Texas Hold em bonus strikes happy poker medium

Got the itch to play Texas Hold'em but aren't quite ready to tackle the game against other players in a poker room? A relatively new table game that allows you to get experience while playing against the house could be just the thing to satisfy your craving without having to go "all in."

World Series of Poker Texas Hold'em Bonus Poker, licensed by Progressive Gaming International Corp., is at Harrah's Joliet Casino Hotel and Hollywood Casino Aurora. It has the components of Texas Hold'em protocol without the strategic subtleties because you're not competing against the other players.

The game is played at a blackjack-style table using a 52-card deck. The object is the same as in the "real thing": Make the best five-card poker hand using any combination of the two cards that you are dealt and the five community (board) cards. Your goal is to have a hand that beats the dealer's hand.

The betting "spot" at each player position includes five wagering opportunities: Ante, Flop, Turn, River and Bonus (more about this bet later). Play begins with each player making an Ante bet. Each player plus the dealer receives two cards face down, one at a time in a clockwise manner.

After looking at your two-card hand, you have the option of folding and surrendering your Ante, or staying in the game by making a bet on the Flop at twice the amount of your Ante.

Next, the dealer burns a card and turns over the next three cards in the deck in the center of the table for all to see. These first three community cards are known as the Flop. Players now have the option to check (not place a bet) or make a bet on the Turn equal to their Antes.

The dealer burns another card and flips over the next community card, the Turn, in the center of the table. Players once again have the option to check or to place another bet on the River equal to their Antes.

The dealer then turns up the fifth and final community card, the River, after which he turns up his original two cards and makes his hand, which is then compared with each player hand.

Players whose best five-card hand beats the dealer are paid even money on their Flop, Turn and River wagers. Ties are a push.

The Ante wager is not paid unless the player's winning hand is a flush or better, or straight or better (depending on the house rule). Otherwise the bet's a push.

The better game to play is when the house pays even money on the Ante for a straight instead of a flush. Optimum strategy is complicated because of the number of combinations of cards that are possible.

Gambling mathematics experts Scott McIntosh and Michael Shackelford have done exhaustive computer analysis of the game. McIntosh estimates the house advantage to be a fraction above 2 percent, quite reasonable by table game standards.

There's an optional side bet called "Bonus Jackpot," with payoffs based on the player's two-card hand to a posted pay table: A-A pays 30-1; A-K (suited) pays 25-1; A-Q or A-J (suited) pays 20-1; A-K (unsuited) pays 15-1; K-K, Q-Q or J-J pays 10-1; A-Q or A-J (unsuited) pays 5-1, and 10-10 through 2-2 (pairs) pays 3-1. This bet carries an unwieldy 8.91 percent house advantage.

Another version of the "Bonus Jackpot" pay table offers 1,000-1 for an A-A at the same time there's A-A in the dealer's hand. This one has an 8.54 percent house edge. Both tables have a hit frequency of 1 in 10.5.

You can derive your best value from Texas Hold'em Bonus by sticking to the base game and reserving your Flop and Turn wagering decisions for situations when the two cards you are dealt make for a solid investment foundation.

Texas Hold'em Bonus can be likened to a Par-3, 9-hole golf course. Both games are fun to play in their own right, but they also can be used as stepping stones to the big time.

Casino news

Cool Cash Craze will be held every Monday in January at Harrah's Joliet. Swipe your Total Rewards card at the kiosks on Monday, Jan. 21 and 28 to receive a manual entry form. Deposit your entry for your chance to share in $22,000 in cash prizes on each day of the promotion. Drawings will be held hourly from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Any unclaimed cash prizes will roll over into the next drawing. Winners must be present.

From the readers

"Do you know where I can buy four-card keno or 20-card keno on DVD?"

A keno player

You can play slots, blackjack, poker, roulette, craps - you name it - on DVD but, unfortunately, my search for the product you are looking for turned up empty.

There are books written about keno, but I could not locate a DVD. And an Internet search leads to sites promoting online gambling, which I would avoid.

John G. Brokopp is a freelance casino gaming columnist and author. He can be reached at jbrokopp@comcast.net.

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