9 / 7 / 5
HIGHER PAYOUTS FOR ACES
Double Bonus Strategy guide
Updated November 4, 2026
The large quad payouts increase the value of holding Aces, 2s, 3s, and 4s. Two Pair returns only the bet. Flushes pay 7 and straights pay 5, so their draws can beat pairs you would keep in Jacks or Better.
Built for 9/7/5 Double Bonus; full-pay 10/7 strategy is different.
View Double Bonus pay table →
REMEMBER THESE
Three rules to remember
01
Keep Aces over some made hands
With three Aces in a full house, discard the pair and draw two. With Aces as one of your two pairs, keep only the Aces and draw three.
02
Low pairs are not equal
Pairs of 2s–4s can draw to higher-paying quads than pairs of 5s–10s, so rank matters even before the hand is made.
03
Outside straight draws can beat low pairs
An unsuited outside straight with no high cards returns 0.85 per coin. It can beat even a low bonus pair: 3 3 4 5 6 keeps 3-4-5-6 over the pair, worth 0.82. This reverses the usual low-pair preference in 9/6 Jacks or Better.
WHAT TO HOLD
Use these priorities to find holds to compare.
HOLD PRIORITIES
How to use these priorities
These are usual hold priorities. If your hand fits more than one choice, choose the hold with the higher average return; the first matching row may not give the best hold. In wild-card games, use the rows for the number of wild cards in your hand. Suits, missing straight ranks, discarded cards, and payouts can change which hold returns more. Use the worked examples below or check the exact hand in Practice, which compares all 32 ways to hold or discard the five cards. EV means average total return, including the stake, per coin wagered; it is not profit or the chance of winning. The examples use the pay table named above.
“Pat” means keep all five. “Four to” or “three to” counts the held cards, including any wild cards. An outside straight such as 5-6-7-8 can finish at either end; an inside straight such as 5-6-8-9 needs one rank. A-2-3-4 and J-Q-K-A also have only one completing rank. Discarded cards cannot be drawn again. For example, discarding a heart leaves one fewer heart to complete a flush. “Trips” means three of a kind; “quads” means four of a kind. “Natural” means without wild cards. A “kicker” is a side card; some games pay a bonus for a specific kicker alongside quads.
01
Royal, straight flush, or four of a kind
Keep the premium made hand.
02
Four to a royal flush
The royal draw comes before every non-premium made hand.
03
Three Aces
Draw two; the 160-for-1 quad award drives the value.
04
Full house, flush, or straight
Keep these made hands pat.
05
Trips, 2s through Kings
Draw two for full house or enhanced quads.
06
Four to a straight flush
Keep the connected suited draw.
07
Pair of Aces
It outranks ordinary Two Pair on this schedule.
08
Two Pair and strong four-flushes
A four-flush can beat both a paying pair and the three-card royal inside it. With A K Q 5 3, keep four hearts at 1.53 per coin versus 1.41 for A-K-Q.
09
Three to a royal and paying pairs
Q-J-10 can beat its own four-flush, while weaker three-card royals can lose to a paying pair. Check the ranks and discarded cards.
10
Four-card outside straight
At 5-for-1 an unsuited outside straight outranks a competing low pair, unlike the usual 9/6 Jacks play.
11
Low pairs
Pairs of 2s–4s can draw to higher-paying quads than pairs of 5s–10s. Check for a competing suited draw first.
12
High-card holds or draw five
Use Practice to compare close choices between suited cards, high cards, and inside straight draws.
WORKED EXAMPLES
The deals that split from 9/6 Jacks or Better
7
HOLD
8
HOLD
9
HOLD
10
HOLD
7
DRAW
Break the pair for the straight draw
Jacks or Better keeps the pair of 7s without a second thought. Here the 5-for-1 straight makes the open-ended draw worth 0.85 per coin against 0.73 for the pair. The straight payout reverses the usual Jacks or Better pair preference.
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
6
DRAW
6
DRAW
4
DRAW
Keep the Aces, throw the second pair
Two Pair returns only the bet, and Four Aces pays 160. Splitting Aces-up down to the pair of Aces is 1.75 per coin against 1.68 — the opposite of the Jacks or Better rule, where keeping both pairs wins by a full credit.
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
K
DRAW
K
DRAW
Break a full house built on Aces
Nine credits are already sitting on the felt, and you throw the Kings anyway: three Aces drawing two is 10.05 per coin against the 9.00 you would keep. Only Aces do this — trips of any other rank keep the full house.
COMMON TRAPS
Mistakes worth recognizing on sight
Treating every pair alike
Aces, 2s–4s, 5s–10s, and Jacks–Kings occupy different parts of this strategy.
Assuming Two Pair pays like Jacks
It returns only the bet here; that changes pair-versus-Two-Pair conflicts.
Using 10/7 Double Bonus memory
This is the 9/7/5 schedule. Small payout changes can reverse which hold returns more.
TURN THE LADDER INTO INSTINCT
Practice Double Bonus
Every miss comes back through Review until the correct hold is automatic.
PRACTICE THIS STRATEGY
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