Double Bonus is a video poker game written in Java and available online. A video poker machine version can also be found in brick and mortar casinos. Like all video poker machines, it receives tokens for 1, 2 or 3 bets and displays a poker hand. The player can choose to keep or replace any of the five cards. Then the resulting hand is evaluated. If it has jacks or better, the player will win one or more credits. If the hand is lower than that, the player loses.

Before committing a ton of money to a machine, be sure to check the pay table. The “10/7” pay table for double bonus (10 for full house, 7 for flush) favors the player over the house by a tiny fraction (less than 0.1%). Essentially, it’s even. A “short pay” version offers only 47.8 credits instead of 50 for a straight flush and four of a kind (5-K). This is to make the payout just under $1200 for a $5 bet, thus avoiding the IRS reporting requirement. The modification drops the payout to $99.80 for $100 wagered.

The “9-7-5” pay table (9 for full house, 7 for flush and 5 for straight) comes in at $99.10 for $100 wagered. “9-7-4” double bonus poker pays out around 97.7%. Many machines drop into the eights and sevens for full houses, with corresponding cuts in the payoffs for flushes and straights. The “8-6” pay table comes out at 96.23%. The “7-5-4” pays 93.1%.