Let’s talk pay tables for a bit. Pay table and how casinos manipulate them and make you think your chance of winning is greater than it might be. We’re going to look at two games, Jacks or Better and Double Bonus, but what we discuss here can be applied to other games. I’m sticking to games without wild cards because they let you see the odds more clearly. And I’m to start by discussing 2 different hands – jacks or better (the high pair) and two pair.
Now, if you’ve played Jacks or Better, like you were supposed to, you know that the win for a high pair of jacks, queen, king or ace is 1 for 1 or you get your money back. You’ll find this is the same for Double Bonus and many of the bonus games. A high pair is one for one. Now, if you’re familiar with Jacks or Better, you know you get paid two for one if you hit two pair. Now, that’s not a huge amount of money but you know if you play the game that you have a fair chance of hitting two pair. Hitting two pair won’t bring in a ton of money, but they can help keep you in the game while you try to hit the elusive Royal Flush.
Now let’s look at Double Bonus poker. We’ll see the standard pay out of one for one for a high pair, but instead of two for one for two pair, you get one for one. So, this means that you make less money when you hit two pair. It doesn’t seem like a big sacrifice from many players when they look at the pay out for four aces, which is often 160 for one. That’s a win you want to make. But the trick is that with a lower payout coming in for those smaller hands, you may need a larger bankroll to stay in the game long enough to hit one of those big hands.
So, is it wrong to play Double Bonus poker? Of course not. It’s actually my mother’s favorite game. But as part of our process of learning to play poker, we’re learning to understand the odds.
