Multi-Hand Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus

Introduction

Multi-Hand Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus is a video poker variant by IGT. It plays like conventional video poker. However, for a sixth coin bet, the player can enable a bonus feature for attaining a four of a kind on the draw.

This page refers to the multi-hand version of the game only. The rules are a little different for the single-hand version, which can be found in my page on Single-Line Ultimate 4 of a Kind Bonus.

Rules

For 1 to 5 coins bet, the game plays like ordinary video poker. If the player bets a 6th coin, he will be eligible to play a bonus game if he gets any natural four of a kind on the draw.

In the bonus game, the player picks from 1 to 3 cards from a 53-card deck. Four aces will earn 3 picks, four 2-4's will earn two picks, and four 5's to K's will earn one pick. If the player gets more than one four of a kind, then he will get the sum of all picks earned for each one.

Unlike the rules for the single-line version of this game, a four of a kind on the deal does not earn an extra pick, and picking the joker does not end the bonus.

The win for each card drawn depends on the game, as follows.

 

Bonus Analysis

The following table shows the average bonus win in coins according to the game and type of four of a kind in the initiating hand.

Jacks or Better

The following table shows the wins return for 8-5 Jacks or Better. The "Base Pay" column shows the standard video poker win per coin bet, based on five coins bet. The "Bonus" column shows the bonus win, divided by 5, to be consistent with the Base Pay column. The return is the product of the total win, the probability, and 5/6. The reason for multiplying by 5/6 is because the player must bet a sixth coin to be eligible for the bonus. The lower right cell shows a return of 97.95%.

The return for ordinary "8/5" Jacks or Better is is 97.30%. So, the player should bet the full six coins.

Bonus Poker

The following table shows the wins return for 8-5 Bonus Poker. The "Base Pay" column shows the standard video poker win per coin bet, based on five coins bet. The "Bonus" column shows the bonus win, divided by 5, to be consistent with the Base Pay column. The return is the product of the total win, the probability, and 5/6. The reason for multiplying by 5/6 is because the player must bet a sixth coin to be eligible for the bonus. The lower right cell shows a return of 97.95%.

The return for ordinary "8-5" Bonus Poker is is 99.17%. So, the player should bet the full six coins.

Strategy

The player should always bet the full six coins. As for knowing what to throw away and keep, you may use my video poker strategy analyzer, putting in the balanced win between the base win and bonus, as I did in the return tables above, for the pay for each hand.

Table of Returns

IGT, the game maker, was kind enough to provide me the list of all games, pay tables, and returns this game is available in. As usual, the return assumes optimal strategy. The following table summarizes this information.

Written by: Michael Shackleford