A Look at 9-5 Triple Bonus Poker Plus — Part 2 of 3

Today I want to look at some of the interesting features of 9/5 TBPP at the intermediate level. If you’re not comfortable at this level, you probably should review last week’s column before you dig into this one.

I’m not going to print a strategy here. If you have Video Poker for Winners software, you can get a strategy there. If not, www.wizardofodds.com/games/video-poker/strategy/calculator/ provides an accurate strategy free of charge. I’m not crazy about the format of the WOO strategy, but when you start with free and accurate, it’s probably unfair to be too nitpicky. 

In last week’s column, we discussed using 9/6 Jacks or Better strategy to play this game. A much better fit is either the strategy for 9/5 or 9/6 Double Double Bonus. Using 9/5 DDB strategy on this game, we come out with 99.77%, and using 9/6 DDB strategy we get 99.76%. These are both a much better fit than using 9/6 JoB strategy where we get 99.38%. 

The 9-5 TBPP game is a good replacement for DDB if you can find it. It returns considerably more and has a similar variance (44 versus 42). 

For today, I’m going to go over differences between TBPP and 9/6 DDB. I know 9/5 DDB is a slightly better fit, but I have the 9/6 DDB game memorized, so this will be easier on me. I suspect it will be easier on my readers too because, unless it comes with one or more progressives, virtually nobody intent on winning plays 9/5 DDB anyway. 

All of the statements below are from the perspective of 9/5 TBPP.

A 4-card open-ended straight flush is better than a dealt straight. This was mentioned last week.

AKT, AQT, and AJT are better than a 4-card flush. (This change would not have to be included if we were comparing this game to 9/5 DDB.)

22, 33, 44 > JT9 > TT > QJ9 > 55 – 99 (This is because straight flushes pay 100-for-1 rather than 50-for-1)

JT9 > JT98

QJT9 > TT > QJ9

QJ > 234, 235, 245, 347, 357, 457, 467, 568, 578, 679, 689, 89Q, 8TQ, 9TQ > KJ > 78T, 79T > KQ > 78J, 79J, 7TJ, (This order is caused by the higher pay for the straight flush. There is an exception to this, which is AK, AQ, AJ > 234, 235, 245 but lower than the other 3-card combinations on the list. It’s really an intermediate-level exception but doesn’t lend itself to being written in a top-down strategy without parenthesized exceptions.)

Finally, we include the hand KTx (where x is the same suit as the KT in the range of 2-8) in the intermediate level of 9/6 DDB whereas it could be argued that it’s an advanced level exception. Whatever. In 9/6 DDB you hold KT and in 9/5 TBPP you just hold the K by itself. (This is another difference which would go away if we used the 9/5 DDB strategy as our base. In that game, you also just hold the K.)

That’s it for the intermediate-level exceptions. I’ll give you advanced exceptions next week.

I’ll end with a 10-question quiz. It shouldn’t be too tough to figure out, assuming you know 9/6 DDB strategy and apply the exceptions pointed out above. Some of these are played the same in both games.  When you are playing 9-5 TBPP and are dealt the following five cards, select the cards you should hold:

1. K♥ Q♥ J♥ Q♠ 7♦
2. A♣ K♣ 2♦ 3♦ 4♦
3. 5♣ 5♦ J♠ T♠ 9♠
4. K♦ Q♦ 6♣ 7♣ 9♣
5. K♥ T♥ 9♥ 8♠ 3♦
6. 4♠ 4♦ 4♣ 3♥ 3♠
7. Q♥ J♥ 9♥ T♠ T♦
8. K♣ J♣ T♥ 9♥ 7♥
9. 8♦ 8♣ Q♥ J♥ 9♥
10. J♣ T♣ 9♣ 8♦ 8♠

Answers — the cards in red or black are the ones you should hold. The ones in the yellowish color should be discarded.

1. K♥ Q♥ J♥ Q♠ 7♦
2. A♣ K♣ 2♦ 3♦ 4♦
3. 5♣ 5♦ J♠ T♠ 9♠
4. K♦ Q♦ 6♣ 7♣ 9♣
5. K♥ T♥ 9♥ 8♠ 3♦
6. 4♠ 4♦ 4♣ 3♥ 3♠
7. Q♥ J♥ 9♥ T♠ T♦ or Q♥ J♥ 9♥ T♠ T♦ 
8. K♣ J♣ T♥ 9♥ 7♥
9. 8♦ 8♣ Q♥ J♥ 9♥
10. J♣ T♣ 9♣ 8♦ 8♠

Those who missed one or more of this may accuse me of being tricky. I plead guilty. Thank you very much. Still, it’s the tricky ones that players miss and those are the ones we need to practice.