Triple Double Bonus Poker: Which Cards Should You Hold?

Triple Double Bonus Poker strategy depends on the exact paytable: check every payout on the machine, then use a strategy calculated for that schedule to decide which cards to hold. Kicker decisions are especially important because a qualifying accompanying card increases the payout for certain four-of-a-kind hands. Generic advice such as “always hold only three aces” can be wrong.

This guide explains how to check the paytable, compares the specific 9/7 and 9/6 schedules, and works through a hand where holding three aces with a deuce has a higher expected award than holding only the aces. Our practice trainer helps you rehearse decisions, but it does not calculate mathematically best holds.

How Do You Play, and Why Does the Kicker Matter?

Triple Double Bonus Poker is a five-card draw video-poker game: you receive five cards, hold the cards you want to keep, discard the rest, and draw replacements once. Your final five-card hand and the machine’s paytable determine the award.

The game offers enhanced payouts for specified four-of-a-kind hands. Some require a qualifying kicker—the fifth card accompanying the four cards of the same rank. Not every fifth card qualifies; its rank must be listed in the paytable.

Under the 9/7 schedule discussed here:

• Four aces receive an enhanced payout with a kicker of 2, 3, or 4.
• Four twos, threes, or fours receive an enhanced payout with a qualifying kicker from A–4.
• The kicker cannot have the same rank as the four of a kind. For example, four twos can have an ace, three, or four as a qualifying kicker.

Before drawing, consider both your existing hand and the possibility of completing an enhanced four-of-a-kind award.

How Do You Read the Exact Paytable?

Check the entire paytable, not just the full-house and flush awards. Labels such as 9/7 and 9/6 help distinguish schedules, but they do not describe every payout rule.

On the machine or its help screen, check:

1. The game name and every winning hand category.
2. Separate four-of-a-kind awards with and without qualifying kickers.
3. Full-house, flush, and all other awards.
4. The credit denomination and number of credits wagered.
5. The royal-flush payout rules for your selected wager.

The maximum bet is the highest permitted credit wager. If it carries a special royal-flush multiplier, confirm that rule in the machine’s paytable rather than assuming it applies.

These key rows come from the Wizard of Odds reference paytable. The figures are in one-credit award units, not universal cash amounts.

This is not the complete paytable needed to configure a calculation. Check every remaining row and the wager rules before selecting a strategy.

How Do 9/7 and 9/6 Compare?

For the two specific schedules published by Wizard of Odds, 9/7 has a higher theoretical return to player (RTP) than 9/6. These figures apply to the complete paytables identified by the source and the strategy used in its calculations.

Both figures come from the Wizard of Odds Triple Double Bonus Poker tables. You cannot apply 98.1540% to every machine that pays 9 for a full house and 6 for a flush: all other awards must match the source’s specified 9/6 schedule too. The rounded figures shown here use two decimal places.

The same source lists a separate 9/6/4 schedule with an RTP of 99.2151%. It is a different paytable and must not be confused with the 9/6 schedule above. The vpFREE2 paytable catalog also records different schedules.

Worked Hand: Should You Hold Three Aces and a Deuce?

With A♠ A♥ A♦ 2♣ J♥ under the specified 9/7 award schedule, holding the three aces and the deuce has a higher expected award than holding only the aces. This compares two particular decisions; it is not a rule for every hand containing three aces.

Independent enumeration of the possible draws gives:

The calculation assumes:

• A standard deck without jokers.
• 47 unseen cards after the initial deal.
• Discarded cards are not returned to the draw pool.
• Every possible draw is equally likely.
• The one-credit 9/7 award scale shown above, together with all remaining rows of the same reference paytable.

Each decision is evaluated separately:

1. Holding three aces and the deuce leaves 47 possible one-card draws. Each final hand’s award is determined, then the awards are averaged.
2. Holding only the aces allows every unordered two-card combination from the same 47 unseen cards. Each final hand’s award is determined, then those awards are averaged.

Keeping the deuce preserves a qualifying kicker if the fourth ace arrives. However, the comparison accounts for all possible outcomes, not just that successful draw.

The figures retain the precision supplied by the calculation. They are conditional expected gross awards before subtracting the wager—not net profit, full-game RTP, or a guaranteed result for the next hand.

How Do You Get a Strategy for Your Machine?

For exact holds, use the external Wizard of Odds strategy calculator and enter your machine’s complete paytable. A generic strategy chart is not reliable without checking the payouts it assumes.

Follow this workflow in the Wizard of Odds strategy calculator:

1. Choose video poker from the game list.
2. Select Triple Double Bonus.
3. Edit every displayed payout to match the machine’s paytable for your selected wager conditions.
4. Click Continue.
5. Inspect the perfect strategy and hand EV output to compare holds.

The calculator provides perfect and basic strategy for the entered paytable. Do not assume that basic strategy is equivalent to perfect strategy.

Before using the results, compare your entries with the machine again. An incorrect kicker award or royal-flush wager rule means the calculation describes a different game. This is an external reference, not our practice trainer.

What Is Our Practice Trainer For?

Our practice trainer helps you rehearse hold, discard, and draw decisions using fixed heuristic rules. It does not enumerate every possible draw or prove that its recommended hold has the highest expected award.

Practice trainer interface illustration on localhost showing 2♠ 2♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♠

Localhost interface illustration showing 2♠ 2♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♠. The image illustrates the practice trainer, not mathematical verification of its recommendations.

For a disputed hold, first confirm the paytable, then check the decision in the external strategy calculator.

Our RTP calculator is also unsuitable for calculating this schedule: its maximum input is 99%, so it cannot accept 99.58%. The /rtp catalog has no Triple Double Bonus Poker record.

What Do RTP and Risk Mean?

RTP is the long-run modelled return under a specified paytable and play strategy. It is not the probability of winning the next hand or a forecast for your session.

Even an RTP of 99.58% does not mean you will receive exactly that proportion of your wagers back during a short session. Hold errors can also make your actual strategy differ from the one used to calculate the published return.

Variance is the statistical spread of returns in a model, not the probability of profit. No verified numerical variance is supplied here, so it cannot support a fixed bankroll or playing-time recommendation. Set a limit on what you can afford to lose, and do not treat one hand’s high expected award as a reason to increase your wager.