Royal Aces Bonus Video Poker

Royal Aces Bonus video poker is a wild, wild, wild game. Four aces without a kicker pays the same as a royal flush.

I've only played it a few times in my life -- honestly, fewer than ten times -- and with a limited amount of money because it will suck you dry unless you do hit four aces.

The pay table starts with a pair of aces. A pair of jacks or queens or kings pays zip. Two pair only gets you even money -- your original bet returned.

There isn't much written about this game, so I was very interested in the few pages that were in Frank Scoblete's new book "Everything Casino Poker" about it.

In Frank's book there is a chart that shows that in Royal Aces Bonus a royal flush occurs once in a bout 46,000 hands but quad aces occurs about once in 4,059 hands.

This is a game for holding aces -- but correct strategy says if you are dealt, for example As, 5c, 5d, Jh, 2d then you hold the pair of fives.

That's how I played the game. But three times now (out of the fewer than ten times that I've played Royal Aces Bonus) I've dropped a single ace to hold a pair and each time I would have been better off holding the ace.

Two out of the three times the pair I held did not improve, but one or two aces showed up in the draw, and then once three aces showed up in the draw which would have been the equivalent of a Royal Flush.

It makes me think that I should always hold even a single ace over a non-paying pair.

Help me to understand why the "correct strategy" is correct and my thinking about holding an ace over a non-paying pair is wrong?

Thanks.

The reason the mathematically correct play is to hold any pair over a lone Ace is because of what Harry Tamburin wrote about in his column this week. He pushes and sells optimal-play only, and holding a pair is slightly better in EV than a lone Ace. You can look it up on the Wizard's site if you want to see the numbers. However, just as all AP's preach, they only know how to look at a specific hand as if it were going to be dealt and played millions of times, instead of the far more realistic handful of times most players see it on their infrequent trips to casinos. I myself would always hold the pair over the Ace because nothing says you can't go on a quad spree and walk away a session winner. I've only played this game once, in quarters, while waiting for a "student" at the Masquerade Bar inside the Rio. I hit four Aces within 10 minutes, but I held two of them.

Rob, you surprise me. I thought you would say just hold the ace considering that when you play this game you are going for the aces because quads pays the same as a royal. Of course when you have two aces that's all you would hold.

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Rob, you surprise me. I thought you would say just hold the ace considering that when you play this game you are going for the aces because quads pays the same as a royal. Of course when you have two aces that's all you would hold.

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Took the words out of my mouth. i thought Rob would just keep the ace and I would be tempted to do the same. Of course, I may change my opinion when I see the math on the referenced site.

Actually, I was hoping Rob would tell me that from now on to just hold a single ace and drop pairs or even straight and flush draws unless I was dealt something like a royal draw, or a straight flush, or quads such as 5555A or a full house with KKKAA.

This is a game I've never analyzed and did not include it in my strategy because it's a bankroll killer, and unlike all the games I do play, you will rarely ever see 40+ credit cashouts without a quad or SF. Holding a lone Ace over any pair may SOUND like something I might do, but even without doing a risk analysis I can safely say that trying for a three Ace draw is not a strong decision.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rob.Singer

This is a game I've never analyzed and did not include it in my strategy because it's a bankroll killer, and unlike all the games I do play, you will rarely ever see 40+ credit cashouts without a quad or SF. Holding a lone Ace over any pair may SOUND like something I might do, but even without doing a risk analysis I can safely say that trying for a three Ace draw is not a strong decision.

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This makes perfect sense, Rob. Thanks. And you are certainly correct when you say "it's a bankroll killer" yet I have a huge profit playing this game. I hit quad aces twice at the $1 level and once at the $2 level. I would classify this as a "mad money game" because you have to use mad money only to play it.

Maybe your new nickname should be Alan "Mad Money" Mendelson. Ha Ha!