Double Hook Poker
I immediately thought it looked similar to Dakota Duel Draw. I couldn't find anywhere online to play it nor could I find the rules to I used screenshots of the video to develop my own version online with all the side bets.
You can play it on my website here, please let me know what you think.
I am not 100% sure I got all the rules right (for example, maybe you can only bet x4 in certain situations, I don't know) so I would refrain from analyzing the house edge or finding the optimal strategy until we are certain about the rules.
The creatively-named "Pairs Plus" wager is identical to the usual Three Card Poker "Pair Plus" wager.
I've calculated that the King's Crest side bet applies to the four community cards and has a ~14.1346% house edge.
It appears:
Ante bet and Play wager: Pay out 1:1 on Pair of Jacks or better; Push on 66x to TTx pair and lose to < 66x pair.
Bonus Bet pays out according to the Bonus Payout Table
Do the ante, play and blind wagers pay out on the best hand of the two you make?
If both hands make two pair or higher, does the blind bet payout twice on both hands? Or only on the best hand?
If your three card hand is Trips or a Pair of 6s or higher, PLAY X4.
If you have a Royal Draw of TJQ or JQK, then bet PLAY X4
If you have a Pair of 2s to 5s, bet Play (?)
If you have a flush draw or an outside straight draw (3 consecutive ranks) bet PLAY
If you have three singletons, with no Flush or Straight chances,
- your decision depends upon how many of your cards are LOW (2-5), Medium (6- 10) and High (J-A).
- I am using the Mississippi Stud technique. Count Low cards as 0, Medium cards as 1 and High cards as 2. The sum of the three cards in your hand must be 3 or higher to bet PLAY. If your hand sums to 2 or less, then fold.
There are lots of possible straight flush draws and inside straight draws and I have no guess as to what the rules are for those
Also, on the bottom line where you indicate the payouts of the Ante, Play and Blind bets, the stated Play payout is wrong when the wager is PLAY x4. However, the actual amount of chips paid out on a PLAY x4 bet does seem to be correct, so it is only your announced level of payout on the bottom line that is in error.
Nice basic strategy :) I will eventually find the perfect strategy, once the full rules come out
That it looks like Dakota Duel Draw might not be a coincidence. I mean, if you’ve read the recent threads about <the lack of> game protection, you know what I mean. 😵💫
Recently I talked with the inventor of DDD about it. He proposed his game to Light & Wonder a couple years ago and they passed but they later came up with this.
I won't discount the idea that it could have been invented independently because it is conceptually similar to Criss Cross Poker too.
So I spoke with the inventor (Matt Booth) at G2E, he is very nice 😊
First of all, the rules that I hypothesized about were basically correct, though my website didn’t let you bet x2 or x3.
I also would like to clarify that this game was independently created, and not related to Dakota Duel Draw, despite coincidental similarities.
Next, I was told the optimal strategy. If I remember correctly, you should never fold, and bet x4 if you have a pair or better, three face cards, or two face cards with an ace.
There are different options for pay tables on the main game so perhaps the basic strategy is different for those.
I don’t know, I didn’t get to see any alternate pay tables yet but I imagine they will be publicly available online at some point in the future once this game starts being played around the USA.
Finally, I sadly have to take down Double Hook Poker from my website for legal reasons 😳 I am hoping I can work with L&W to bring this game and others back in the future.
That’s it! This game is pretty good in my opinion so I hope we can play it in the casino in 2026.
Quote: harrisHello everyone!
So I spoke with the inventor (Matt Booth) at G2E, he is very nice 😊
First of all, the rules that I hypothesized about were basically correct, though my website didn’t let you bet x2 or x3.
I also would like to clarify that this game was independently created, and not related to Dakota Duel Draw, despite coincidental similarities.
Next, I was told the optimal strategy. If I remember correctly, you should fold unless you have a pair or better, three face cards, or two face cards with an ace.
There are different options for pay tables on the main game so perhaps the basic strategy is different for those.
I don’t know, I didn’t get to see any alternate pay tables yet but I imagine they will be publicly available online at some point in the future once this game starts being played around the USA.
Finally, I sadly have to take down Double Hook Poker from my website for legal reasons 😳 I am hoping I can work with L&W to bring this game and others back in the future.
That’s it! This game is pretty good in my opinion so I hope we can play it in the casino in 2026.
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Given that basic strategy, the problem with Double Hook Poker will be the high frequency of folding. No fun to fold over half the time.
I suspect you were not told the complete basic strategy. Surely one would not fold a QsJsTs. Indeed with the basic strategy as you state it, player will very rarely get a flush.
I wonder if your basic strategy is for Raising 4x?
Basically you are paid on how many kings appear in the four community cards
In one of the pay tables, 1 king pays 1:1, 2 kings, 10:1, 3 kings 100:1, and 4 kings 1000:1. As a result, I will call this paytable {1,10,100,1000} and name the other pay tables similarly.
{2,5,15,250} 7.1076%
{2,4,20,100} 9.3083%
{2,3,50,250} 9.6253%
{1,10,100,1000} 13.8576%
{1,10,100,500} 14.0423%
{1,10,50,250} 17.6807%
{1,10,40,250} 18.3899%
There are also some PairPlus tables that I don't feel like analyzing right now.
The first pays 1:1 for a Pair, 3:1 for a Flush, 6:1 for a Straight, 30:1 for Trips, 40:1 for a Straight Flush, 40:1 for a Royal Flush so I will call this pay table {1,3,6,30,40,40}
{1,2,4,50,60,300} 5.3574%
{1,4,6,30,40,40} 5.5747%
{1,3,6,30,40,40} 7.2760%
{1,2,3,40,50,300} 12.9593%
{1,2,3,30,40,250} 18.2081%
{1,4,6,30,40,40} should be 2.3167%
I checked to make everything else is right
Quote: harrisA couple days ago, I was on YouTube and randomly came across a video showing a new poker game by Light & Wonder called Double Hook Poker.
I immediately thought it looked similar to Dakota Duel Draw. I couldn't find anywhere online to play it nor could I find the rules to I used screenshots of the video to develop my own version online with all the side bets.
You can play it on my website here, please let me know what you think.
I am not 100% sure I got all the rules right (for example, maybe you can only bet x4 in certain situations, I don't know) so I would refrain from analyzing the house edge or finding the optimal strategy until we are certain about the rules.
The creatively-named "Pairs Plus" wager is identical to the usual Three Card Poker "Pair Plus" wager.
I've calculated that the King's Crest side bet applies to the four community cards and has a ~14.1346% house edge.
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The published house edge for the main game is 2.37%.
Simulation showed the strategy given to you by the creator under-performing that significantly at 3.58%. Playing premium pairs knocked that down to 2.94%.
The optimal strategy seems to be more complex.
Perhaps we can uncover the optimal strategy together… I’ll make a way tonight if I get enough of my real-life casino math work done. The inventor of the game told me that he wants players to know the optimal strategy, so that they will not lose so much and want to keep coming back to play again. I imagine that most inventors feel the same way about their games.
Sorry to everyone that the game isn’t on my website anymore, L&W said I had to take it down with all their other games. Maybe in the future they will change their mind (please) so that we could work together to popularize this new game. But if not it’s okay I guess, you can still play at El Cortez ;)
While L&W called one of their side bets “Pairs Plus” in the video introducing the game; documents about the game in Nevada and Washington state call the side bet Pair Plus.
I think this is better.
Anyways, I think the strategy will be different for all four pay tables. If anyone finds the main pay table being used at El Cortez, we can start there.
I did some work to find basic strategy.
First I found this document from Washington State which shows the four main pay tables and their house edges. I checked on this document and my earlier calculations for the side bets were completely correct... of course they were :)
I have been doing some calculations and I think that you should only raise on a pair of 6's or better.
I found out there are some that you should draw on some high non-outside straight draws but only if they are suited (like jack-10-8).
There are some others that should only be drawn if suited (Ace-Jack-2). From my calculations, I do not think that you should x4 bet any inside straight until Jack-Ten-Nine.
So far I have not found any strategy differences between the four pay tables, surprisingly.
I can give anyone my code if they want to review it, message me, though I will warn you it is in JavaScript.
I think I will rewrite it in C or C++, which would allow me to verify my results - but this is probably something that will happen a couple months unless I have some substantial motivation before then. I'm guessing some employee at GLI already knows the true strategy, and if the strategy differs by pay table.
Quote: harrisHello math friends,
I did some work to find basic strategy.
First I found this document from Washington State which shows the four main pay tables and their house edges. I checked on this document and my earlier calculations for the side bets were completely correct... of course they were :)
I have been doing some calculations and I think that you should only raise on a pair of 6's or better.
I found out there are some that you should draw on some high non-outside straight draws but only if they are suited (like jack-10-8).
There are some others that should only be drawn if suited (Ace-Jack-2). From my calculations, I do not think that you should x4 bet any inside straight until Jack-Ten-Nine.
So far I have not found any strategy differences between the four pay tables, surprisingly.
I can give anyone my code if they want to review it, message me, though I will warn you it is in JavaScript.
I think I will rewrite it in C or C++, which would allow me to verify my results - but this is probably something that will happen a couple months unless I have some substantial motivation before then. I'm guessing some employee at GLI already knows the true strategy, and if the strategy differs by pay table.
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Have you figured out when a player should fold?
Quote: harrisI didn't check but I assume the answer is "never", I can check that later.
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I can't imagine you wouldn't fold an unsuited 832
Expected Fold: -2
Quote: harrisExpected Play x1: -1.7915856444335365
Expected Fold: -2
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There's your problem. Fold = -1
This hand should be folded with the speed of summer lightning
Unless you consider the "total starting bet" to be equal to 1 unit, which I didn't in my code.
Quote: harrisHello math friends,
I did some work to find basic strategy.
First I found this document from Washington State which shows the four main pay tables and their house edges. I checked on this document and my earlier calculations for the side bets were completely correct... of course they were :)
I have been doing some calculations and I think that you should only raise on a pair of 6's or better.
I found out there are some that you should draw on some high non-outside straight draws but only if they are suited (like jack-10-8).
There are some others that should only be drawn if suited (Ace-Jack-2). From my calculations, I do not think that you should x4 bet any inside straight until Jack-Ten-Nine.
So far I have not found any strategy differences between the four pay tables, surprisingly.
I can give anyone my code if they want to review it, message me, though I will warn you it is in JavaScript.
I think I will rewrite it in C or C++, which would allow me to verify my results - but this is probably something that will happen a couple months unless I have some substantial motivation before then. I'm guessing some employee at GLI already knows the true strategy, and if the strategy differs by pay table.
link to original post
I have started evaluating Double Hook Poker and have realized something.
The optimal strategy for the "1X or 4X decision" depends only on the payout for the PLAY Bet. The payout tables for the Bonus bet are irrelevant to that decision because the size of the Bonus wager is unaffected by the decision to bet 4X on PLAY. The Ante Bet payout is also irrelevant to the "1X or 4X decision".
And the Play wager has the chintziest payout. It pays 1:1 on any winning bet, JJ pair or better, so there is no payout multiplier when you make two pair, or trips or straight or flush, and you lose with TT Pair or worse. And the Ante wager (which pushes on 66-TT pair) is also irrelevant to the strategy analysis of "1X or 4X".
The "Fold or 1x decision" does indeed depend on the Bonus Bet and Ante Bet payouts because the Fold action does fold all three bets. But because the optimal strategy appears to be "Never Fold" - well, the evaluation of Double Hook Poker basic strategy becomes rather simple.
First of all, you should always bet at least x1, but I used math to figure out when you should bet x4...
If you have a pair of sixes or better, bet x4
If you don't have suited cards, bet x4 if your cards look like one of these triplets:
-AKQ AKJ AKT AK9 AK8 AK7 AK6
-AQJ AQT AQ9 AQ8 AQ7 AQ6
-AJT
-KQJ KQT KQ9 KQ8 KQ7 KQ6
-KJT KJ9 KJ8 KJ7 KJ6
-QJT QJ9 QJ8 QJ7 QJ6
-JT9
If you have suited cards:
-If your highest card is an Ace, bet x4 if the second highest is a jack
-If your highest card is a King, bet x4 if you have King-Ten-Nine or higher
-If your highest card is a Queen, bet x4 if you have Queen-Nine-Eight or higher
-If your highest card is a Jack, bet x4 if you have Jack-Nine-Seven or higher (or Jack-Eight-Seven)
If anyone wants to check my work I would appreciate it, but I am fairly confident that I listed every exception.
If correct, from now on this strategy shall be known as the Harris Strategy :D
Oh while you're here...
I think hands like 663, 66K, 66T should be bet 1X not 4X - even though their EV for "BET PLAY =1X" is positive (greater than 0.)
Given that you are not going to fold, the "1X or 4X decision' affects only the payout on the PLAY Wager. But your PLAY wager is lost unless you have a pair of Jacks or better. So ending up with a medium pair 66 to TT causes you to lose your PLAY wager. Your 66 pair will indeed improve the payout expectation of the ANTE and BONUS bets however betting 4X on PLAY does not multiply/affect your payouts on ANTE or BONUS.
Harris, please do the following:
Please calculate the total return (or EV) for the hand 663 (or 66K) for these 3 decisions:
1. PLAY = 4x
2. PLAY = 1x
3. FOLD (return = -2)
Even though the total return for the 1X case may be positive, I believe that the total return for the 4X case will be less than the 1X case.
If you already have a pair of sixes, you cannot lose, all your bets will push at the very worst. So you should definitely bet 4x.
I think that the Nevada government's document about the game explains it pretty succinctly on the pay table.
Quote: harrisGordon,
If you already have a pair of sixes, you cannot lose, all your bets will push at the very worst. So you should definitely bet 4x.
I think that the Nevada government's document about the game explains it pretty succinctly on the pay table.
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#$@!^&(*#
You are correct. I read those rules you linked to and also re-checked the youtube video of the game.
I have done a lot of Double Hook analysis assuming that the PLAY bet lost on medium pairs and only paid out on pair of jacks or higher. Not sure how I got confused about that - PLAY bet psuhes on medium pairs.
Given the same paytable for ANTE and PLAY bets this becomes an easy (and boring) game to analyze. It's trivially obvious that medium pairs present zero risk of losing in this game so shove as many chips out as possible. In that regard it's the same as Mississippi Stud.
#$@!^&(*#
