🃏 Deuces Wild and Double Double Bonus: RTP, pay tables and which cards to hold

How does Deuces Wild work?

All four 2s (“deuces”) are wild: they stand in for any card. Hands are much stronger than in Jacks or Better, and the pay table adjusts: the lowest paying hand is three of a kind (a pair pays nothing), and there are hands you can’t make without a wild, like five of a kind or a wild royal flush. In the four tables below, a natural royal (no deuces) pays 800 per coin and four deuces pay 200 per coin.

What changes between casinos and studios are the next eight lines. Their effect over 1,000 hands at €1 (5 coins of €0.20):

Check the four-of-a-kind payout first. Quads land once every 15.4 hands and carry 32.5 RTP points on their own on the full-pay table: dropping them from 5 to 4 removes about 6.4 points unless something else is raised (100.76% → 94.34%). Tables where quads pay 4 but the full house, flush or straight flush pay more stay close to 99%. Tables above 100% are rare — most versions on offer pay less — so open the game’s help screen before you bet.

Deuces Wild: how often does each hand land?

Full-pay table, optimal strategy: frequency of each final hand and its share of the RTP.

54.7% of hands pay nothing and more than one in four is just trips, which returns your stake. Four deuces land once every 4,909 hands: over 1,000 hands, you have only a 18.4% chance of seeing it at least once. Deuces Wild’s return comes mostly from the small stuff — trips and quads add up to over 60 points — rather than the top prize.

How does Double Double Bonus work?

Double Double Bonus plays like Jacks or Better (52 cards, no wilds, jacks or better to win), but it pays four of a kind very generously — especially aces, 2s, 3s and 4s, and more again when the fifth card (the kicker) is right: 400 per coin for four aces with a 2, 3 or 4, 160 for four 2s, 3s or 4s with an ace, 2, 3 or 4. To pay for those quads, two pair drops to 1 instead of 2.

As in Jacks or Better, each coin taken off the full house or flush costs about 1.1 RTP points. The rest of the table (royal 800, straight flush 50, quads 50 to 400, straight 4, trips 3, two pair and high pair 1) is identical across all four versions.

Double Double Bonus: where does the money go?

10/6 table, optimal strategy:

The numbers show the shift. On 9/6 Jacks or Better, two pair is worth 25.9 RTP points and quads 5.9. On 10/6 Double Double Bonus, two pair is down to 12.3 and quads are up to 18.8. Return has moved from a frequent hand (one in 8) to rare ones (four aces land about once every 4,252 hands). The upshot: 55.3% of hands pay nothing, and long stretches without quads grind your balance down.

Which cards to hold? 10 hands worked out

Expected value (EV) is what each play returns on average, in bets (3.68 = €3.68 back on average per €1 bet), calculated over every possible draw. Deuces Wild on the full-pay table, Double Double Bonus on 10/6. Jacks or Better habits will lead you astray here.

Deuces Wild: the rules that matter

1. Count your deuces first: never discard a deuce.
2. Four deuces: hold them (the fifth card doesn’t matter).
3. Three deuces: hold only the deuces, unless you were dealt a wild royal, or five of a kind in tens or higher. Break a dealt straight flush (15.05 bets against 9).
4. Two deuces: hold them with a dealt four of a kind or better, or with 4 to a royal; otherwise the two deuces alone, no high card kicker (straight flush exception below).
5. One deuce: keep a dealt straight, flush, full house or better, 4 to a royal, or the deuce with a pair; otherwise, usually, the deuce alone.
6. No deuces: never two pair (one pair is enough), a pair beats 4 to a flush, and 4 to a royal beats a dealt flush or straight.

Strategy changes with the pay table. With 2♣ 2♦ 4♠ 5♠ 9♥, full pay says hold the two deuces alone (3.27 bets against 3.13), while on the 25/15/9/4/4 table holding 2-2-4♠-5♠ becomes the best play (3.11 against 3.05). On full pay, two deuces only go with 4 to a straight flush when the other two cards are consecutive, 6-7 or higher.

Double Double Bonus: the rules that matter

1. Four aces, 2s, 3s or 4s dealt without the right kicker: throw the fifth card and draw for the kicker. With the kicker, hold everything.
2. Three aces: hold the aces alone, even with a kicker or a pair alongside (break the full house).
3. Other trips: hold the three cards alone, but keep a dealt full house.
4. Aces plus another pair: hold the aces only. Two low pairs: keep both.
5. Pair of aces: beats 4 to a flush. Low pair: 4 to a flush comes first.

These rules sum up the decisions specific to each game, checked against our calculations; they are not a full strategy chart. Most games have a demo mode to practise in.

1,000 hands with €100: what to expect

Simulated sessions at €1 a hand, optimal strategy. “Ahead” = finishing with more money than you started with; “bankroll gone” = cumulative loss hits €100 before the 1,000 hands are up.

Even above 100%, roughly two sessions in three end in a loss and the median result is negative: the average is pulled up by rare big hands. 10/6 Double Double Bonus beats 9/6 Jacks or Better on paper, yet at the same bet it wipes out a €100 bankroll three times as often. To play it with the same comfort, lower your bet or bring a bigger bankroll; our article on volatility explains how to size bets to a budget.

Which one suits the way you play?

• Small bankroll, long sessions: 9/6 Jacks or Better. The lowest variance of the three (19.5) for a 99.54% RTP, and a simpler strategy.
• Careful player: Deuces Wild, if the table is good. Moderate variance (25.8) and an RTP that can beat Jacks or Better — provided quads pay 5 (or the table makes up for it elsewhere) and you learn a different strategy.
• Big bankroll, chasing a big hit: 10/6 or 9/6 Double Double Bonus. Variance of 42.2, more than double Jacks or Better: four aces with the right kicker pay 400 times your bet, but losing runs are longer.

Whatever you play, bet 5 coins (the royal only pays 800 per coin at 5 coins) and lower the coin value to bet less. Skip 94.34% or 96.79% tables when a better version is on offer: over 1,000 hands at €1, the gap tops €60 in Deuces Wild.

What about bonuses?

Like Jacks or Better, these variants are often excluded from wagering or counted at a low percentage, precisely because their RTP is high. Our video poker guide gives the order of magnitude: for a 99.5% table, below roughly 11% contribution, clearing wagering costs more than on a 96% slot. Double Double Bonus’s high volatility also makes a bonus balance more fragile. Check the excluded games list and max bet in the bonus rules before you play: an excluded game can void your winnings.

Where to play Deuces Wild and Double Double Bonus

In our selection, the Unique Casino review explicitly lists both variants, alongside Jacks or Better.

Also offering video poker, according to our reviews: Golden Mina, Party Spinz and Go4Casino. The variants aren’t listed there: check the lobby.

Game libraries change and the same variant comes in several pay tables: open the pay table (or the game’s help) before betting and compare it with the tables above.