8/5 Bonus Poker Strategy Chart
Jacks or Better with a bigger four of a kind. Same feel, a few tweaks, and 80 coins for four aces.
Short answer
99.17% return, perfect play. Play it almost exactly like 9/6 Jacks or Better. The larger quad payouts raise the value of three of a kind, especially three aces, but the top of the strategy is unchanged.
The pay table
| Hand | Per coin | Max (5 coins) |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | 250 | 4,000 |
| Straight Flush | 50 | 250 |
| Four Aces | 80 | 400 |
| Four 2s-4s | 40 | 200 |
| Four 5s-Ks | 25 | 125 |
| Full House | 8 | 40 |
| Flush | 5 | 25 |
| Straight | 4 | 20 |
| Three of a Kind | 3 | 15 |
| Two Pair | 2 | 10 |
| Jacks or Better | 1 | 5 |
The strategy chart: every hold in order
This is the complete 8/5 Bonus Poker strategy chart, our cheat sheet with every play ranked by expected value.
Look at your dealt hand, find the highest entry here you can make, and hold exactly those cards. The number is the expected value per coin of that play, computed by the engine.
| # | Play | EV |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Four aces | 80.00 |
| 02 | Four 2s-4s | 40.00 |
| 03 | Four 5s-Ks | 25.00 |
| 04 | 4 to a royal | 19.43 |
| 05 | Full house | 8.00 |
| 06 | Three aces | 6.58 |
| 07 | Flush | 5.00 |
| 08 | Three of a kind | 4.24 |
| 09 | Straight | 4.00 |
| 10 | 4 to a straight flush | 3.38 |
| 11 | Two pair | 2.51 |
| 12 | High pair (JJ+) | 1.53 |
| 13 | 3 to a royal | 1.30 |
| 14 | 4 to a flush | 1.02 |
| 15 | Low pair | 0.81 |
| 16 | 4 to an outside straight | 0.68 |
| 17 | Two suited high cards | 0.59 |
| 18 | One high card | 0.48 |
The plays that cost the most
- Three aces are worth chasing — three aces 6.58 vs ranks above a flush (5.00) — hold them · costs
Why five coins, always
The royal flush pays 250 per coin on one through four coins, then jumps to 800 per coin (4,000 total) on the fifth. That single bonus is worth about 1.5 percent of return. Bet within your bankroll, but always bet max coins.
Practice it
Reading strategy is not playing it. The free trainer deals real Bonus Poker hands, grades every hold against this exact strategy, and shows the precise expected value you give up on a mistake.
How it differs from Jacks or Better
Barely different from Jacks or Better. The bigger quads make three of a kind worth a little more, but the ranked order is essentially the same. The catch is the lower full house (8) and flush (5), which is why the return is 99.17 percent instead of 99.54. If you have Jacks or Better down, you already play Bonus Poker near-perfectly.
More strategy
Common questions
Is Bonus Poker better than Jacks or Better?
Its top return of 99.17 percent is a touch below 9/6 Jacks or Better, but the bigger four-of-a-kind payouts make it more exciting, and many casinos offer it where they do not offer full-pay Jacks or Better.
How much is four aces worth in Bonus Poker?
80 per coin, 400 on a max five-coin bet, versus 25 for any quad in Jacks or Better.