Texas Hold'em Bonus Poker is a gambling

Gambling

Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...

 card game

Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...

, owned and licensed by Mikohn Gaming

Mikohn Gaming

Mikohn Gaming is a former manufacturer of slot machines with a skill element in their bonus round. The Group's principal activity was to develop, manufacture and market branded slot machine and table games, gaming machines, gaming products including signage and progressive jackpot systems...

/Progressive Gaming International Corporation. The game is based on traditional multi-player Texas Hold'em poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

, but differs in that there is no bet after the river card.

Rules

• The game is played with a standard 52 card deck.
• Each player makes an ante bet of 1 unit and may make an optional bonus bet.
• The player and dealer are both dealt two cards (face down).
• After checking his/her cards, the player may decide to fold with no further play losing the ante bet or make a flop bet of two units.
• Three cards are then dealt to the board.
• The player may decide to check or make a turn bet of one unit.
• Another card is dealt to the board (making four cards in total on the board).
• The player may decide to check or make a river bet of one unit.
• One more card is dealt to the board (making five in total).
• The player and dealer make their best five card poker hand from their own hand and five board cards.
• If the dealer's hand is better than the player's hand the player loses all bets.
• If the dealer's hand is equal to the player's hand, all bets are a push.
• If the player's hand is better than the dealer's hand, the player wins even money
  Even money
  Even money describes a wagering proposition with even odds - if the bettor loses a bet, he or she stands to lose the same amount of money that the winner of the bet would win . The term has come to have meaning in the wider English usage beyond actual gambling, however, as a way of describing an...
  
   on the flop, turn and river bets. The player also wins even money on the ante bet if his best hand is a straight or better, otherwise the ante bet pushes.
• A separate side bet may be wagered on the player's starting hand. If a player's hole cards are a pair, A-K, A-Q, or A-J, the player wins the side bet according to the pay table
  Pay table
  A pay table is the name for the list of payouts on a slot machine or a video poker machine. The table shows for each combination of symbols and the number of coins bet, how many coins the bettor will win....
  
  . This bet pays even if the player does not beat the dealer's hand.

In Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

, there is a variation on the rules above. The player only wins even money on the ante bet if his best hand is a flush or better. This rule also applies in Star City Casino

Star City Casino

The Star Sydney Casino & Hotel in Pyrmont, Sydney, is the second largest casino in Australia after rival Melbourne's Crown Casino. Overlooking Darling Harbour, The Star Sydney Casino features two gaming floors, eight bars, seven restaurants, 351 hotel rooms and 130 serviced and privately owned...

, Sydney, Australia.

Strategy

The optimal strategy for the flop bet, assuming optimal play thereafter, is to call all hands except for 2-3 offsuit, 2-4 offsuit, 2-5 offsuit, 2-6 offsuit and 2-7 offsuit. However, said optimal "postflop" strategy for the turn and river bets, while easy for a computer to solve, is extremely complicated, because of the large number and variety of possible card combinations. No concise explanation of optimal postflop strategy, or even a simplified version thereof, has been published.

External links

• Mikohn Gaming official site