ULTIMATE ACES BONUS DEUCES WILD STRATEGY

Bonus Deuces Wild‘ is a game that sharp video poker players like—at least in it’s full play version. The ‘Ultimate Aces‘ rules does the bankroll no favors. The top paying game returns 98.43 percent and several pay tables can be found that pay off even less.

ULTIMATE ACES RULES

The ‘Ultimate Aces‘ rules are the same regardless of which variation of the game you’re playing. The basic premise is that for an additional bet per hand the player gets a bonus on any hand with a dealt Ace. Since the game is typically found in ‘triple play’ form this means that max bet is 15 coins for three hands (5 X 3) plus 15 ‘bonus bet’ for three hands (5 X 3) equaling 30 coins per play.

Any time an Ace shows up on the first deal the player automatically gets a bonus on all winning hands. Note that you do not have to hold the Ace to get the bonus. The bonuses are random but the more Aces in a hand the higher the bonus amount. The bonus amount ranges from 2X to 10X. According to game manufacturer IGT the average bonus multipliers are as follows:

• 1 Ace: 3.4X
• 2 Aces: 4.5X
• 3 Aces: 6.0X
• 4 Aces: 7.6X

The Ultimate Aces Bonus Deuces Wild variation offers a payback of 98.43% with max coins bet.

ULTIMATE ACES BONUS DEUCES WILD STRATEGY

The strategy for this game differs as you’re making an effort to get the 5 of a kind bonuses as well as the 4 deuces with ace:

FOUR DEUCES

• Hold all five cards if dealt four deuces with ace.
• Hold all four Deuces and collect the 1000 coin (with max bet) ‘mini jackpot’. Draw to the 4D with ace.

THREE DEUCES

• Five of a kind (Aces)
• Five of a kind (3-5)
• Pat Royal Flush w/ Deuces
• Five of a Kind (6-K)
• Every other hand—keep all three deuces and draw two cards.

TWO DEUCES

• Five of a kind (Aces)
• Five of a kind (3-5)
• Pat Royal Flush w/ Deuces
• Five of a Kind (6-K)
• Pat straight flush
• Four of a Kind
• Four to Wild Royal
• Two Deuces with Ace
• Hold Two Deuces and draw three cards

ONE DEUCE

• Five of a kind (Aces)
• Five of a kind (3-5)
• Pat Royal Flush w/ Deuces
• Five of a Kind (6-K)
• Pat straight flush
• Four of a Kind
• Pat Full House
• Four to a Wild Royal
• Pat Flush
• Three of a Kind Aces
• Outside Straight Flush Draw
• Three of a Kind (3-4-5)
• Four to an Inside Straight Flush
• Three of a Kind (6-K)
• Three to Wild Royal
• Pat Straight
• Outside three to a straight flush
• Four to a flush
• Keep Deuce—draw four

NO DEUCES

• Dealt Royal Flush
• Four to a Royal Flush
• Pat Straight Flush
• Four of a Kind
• Pat Full House
• Pat Flush
• Three of a Kind
• Four to Straight Flush
• Three to Royal Flush
• Pat Straight
• Four to a Flush
• Two Pair
• One Pair
• Three to an outside straight flush
• Draw five cards

A FINAL WORD ON BONUS 2.0 GAMES

Bonus games are fun but they are seldom a ‘good bet’ from a return percentage standpoint. That’s why casinos love them so much and manufacturers keep making them—it’s easy to make the player think he’s getting a lot of extra payouts through the bonus but when you do the math the game proves to be a big money burner. There are exceptions, but in general the more ‘out of the box‘ the bonus format the less likely the game is to offer a ‘player friendly‘ return percentage.

It’s easy to forget that you’re betting an extra 15 coins every hand. If you start to pay attention you’ll realize that even on winning hands there are plenty on which you’re not ‘breaking even’. That’s the trick about this genre of game. They can be a decent bet in some circumstances but you have to be aware of how much you’re betting versus how much you’re winning.

This game is a perfect example. In it’s basic format ‘Bonus Deuces Wild’ is a very playable game for beginning to advanced video poker players. Throw in the ‘Ultimate Aces‘ feature and the payout isn’t nearly as good. There are a few exceptions but as a rule the more ‘gimmicks‘ on a machine the less player friendly it is when you ‘run the numbers’.