How to play
Bonus Deuces is a wild-card machine. All four 2s in the 52-card deck act as jokers: a deuce becomes whatever card makes your hand best. Because wilds make strong hands easy, the table starts at three of a kind, and a lone pair pays nothing.
A hand goes like this. Pick 1 to 5 credits with Bet one, press Deal (or Bet max to deal straight away at 5), tap the cards you want to keep until they read Held, then Draw. Unheld cards are swapped for new ones from the same deck, and the next deal reshuffles everything.
Hint (optional ad first) marks the hold with the best expected return, worked out over every possible draw. Credits are virtual: 1,000 to start, and another 1,000 free whenever you run out.
Pay table
Per credit; the natural royal pays 4,000 at a 5-credit bet.
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| Natural Royal Flush (no deuces) | 250 |
| Four Deuces + Ace | 400 |
| Four Deuces (any other fifth card) | 200 |
| Wild Royal Flush | 25 |
| Five Aces | 80 |
| Five 3s, 4s or 5s | 40 |
| Five 6s through Kings | 20 |
| Straight Flush | 10 |
| Four of a Kind | 4 |
| Full House | 3 |
| Flush | 3 |
| Straight | 1 |
| Three of a Kind | 1 |
Compared with the full-pay Deuces Wild table, the money has moved into the rare stuff. An Ace kicker on four deuces doubles that pay, and five of a kind is split by rank: Aces 80, the low group (3s to 5s) 40, and even 6s to Kings get 20 where Deuces Wild pays 15. The flush goes up a little too, from 2 to 3. The bill lands on two common hands: four of a kind falls from 5 to 4, and a straight from 2 to 1, so a straight now just returns your bet.
The numbers
An exact count over every deal and hold gives 97.36% at 5 credits with perfect play. That’s well under the best deuces tables, and the swings are bigger: Four Deuces with an Ace turns up only about once in 36,400 hands. About 44.6% of hands land on a paying line, but many of those are three of a kind or straights that only give your bet back.
Strategy
Wild-card strategy starts with one rule: never throw away a deuce. After that, Bonus Deuces has quirks of its own. These come from the game’s exact hold calculator:
- Four deuces with a King (or any non-Ace). Throw the King and draw one card. You keep the 200 no matter what, and four of the 47 cards left are Aces that make it 400. The draw is worth about 217 per credit against 200 for standing.
- Four deuces with an Ace. Stand. That’s the 400 already.
- Three Aces and a deuce (A♣ A♦ A♥ 2♠ 7♣). You have four Aces; hold all four and draw one. Another Ace or deuce makes five Aces.
- One deuce and a pair of Aces. Hold the three. Aces are the rank you want to fill up.
- No deuces, an open-ended straight draw like 5-6-7-8. Draw five new cards. A straight only pays 1 here, so even this draw is worth less than a fresh hand (about 0.25 against 0.29).
- No deuces, a pair of Aces. Keep the pair, not a kicker.
The pattern: low straights and flushes matter less than in other deuces games, and anything pointing at five of a kind, especially Aces or 3s to 5s, matters more. When a hand isn’t on that list, press Hint.
If you enjoy Bonus Deuces, try Bonus Poker or Bonus Poker Deluxe next.
