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1. How To Play Texas Holdem For Beginners
2. How To Win Texas Holdem Bonus Game
3. How To Win Texas Holdem Bonus Money
4. Texas Holdem Strategy Guide

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Introduction

Texas Hold 'Em Bonus is a poker based table game I noticed at the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas in September 2005. I also hear that it can be found in Atlantic City. Like real Texas Hold 'em the player may bet his hole card, after the flop, and after the turn (but not after the river). As in one on one poker all bets pay one to one, except the ante requires a straight or flush (depending on the location) or higher to pay.

Texas Hold 'Em Bonus goes by the name of Easy Poker at the Casino Bregenz in Austria.

Las Vegas Rules

1. The game is played with a single 52-card deck.
2. The player makes an Ante wager, plus an optional Bonus bet.
3. Two hole cards are dealt face down to the player and dealer. The player may look at his own cards.
4. The player must either fold or make a Flop bet. The Flop bet must be two times the amount of the ante.
5. Three community cards (the Flop) are dealt.
6. The player may do nothing or make a Turn bet. The Turn bet must be exactly equal to the ante bet.
7. A fourth community card is dealt (the Turn).
8. The player may do nothing or make a River bet. The River bet must be exactly equal to the ante bet.
9. A fifth community card is dealt (the River).
10. The player and dealer each make the best five-card hand using any combination of the five community cards and his own two initial hole cards. The higher hand wins.
11. If the dealer has the higher hand the player will lose all wagers, except possibly the Bonus bet.
12. If the player has the higher hand the Flop, Turn, and River bets will pay even money. If the player has a straight or higher the Ante bet will also pay even money, otherwise it will push.
13. If the player and dealer have hands of equal value the the Ante, Flop, Turn, and River bets will all push.
14. The Bonus bet will pay based only the player's and dealer's initial cards, according to the pay table posted.

The Horseshoe casino in Hammond, Indiana, follows the Las Vegas rules. Despite what the rule booklet says, the Casino Bregenz in Austria follows the Atlantic City rules.

Atlantic City Rules

There are only two rule differences under the Las Vegas rules. The player needs a flush or higher to win even money on the ante. The bonus bet does not have a line item for both player and dealer having a pair of aces.

House Edge

The following table shows all the possible outcomes assuming optimal player strategy and the Las Vegas rules. An explanation of each column follows the table. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.04%. The standard deviation is 3.51.

Texas Hold 'em Bonus Return Table — Las Vegas RulesExpand

Turn Bet	River Bet	Outcome	Win	Combinations	Probability	Return
No	No	Dealer wins	-3	16191937969988	0.291077	-0.873232
No	No	Tie	0	1259275163176	0.022638	0
No	No	Player wins with less than straight	2	5303424537200	0.095338	0.190676
No	No	Player wins with straight or higher	3	1084471210036	0.019495	0.058486
No	Yes	Dealer wins	-4	1396173000700	0.025099	-0.100394
No	Yes	Tie	0	167704605536	0.003015	0
No	Yes	Player wins with less than straight	3	2296867062000	0.04129	0.12387
No	Yes	Player wins with straight or higher	4	605730184164	0.010889	0.043556
Yes	No	Dealer wins	-4	1896639509356	0.034095	-0.136381
Yes	No	Tie	0	135581445288	0.002437	0
Yes	No	Player wins with less than straight	3	1247381880480	0.022424	0.067271
Yes	No	Player wins with straight or higher	4	252140929436	0.004533	0.018131
Yes	Yes	Dealer wins	-5	5604708827316	0.100754	-0.50377
Yes	Yes	Tie	0	547943447680	0.00985	0
Yes	Yes	Player wins with less than straight	4	12372657154480	0.222419	0.889677
Yes	Yes	Player wins with straight or higher	5	2747896241164	0.049398	0.24699
Player folds			-1	2517086880000	0.045249	-0.045249
Total				55627620048000	1	-0.020369

Explanation of table

• Column 1:Yes if player makes turn bet, no otherwise
• Column 2:Yes if player makes river bet, no otherwise
• Column 3:Outcome
• Column 4: Net win
• Column 5:Total combinations
• Column 6:Probability
• Column 7:Contribution to return (win*probability)

The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.037%. However I think this makes the game look like a worse bet than it really is. What this means is that for every dollar bet on the ante the player can expect to lose 2.037 cents. However by the end of the hand the average wager will be 3.8181 times the ante. So the element of risk, or ratio of loss to total amount bet is a much lower 2.037%/3.8181=0.5335%. The standard deviation is 3.500839.

According to Scott McIntosh the house edge is 5.5935% under the Atlantic City rules. I trust this figure because we agree exactly on the Las Vegas rules.

Strategy

The following is when the player should fold according to the rules.

• Las Vegas: unsuited 2/3 to 2/7.
• Atantic City: unsuited 2/3 to 2/7, and unsuited 3/4.

I have not quantified the strategy past the first decision point. I can say that under the Las Vegas rules the player who made the Flop bet will make the Turn bet 43.13% of the time, and the River bet 48.46% of the time. If the player made the turn bet, then he will also make the river bet 85.76% of the time. If the player made the flop bet, but not the turn bet, he will make the river bet 15.78% of the time.

The following table shows the expected value of all 169 possible initial hands under both the Las Vegas and Atlantic City rules.

Two-Card Expected Values

Initial Hand	Las Vegas Rules	Atlantic City Rules
2,3 unsuited	-1.155927	-1.195592
2,4 unsuited	-1.091604	-1.13521
2,5 unsuited	-1.019987	-1.067022
2,6 unsuited	-1.046723	-1.077817
2,7 unsuited	-1.031301	-1.050057
2,8 unsuited	-0.896002	-0.917393
2,9 unsuited	-0.763132	-0.784523
2,T unsuited	-0.613979	-0.636507
2,J unsuited	-0.459414	-0.478676
2,Q unsuited	-0.28969	-0.305687
2,K unsuited	-0.102668	-0.1154
2,A unsuited	0.184373	0.160096
3,4 unsuited	-0.950034	-1.009069
3,5 unsuited	-0.874456	-0.937452
3,6 unsuited	-0.899632	-0.946711
3,7 unsuited	-0.8854	-0.919748
3,8 unsuited	-0.850607	-0.872617
3,9 unsuited	-0.699497	-0.724139
3,T unsuited	-0.549947	-0.575726
3,J unsuited	-0.395206	-0.417719
3,Q unsuited	-0.225563	-0.24481
3,K unsuited	-0.038499	-0.054482
3,A unsuited	0.254437	0.226376
4,5 unsuited	-0.735126	-0.813569
4,6 unsuited	-0.756096	-0.819136
4,7 unsuited	-0.740561	-0.790904
4,8 unsuited	-0.7068	-0.744413
4,9 unsuited	-0.654394	-0.679669
4,T unsuited	-0.487036	-0.516079
4,J unsuited	-0.332233	-0.358011
4,Q unsuited	-0.162612	-0.185124
4,K unsuited	0.024799	0.005551
4,A unsuited	0.321642	0.290174
5,6 unsuited	-0.614318	-0.692805
5,7 unsuited	-0.595481	-0.661787
5,8 unsuited	-0.560487	-0.614096
5,9 unsuited	-0.508593	-0.549471
5,T unsuited	-0.437507	-0.467184
5,J unsuited	-0.265364	-0.294408
5,Q unsuited	-0.095642	-0.12142
5,K unsuited	0.092367	0.069855
5,A unsuited	0.392893	0.358138
6,7 unsuited	-0.457726	-0.536213
6,8 unsuited	-0.421014	-0.48732
6,9 unsuited	-0.36839	-0.421999
6,T unsuited	-0.297258	-0.339273
6,J unsuited	-0.217975	-0.244386
6,Q unsuited	-0.031216	-0.056994
6,K unsuited	0.156819	0.134306
6,A unsuited	0.370719	0.351472
7,8 unsuited	-0.284039	-0.362526
7,9 unsuited	-0.229986	-0.296292
7,T unsuited	-0.157768	-0.212535
7,J unsuited	-0.078216	-0.116966
7,Q unsuited	0.019887	-0.003259
7,K unsuited	0.224911	0.202399
7,A unsuited	0.456798	0.434885
8,9 unsuited	-0.092377	-0.170864
8,T unsuited	-0.016383	-0.08401
8,J unsuited	0.062709	0.011207
8,Q unsuited	0.16144	0.125955
8,K unsuited	0.282809	0.262927
8,A unsuited	0.533716	0.511803
9,T unsuited	0.127027	0.046521
9,J unsuited	0.20434	0.139978
9,Q unsuited	0.304465	0.256228
9,K unsuited	0.428187	0.395968
9,A unsuited	0.602407	0.583126
T,J unsuited	0.370279	0.288219
T,Q unsuited	0.471694	0.405776
T,K unsuited	0.600228	0.550453
T,A unsuited	0.78194	0.745643
J,Q unsuited	0.535555	0.472903
J,K unsuited	0.665761	0.619251
J,A unsuited	0.852493	0.819462
Q,K unsuited	0.735444	0.6922
Q,A unsuited	0.925311	0.895545
K,A unsuited	0.999317	0.972816
2,3 suited	-0.886985	-0.923987
2,4 suited	-0.826008	-0.866658
2,5 suited	-0.75798	-0.801803
2,6 suited	-0.782881	-0.811796
2,7 suited	-0.768076	-0.785429
2,8 suited	-0.639021	-0.658814
2,9 suited	-0.51015	-0.529944
2,T suited	-0.364595	-0.385438
2,J suited	-0.212709	-0.23053
2,Q suited	-0.044946	-0.059747
2,K suited	0.141142	0.129363
2,A suited	0.425022	0.402419
3,4 suited	-0.693044	-0.74813
3,5 suited	-0.62123	-0.679983
3,6 suited	-0.644776	-0.688639
3,7 suited	-0.631082	-0.663007
3,8 suited	-0.597478	-0.617842
3,9 suited	-0.450882	-0.473684
3,T suited	-0.304918	-0.328768
3,J suited	-0.152868	-0.173698
3,Q suited	0.014889	-0.002919
3,K suited	0.201376	0.186589
3,A suited	0.490618	0.464512
4,5 suited	-0.490199	-0.563403
4,6 suited	-0.509707	-0.5685
4,7 suited	-0.494853	-0.541737
4,8 suited	-0.461634	-0.496581
4,9 suited	-0.40913	-0.432516
4,T suited	-0.246108	-0.272979
4,J suited	-0.094025	-0.117875
4,Q suited	0.073849	0.053019
4,K suited	0.260929	0.243121
4,A suited	0.553554	0.524295
5,6 suited	-0.376191	-0.449435
5,7 suited	-0.357989	-0.419804
5,8 suited	-0.323018	-0.372923
5,9 suited	-0.270833	-0.308801
5,T suited	-0.199974	-0.227429
5,J suited	-0.031373	-0.058245
5,Q suited	0.136745	0.112895
5,K suited	0.324793	0.303963
5,A suited	0.620767	0.588467
6,7 suited	-0.227072	-0.300316
6,8 suited	-0.190276	-0.252091
6,9 suited	-0.137464	-0.187369
6,T suited	-0.066542	-0.105559
6,J suited	0.013273	-0.011162
6,Q suited	0.197628	0.173777
6,K suited	0.385858	0.365029
6,A suited	0.59982	0.582012
7,8 suited	-0.05986	-0.133104
7,9 suited	-0.005551	-0.067365
7,T suited	0.066287	0.015313
7,J suited	0.146267	0.110272
7,Q suited	0.246024	0.22461
7,K suited	0.451106	0.430277
7,A suited	0.682911	0.662637
8,9 suited	0.125648	0.052404
8,T suited	0.200955	0.13792
8,J suited	0.280795	0.232842
8,Q suited	0.381333	0.348359
8,K suited	0.50656	0.488168
8,A suited	0.757219	0.736945
9,T suited	0.33757	0.262459
9,J suited	0.416267	0.356253
9,Q suited	0.518407	0.473476
9,K suited	0.646145	0.616192
9,A suited	0.822276	0.80444
T,J suited	0.574533	0.497955
T,Q suited	0.677017	0.615537
T,K suited	0.808521	0.762138
T,A suited	0.990289	0.956538
J,Q suited	0.737666	0.679207
J,K suited	0.870492	0.82713
J,A suited	1.056211	1.02548
Q,K suited	0.936506	0.896165
Q,A suited	1.124432	1.096723
K,A suited	1.194024	1.169336
2,2 pair	-0.134137	-0.140431
3,3 pair	0.078584	0.068777
4,4 pair	0.322289	0.308953
5,5 pair	0.589457	0.572593
6,6 pair	0.837465	0.820601
7,7 pair	1.093669	1.076805
8,8 pair	1.353048	1.336184
9,9 pair	1.612114	1.59525
T,T pair	1.87899	1.860933
J,J pair	2.097415	2.082887
Q,Q pair	2.315838	2.304838
K,K pair	2.535691	2.528219
A,A pair	2.788899	2.78206

Bonus Bet

The bonus bet pays based only on the players hole cards, and in some cases the dealer's two hole cards. Who wins the hand does not matter. There seem to be two pay tables available for the bonus bet as follows. From what I hear the Atlantic City pay table is also used in Missouri and Indiana.

Bonus Bet — Las Vegas Rules

How To Play Texas Holdem For Beginners

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Player has AA, dealer has AA	1000	6	0.000004	0.003694
Player has AA	30	7344	0.004521	0.135636
Player has AK suited	25	4900	0.003017	0.075415
Player has AQ or AJ suited	20	9800	0.006033	0.120664
Player has AK unsuited	15	14700	0.00905	0.135747
Player has KK, QQ, or JJ	10	22050	0.013575	0.135747
Player has AQ or AJ unsuited	5	29400	0.0181	0.090498
Player has Pair 22 to 10,10	3	66150	0.040724	0.122172
All other	-1	1470000	0.904977	-0.904977
Total	1624350	1	-0.085406

Bonus Bet — Atlantic City Rules

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
AA	30	7350	0.004525	0.135747
AK suited	25	4900	0.003017	0.075415
AQ or AJ suited	20	9800	0.006033	0.120664
AK unsuited	15	14700	0.00905	0.135747
KK, QQ, or JJ	10	22050	0.013575	0.135747
AQ or AJ unsuited	5	29400	0.0181	0.090498
Pair 22 to 10,10	3	66150	0.040724	0.122172
All other	-1	1470000	0.904977	-0.904977
Total	1624350	1	-0.088989

The lower right cells show a house edge on the bonus bet of 8.5406% under the Las Vegas rules and 8.8989% under the Atlantic City rules.

6-Card Bonus

Some casinos add on a side bet known as the 6-Card Bonus. This side bet is found on multiple poker-derivative games, so I created a special page for it. For more information, please see my page on the 6-Card Bonus.

C5

At the Casino Bregenz in Austria, where the game goes by the title Easy Poker, they add a side bet called the C5, which is based on the poker-value of the player's seven-card hand. The following return table shows a house edge of 8.95%.

C5

Event	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
Royal flush	100	4,324	0.000032	0.003232
Straight flush	60	37,260	0.000279	0.016710
Four of a kind	40	224,848	0.001681	0.067227
Full house	8	3,473,184	0.025961	0.207688
Flush	6	4,047,644	0.030255	0.181530
Straight	4	6,180,020	0.046194	0.184775
Three of a kind	2	6,461,620	0.048299	0.096597
All other	-1	113,355,660	0.847300	-0.847300
Total	133,784,560	1.000000	-0.089540

Methodology

A brute force approach was used to cycle through all possible cominations of cards. In total 7,089,794,712,000 hands were played out, requiring 72 days of computer time to loop through them all.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Scott McIntosh of Online Poker Room Reviews for his contributions to this page. He confirmed my Las Vegas results and provided the Atlantic City house edge and expected values. His program runs in six hours compared to the 72 days mine takes, so I was happy to use his numbers. For reviews and advice on playing poker online I encourage you to visit his web site.

Links

There is a good Texas Hold 'Em Bonus calculator at beatingbonuses.com.

Analysis at ReviewPokerRooms.com.

you commit to play every hand and see the flop. Whether you bet the turn and river depend on how good the flop was. We play this game alot, about as much as UTH. It hurts when you are THB and you make a flush or better...you get even money on the ante and no odds and no bonus. Same when you get AKsuited when sitting at UTH. And you know you'll always be at the wrong table when they happen. I like the game, but if I had to choose to play one and one only I play UTH.

In AC, I play UTH, but my local casino added Texas Hold 'em Bonus instead. What's the general opinion of this game? I've played it a couple times, but didn't really enjoy it much, I played even for half an hour and cashed out.
Is there an easy to remember strategy?

In Atlantic City, you don't get paid on the Ante unless you have a Flush or better. This changes the strategy a tiny bit. In Atlantic City you fold on the following hands:
2-3 Unsuited
2-4 Unsuited
2-5 Unsuited
2-6 Unsuited
2-7 Unsuited
3-4 Unsuited
Everything else plays. If your two cards are suited, you play.
You raise on the turn in the following circumstances:
The cards in the flop improve your hand (Any Pair or better even 2s or 3s)
Your hole cards are A-10 or better OR a pair of 4s or better.
You have an outside straight or four to a flush.
You raise the river in the following circumstances:
The cards in the flop and turn improve your hand (Any Pair or better even 2s or 3s)
Your hole cards are A-10 or better OR a pair of 4s or better.
I have been lucky playing by those rules but pictured below is proof that I do not follow my own rules 100% of the time:
Notice that I didn't bet the turn when I should have.THB
CON: I don't like THB because you have to put out 3x the min on almost every hand (folding only the very worst x2 hands). You are often putting out the flop bet with a terrible hand. When you do hit a good hand, you can only risk 1 + 1 more bets.
PRO: I do like the multiple decision points that keep you thinking at every street.

How To Win Texas Holdem Bonus Game

CON: I really don't like the bonus bet, because I get harassed for not playing it.
UTH:
PRO: You put out lots of money when you have a good hand, that feels like good poker to me, and makes me feel better about betting my money.
CON: with a 4x hand, you only have 1 decision point (although you are usually happy to sit back and wait for your payday)
PRO: You can safely not play trips, because when it does pay, you usually are getting paid on your main bets anyway, so people don't call you names.
THB's cons are UTH's pros. I much prefer UTH for my -EV carny play.Wizard covers it.
http://wizardofodds.com/games/texas-hold-em-bonus/
The Element of Risk is good as long as the ante pays on straights. This looks very important to confirm. The strategy is simple to start out, not sure why there is no advice after that. Good poker sense rules?played this online http://www.texas-holdem-bonus.com/

How To Win Texas Holdem Bonus Money

seems like a lot of your decisions revolve around whether you have a good kicker or not.
If I make it to WoV II, they might have this game going [they have it acc to website]

In AC, I play UTH, but my local casino added Texas Hold 'em Bonus instead. What's the general opinion of this game? I've played it a couple times, but didn't really enjoy it much, I played even for half an hour and cashed out.

Your local casino's management sounds like idiots. Please forgive me if the inventor of THB actually posts here.

Your local casino's management sounds like idiots.

Texas Holdem Bonus seems to have made a case to at least 2 casinos around PA/WV to have said game instead of UTH, I suspect more than 2. Unfortunately Meadows at least has gone for the shittier pay on the antie [needs flush].
Maybe the other selling point is the simplicity for the dealers. There is no qualifying hand for the dealer; less confusing situations seem to arise where one bet pushes, the other loses, the other wins even though no qualifier etc. I keep telling myself I have to watch for such dealer error in UTH, or don't play, should I ever do so.
'If the dealer has the higher hand the player will lose all wagers, except possibly the Bonus bet' per WoO site. The Ante bet wins or pushes if the player has won the hand, not too hard to remember.
What about the Bonus bet, you say? It has to be much easier to think of as an independent side bet.
I have not had the opportunity to play it or UTH, so there's that.
PS: I'm not sure where the dealer edge is! What am I missing? Essentially the dealer is stuck calling all your bets, you are stuck calling only your initial bets.

Texas Holdem Strategy Guide