Home         Gambling Info         Odds         Gambling Online         Ask the Wizard         Play for Fun         Blog         Radio         Video    

Reason #2 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

No-hassle practice games

Most online casinos spend more effort trying to separate you from your money than they do trying to give you a good experience. They have all kinds of popup windows, they usually make you download their software, and if they do offer play-in-browser games then you have to register an account before you can play. And if you register they start sending you emails trying to get you to deposit real money.

But Bovada is different. They have no popup windows at all, and their practice games play right in your browser, with no download, and no registration required. You don’t even have to give up your email address. It couldn’t be simpler: just one click and you’re playing the game.

I wish all online casinos showed this much respect for their players. Other casinos practically ask for your first born child to play for free. Meanwhile Bovada is patient and does not twist anybody’s arm to play for real money. You can play as long as you like for free with no obligation. The real-money games are available if that’s your preference, but if not, you can play the free practice games for as long as you like without hassle.

Visit Bovada

Black Jack Bonus Poker

Last Update: Feb 09, 2006

Black Jack Bonus Poker is a video poker variation I noticed at the Gold Coast in Las Vegas in February 2006. At first I was confused, wondering how a player could get a four of a kind plus a blackjack in five cards. Then I realized you didn't need a blackjack but a black jack (note the two words). I had to use my slow video poker program to analyze this one, because with jacks not all suits are equal, which takes four days to run for a single pay table. Here are the results of two pay tables. The Gold Coast had the 9/6 pay table.

9/6 Black Jack Bonus Poker - 98.10%
HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Royal flush 800 486203646 0.000024 0.019513
Straight flush 50 2203932480 0.000111 0.005528
Four aces plus black jack 800 375173532 0.000019 0.015057
Four 2-4 plus black jack 400 863022792 0.000043 0.017318
Four 5-K plus black jack 160 1780551210 0.000089 0.014292
Four aces or jacks 160 8368302246 0.000420 0.067171
Four 2-4 80 9053778936 0.000454 0.036336
Four 5-10,Q,K 25 26202429360 0.001315 0.032863
Full house 9 202560451044 0.010162 0.091458
Flush 6 231319834884 0.011605 0.069628
Straight 4 261796363338 0.013134 0.052535
Three of a kind 3 1497410737884 0.075121 0.225364
Two pair 1 2343890018796 0.117587 0.117587
Jacks or better 1 4313089582038 0.216377 0.216377
Nothing 0 11033830135014 0.553539 0.000000
Total 0 19933230517200 1.000000 0.981028

8/6 Black Jack Bonus Poker - 97.09%
HandPaysCombinationsProbabilityReturn
Royal flush 800 485848896 0.000024 0.019499
Straight flush 50 2203293672 0.000111 0.005527
Four aces plus black jack 800 375047370 0.000019 0.015052
Four 2-4 plus black jack 400 862960872 0.000043 0.017317
Four 5-K plus black jack 160 1780112094 0.000089 0.014289
Four aces or jacks 160 8361797292 0.000419 0.067118
Four 2-4 80 9053007774 0.000454 0.036333
Four 5-10,Q,K 25 26186728770 0.001314 0.032843
Full house 8 202444719468 0.010156 0.081249
Flush 6 233705700462 0.011724 0.070347
Straight 4 261695352984 0.013129 0.052514
Three of a kind 3 1496321027154 0.075067 0.225200
Two pair 1 2342178744270 0.117501 0.117501
Jacks or better 1 4307174176356 0.216080 0.216080
Nothing 0 11040401999766 0.553869 0.000000
0 0 19933230517200 1.000000 0.970870

My Video Poker Offerings

Basic Video Poker Info

  • My main Video Poker page

  • Return tables:

  • Probability of Ruin for single-play video poker

  • Random simulations of multi-play video poker

  • The standard deviation of n-play video poker

Practice / Play Video Poker for Free

Video Poker Calculator

  • Analyze the return for almost any video poker paytable

Other Stuff

Strategies

Full-Pay Jacks or Better:

Full-Pay Deuces Wild:

Quick Quads:

Other Strategies:

Copyright © 1998-2012 Wizard of Odds Consulting, Inc.  All rights reserved.  •  About  |  Privacy & Terms  |  Site Map  |  Links  |  Contact

The Wizard’s other sites: Wizard of Vegas  |  Wizard of Macau  |  Math Problems   •   Recommended: Vegas Click