Ultimate X Poker Bonus Streak

Introduction

Ultimate X Bonus Streak plays like standard multi-play Ultimate X, except the player wins streaks of multipliers instead of just one for the next hand after certain wins. Read on for the full rules.

Rules

 

1. Ultimate X Bonus Streak is an optional feature added to conventional multi-play video poker. It is available in 3-play, 5-play, and 10-play.
2. The player can play normally for one to five credits per hand or can invoke the Ultimate X Bonus Streak feature by betting ten credits per hand.
3. In playing the Ultimate X Bonus Streak feature, the player is betting five credits per hand and and equal amount to invoke the feature.
4. If the player gets at least a three of a kind in games with no wild cards, then the player will win up to five multipliers for future hands in that position. In deuces wild, the player needs at least a flush to win multipliers.
5. Won multiplier streams are applied to the next sequence of 2 to 5 hands, depending on the poker value of the initiating hand. For example, a full house in Double Bonus Poker might pay a multiplier stream of 2x, 4x, 8x, 10x, 12x. This means that the hand after the initiating full house will have a multiplier of 2. The following hand will have a multiplier of 4, and so on up to a multiplier of 12 five hands later.
6. If the player wins a multiplier on a hand that already has a multiplier, then all remaining multipliers in that stream will become 12. No additional multipliers will be added to the stream.

 

If these rules were not clear, screenshots from the rule screens on the game are shown below. Click on any image for a larger version.

 

Example

 

For a lengthy example, please see my Ultimate X Bonus Streak example page.

Return Tables

 

The following tables of games, pay tables, bonus streaks, and returns were kindly provided by VideoPoker.com, the creators of the game. The first table is for three-play, the second for five-play, and the third for ten-play. Normally, I like to do my own math but this one was pushing the limits of my mathematical abilities, so I'm grateful to VideoPoker.com for their help. Someday, when I have more free time, I hope to work through this game on my own.

Double Double Bonus, Triple Double Bonus, Double Bonus, Bonus Poker, and Jacks or Better have the following hands associated with each streak:

• Streak 1 — Three of a kind
• Streak 2 — Straight or flush
• Streak 3 — Full house or higher

 

Bonus Poker Deluxe is a bit different, as follows:

• Streak 1 — Three of a kind or straight
• Streak 2 — Flush
• Streak 3 — Full house or higher

 

Deuces Wild and Bonus Deuces Wild (sometimes called Deuces Bonus Poker), also has different hands associated with each streak, as follows:

• Streak 1 — Flush, full house, or four of a kind
• Streak 2 — Straight flush or higher

 

The pays column refers to those hands which vary from pay table to pay table. For all games with no wild cards, except Double Bonus, the pays column refers to the win for a full house and flush. For Double Bonus, the win for a straight is also shown. For deuces wild, the pays are for a wild royal flush, five of a kind, straight flush, four of a kind, flush, and straight. For Bonus Deuces Wild, the pays are for a straight flush, four of a kind, flush, and straight. All other wins in each game are the standard ones by IGT.

   

For the 10-play version there are only two different streaks per game. For games without wild cards, the streaks are as follows:

• Streak 1: Three of a kind, straight, flush.
• Streak 2: Four of a kind or higher.

 

For deuces wild based games the streaks are as follows:

• Streak 1: Flush, full house, four of a kind.
• Streak 2: Straight flush or higher.

   

Strategy

 

Optimal strategy to this game would depend on three things -- the cards you get, the current multipliers, and the string of future multipliers. You would have to take all three of these things under advisement for all 3, 5, or 10 hands, depending on how many you are playing at a time.

It sounds complicated but there is some good news. In 10-play mode the multipliers tend to average out across all ten hands so it doesn't matter much, in terms of strategy, what the current and future multipliers are. It is safe to assume the average is about 2.0. However, you should take under advisement the value of each multiplier stream in playing the current hand. Obviously, the player is incentivized to earn the long multiplier chains. It is quite complicated to calculate the value of each stream.

However, don't worry, as I did it for you. At least with 10-play 8-6 Jacks or better. After a lot of matrix algebra I created a strategy for this game, which can be found at Ultimate X Bonus Streak -- Jacks or Better Strategy.

Video

 

Here is an uneventful video of me playing Ultimate X Bonus Streak.

Internal Links

 

• Vulturing Ultimate X Bonus Streak -- When there are enough multipliers for a player advantage.
• Ultimate X Bonus Streak -- Jacks or Better Strategy
• Ultimate X Bonus Streak example
• Ultimate X Single Line
• Ultimate X Multi-line

 

External Links

 

• Ultimate X Bonus Streak Analysis by Gary J. Koehler — Academic paper on the mathematical analysis of this game (PDF)

Written by: Michael Shackleford