 it costs $5. If the five-credit wager exceeds your limit, choose a lower denomination or skip the game. Do not increase your budget just to activate a payout.
A 100.1725% theoretical return means about $1.73 expected net gain per $1,000 wagered under those exact rules and optimal strategy. It is measured against the total money cycled through the game, not the amount you bring.
Large quad awards and rare royals contribute to that average. Substantial losses can occur even with correct holds, and a few mistakes can erase a small theoretical edge. A pay table above 100% does not turn a session into a guaranteed profit.
Standard rank-based quads pay 80 / 40 / 25. Two pair pays 2. Its strategy does not simply carry over.
Standard rank-based quads pay 160 / 80 / 50. Two pair pays 1. No kicker premium.
Some low kickers increase quad awards. Its extra categories change the holds again.
Quad amounts are per credit at the five-credit basis; groups are aces, 2s–4s, then 5s–kings. Compare the variant pay tables.
No. In ordinary Double Bonus the fifth card does not increase the four-aces payout, so holding an unrelated kicker gives up a draw without creating a kicker premium. With A♠ A♥ A♦ 7♣ 2♠ the aces alone return 10.1082 and the aces with the 7 return 6.7872. Do not import a rule from a differently named game.
No universal answer applies across the pay tables. The aces-and-nines example above keeps both pairs on 10/7/5 but just the aces on 9/7/5. Other two-pair ranks and game variants need their own comparison: select the exact table and enter all five cards.
Some cards can be exchanged without changing any paying outcome. With four aces, for example, holding all five or drawing one to the four aces gives the same four-aces award. The analyzer lists tied best holds instead of inventing a single winner.
The chart is for 10/7/5. Played on 9/7/5 it gives up 0.0541% against that table’s perfect play, and on 9/6/5 0.2519%: a smaller full-house, flush or straight award changes the value of draws. The analyzer recalculates all 32 holds for any of the four tables shown above.
Not if the game deals from one fair 52-card deck with a single draw and pays the full table: the hold mathematics is the same. Check the game’s help screen for wild cards, progressive awards, altered pay tables or other features. A title alone is not enough to match a game to this guide.
No. “Double Bonus” names the pay structure. A double-up or gamble feature offered after a win is a separate wager, and none of the chart, the hand analysis or the quoted returns relies on taking it.
Where it parts from Jacks or Better, biggest first.
A straight pays 5. With one or two high cards, 4 to an inside straight beats a lone high card and most two-card holds; with none, it still beats drawing five. Passing them up costs 0.2662% of every bet.
A flush pays 7. Keep a third card of the suit with suited A-K, A-Q or A-J, and keep three of a suit with one high card rather than that card alone. Passing them up costs 0.1497%.
Four aces pay 160. Hold three aces over aces full, and as a rule the ace alone over A-K, A-Q or A-J unsuited.