I participate on the videopoker.com forum. On this forum, there are many recreational players. Some regularly go back and forth between Double Double Bonus (DDB) and Triple Double Bonus (TDB).
The games are not the same at all. To compare them, I had to pick pay schedules. I picked the second-best pay schedule in each case: 9/6 DDB returns 98.98% when played well and 9/6 TDB returns only 98.15%.
I know some people play worse games than this. If they do, they’re on their own to figure out the strategy differences. It’s possible that this guide will serve as a reference point.
I chose the Basic Strategy levels to compare. Players who are content playing games under 99% rarely play at the Advanced Level anyway.
The items in the chart below are in no particular order. When both games play a given hand the same, there is always a similar hand given where the plays are different.
| 9/6 DDB | 9/6 TDB | |
| 2♠ 3♠ 4♥ 5♥ 2♣ | 2 2 | 2 2 |
| Same for all 4-card consecutive straights versus 22-44 | ||
| 2♠ 3♠ 4♥ 5♥ 5♣ | 5 5 | 2345 |
| Same for all consecutive straights 2345 – 789T versus 55-TT | ||
| J♠ T♠ 9♥ 8♥ 8♣ | JT98 | JT98 |
| Same for all consecutive straights KQJT-JT98 versus 88-TT | ||
| J♣ T♣ 9♣ 5♥ 5♠ | 5 5 | JT9 |
| Same with QJ9 versus any pair 55-TT except when a consecutive 4-card straight is present | ||
| Q♣ J♣ 9♣ 4♥ 4♠ | 4 4 | 4 4 |
| Same with JT9 versus any pair 22-44 | ||
| A♠ A♥ A♣ 4♦ 4♠ | A A A | A A A 4 |
| Same with 22 or 33, or non-full houses with 2, 3, or 4 | ||
| 3♠ 3♥ 3♣ 2♦ 5♠ | 3 3 3 | 3 3 3 2 |
| Same with 222 or 444 with any one or two kickers | ||
| 3♠ 3♥ 3 ♣ 2♦ 2♠ | 3 3 3 2 2 | 3 3 3 2 |
| Same with 2s full or 4s full | ||
| A♥ K♥ Q♥ Q♣ 3♦ | Q Q | A K Q |
| Same as above for AKJ, AQJ, KQJ, KQT, KJT, and QJT versus KK, QQ, or JJ | ||
| A♥ K♥ T♥ K♣ 3♦ | K K | K K |
| Same for AQT and AJT versus KK, QQ, or JJ | ||
| A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♣ J♦ | J J | A K Q |
| Same as above for AKJ, AQJ, KQJ, KQT, KJT, and QJT versus KK, QQ, or JJ | ||
| A♥ K♥ T♥ J♣ J♦ | J J | J J |
| Same for AQT and AJT versus KK, QQ, or JJ | ||
| A♣ K ♣ T♣ 9♣ 3♦ | AKT9 | AKT9 |
| Same with AQT and AJT and any fourth suited card between 2 and 9 | ||
| K♠ T♠ 5♠ 9♥ 3♣ | K T 5 | K T 5 |
| Same with any suited card to the KT in the range of 2- 8 | ||
| Q♠ T♠ 5♠ 9♥ 3♣ | Q T | Q T 5 |
| For QT, the suited extra may be in range of 2- 7. Same rule applies to JT and a suited card in the range of 2-6. | ||
| A♠ Q♥ J♣ 7♦ 3♣ | Q J | A |
| There are some exceptions to this in 9/6 DDB. There are no such exceptions in 9/6 TDB | ||
| A♥ J♣ T♣ 7♦ 3♣ | A | A |
| There are some exceptions to this in 9/6 DDB. There are no such exceptions in 9/6 TDB. | ||
| 3♥ 5♥ 9♥ 4♣ 7♦ | DRAW 5 | 3 5 9 |
| This includes all 3-card flushes in the range 23T-59T. These 3-card flushes are lower in value than any straight flush, any 4-card inside straight, and any single high card | ||
| Q♠ J♥ T♥ 7♣ 3♥ | Q J | Q J T |
| All QJT combinations are eligible to be held, except when Q and J are suited with each other. This is lower in value than QJT8. |
The above hands are different in Basic Strategy. Penalty cards do not matter much in 9/6 TDB. They only increase the expected return from 98.1524% to 98.1540%. The following hands account for about one third of that small difference.
| A♥ K♥ 3♥ 4♣ 7♦ | A K | A K |
| Including all AKx, AQx, and AJx where the x can be any suited card in the range of 2-9. | ||
| A♥ K♥ 3♥ Q♣ 7♦ | A K | A K 3 |
| Including all AKx, AQx, and AJx where the x can be any suited card in the range of 2-9, and there is exactly one unsuited, unpaired K, Q, or J in the hand. |
If you spot any hands (without including penalty cards) that I’ve missed, please let me know.
