99.46%
THE KICKER MOVED TO THE FACES
Double Double Aces & Faces Strategy guide
The Double Double kicker idea, shifted from 2s–4s onto Jacks, Queens, and Kings. The kicker rules play the same, but the bonus cards are now the high cards — so high-card holds carry an extra card, and a lone face beats draws it would lose to in Double Double Bonus.
Built for 9/6/4 Double Double Aces & Faces: Two Pair pays 1, Four Aces with a J/Q/K kicker pays 400.
View Double Double Aces & Faces pay table →
REMEMBER THESE
The three rules that move the game
01
The kicker rules are the Double Double rules
Keep a qualifying kicker with made quads; discard both side cards with trips — three Aces drawing two is 12.49 per coin against 11.83 for dragging a face along. And when a pair of Aces is one of your two pair, keep the Aces alone: 1.90 against 1.68 for the full hand.
02
Draw for the face kicker off made quads
Four Aces pays 160 pat but 400 with a J/Q/K alongside, so a non-face fifth card goes back: drawing one is worth 221.3 per coin. Four Js–Ks work the same way at a smaller scale — 100.4 drawing for the 160 kicker hand against 80 pat.
03
Faces are worth more than in Double Double
A face card is a paying pair, a royal card, and now a bonus kicker. Ace plus a face usually edges the Ace alone (0.47 against 0.45), and a lone King or Queen outranks the two- and three-card draws Double Double Bonus would keep.
DECISION LADDER
Start at the top; compare overlapping choices.
CORE ORDER
“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 stay out of the draw and can weaken a competing hold.
01
Royal flush, straight flush, or made quads
Keep a qualifying kicker with bonus quads; discard a fifth card that does not qualify as a kicker off four Aces or four Js–Ks.
02
Four to a royal flush
Break an ordinary flush or straight for the royal draw.
03
Three Aces
Draw two and do not keep a side card as a hoped-for kicker. Break a full house built on Aces — trips drawing two is 12.27 against the pat 9.
04
Full houses, flushes, and straights
Keep the made hand once four to a royal and Aces full are ruled out.
05
Trips of 2s through Kings
Draw two; no kicker is worth a card here.
06
Four to a straight flush
Keep the premium suited run.
07
Pair of Aces, then Two Pair
Break Ace-high Two Pair; keep Two Pair without Aces together.
08
Paying pairs, then royal and flush draws
A pair of Jacks or better beats a four-flush (1.59 against 1.19) and most three-card royals.
09
Low pairs and straight draws
Low quads are a flat 50, so low pairs carry no bonus kicker weight.
10
Two high cards, then one
Ace plus a face, or two faces, almost always beats a lone high card — the hold Double Double Bonus trims to one.
11
A lone face, small draws, or draw five
A single King or Queen can beat a two- or three-card suited draw here; when nothing qualifies, redraw all five.
Why this isn’t an exception chart
Suits, gaps, discarded cards, and custom payouts can move close hands. This is a compact learning guide, not a complete first-match chart. For wild games, use only the branch for the wild cards actually dealt. SmartHold Practice compares all 32 holds for the exact deal. EV means average total return, including the stake, per coin wagered; it is not profit or the chance of winning. The examples use the schedule named above.
WORKED EXAMPLES
Three deals where the faces carry the weight
7
DRAW
3
DRAW
6
DRAW
10
DRAW
K
HOLD
The lone King beats the little flush draw
Three small diamonds look tempting, but the draw is worth only 0.42 per coin here — the lone King is worth 0.43, because a King is a paying pair, a royal card, and now a bonus kicker. Double Double Bonus takes the flush draw; this schedule takes the face.
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
A
HOLD
K
DRAW
K
DRAW
Aces full is not a keep
The pat full house pays 9.00 per coin. Three Aces drawing two is worth 12.27 — the fourth Ace can arrive with a face kicker for 400. Full houses built on any other trips stay pat: three Kings drawing two is only 7.39.
A
HOLD
K
HOLD
7
DRAW
9
DRAW
4
DRAW
The King comes along
Double Double Bonus keeps only the Ace here, at 0.45 per coin. This schedule keeps the King too: 0.47 against 0.45 for the Ace alone and 0.42 for the three-card heart draw. It is the signature change — the kicker bonus lives on the high cards, so high-card holds get wider, not deeper.
COMMON TRAPS
Mistakes worth recognizing on sight
Applying Triple Double kicker habits
The kicker is only guaranteed when it is already dealt or pat. With trips you still discard both side cards — dragging a face along costs about 0.66 per coin with three Aces.
Holding all five with bonus quads
A non-face fifth card beside four Aces costs you the draw at a J/Q/K kicker — 160 pat against 221.3 drawing. With four 2s–10s the fifth card changes nothing.
Playing the Double Double high-card game
In that game the Ace often stands alone and small suited draws beat a lone high card. Here the faces carry the bonus, so Ace-plus-face and even single-face holds take those spots.
TURN THE LADDER INTO INSTINCT
Practice Double Double Aces & Faces
Every miss comes back through Review until the correct hold is automatic.
PRACTICE THIS STRATEGY
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