Casino Gaming Online: Live Dealer Texas Holdem

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Introduction to Live Texas Holdem Bonus Poker from Evolution

When you think of Texas Holdem, what comes to mind? Probably a group of players seated around a table, fiddling with their chip stacks, stoic poker faces revealing nothing of their underlying emotions. But there is another game of this nature known as Texas Holdem Bonus Poker, and anyone can play it, with or without a bluff-worthy poker face.

In its traditional format, Texas Holdem is a player-versus-player (PvP) gambling game; one wherein the players compete only against each other, and the casino profits by taking a commission, or rake, off the top of each pot. The Holdem Bonus Poker edition is more akin to every other casino-style amusement, where the player competes against a single house bank.

It didn’t take long for Texas Holdem Bonus Poker to catch on in land-based and online casinos. It became so popular, in fact, that everyone’s favorite Live Casino supplier, Evolution Gaming, chose to convert it into one of their award winning real-time streaming games. They call it Live Dealer Texas Holdem Bonus Poker.

Live Texas Holdem Bonus Poker by Evolution

The base game is incredibly similar to a normal Texas Holdem poker game. Hole cards, community cards and hand ranks are exactly the same. While other players can join in, you won’t have to worry about them. Much like blackjack, your only job is to beat the dealer’s hand to win. In that regard, it’s kind of like playing heads up poker – one on one against a single opponent.

Like any other house banked game, however, the casino always has an advantage over the player, no matter how slight. In this case, the rules give the house an edge of 2.04% on the Ante bet alone, 0.53% overall. Let’s take a closer look…

How to Play Live TX Holdem Bonus Poker

What draws most players to this game is the ability to increase ones bets when the cards are falling in your favor. It gives you the opportunity to control your own destiny in terms of situational hand value.

You start with an Ante bet (we’ll talk about optional side bets later). The dealer will then dealer two hole to the player and him/herself. The player’s hole cards are face up; the dealer’s face down. From here, you can either fold, forfeiting the ante bet, or play on, placing a Flop bet e1qual to 2x the ante.

After placing a Flop bet, the dealer will deal the first three community cards (the Flop). Next you can Check, placing no bet but staying in the hand, or place a Turn bet, equal to 1x the ante. The fourth community card (Turn) is played face up, followed by one last Check or bet – the River bet (1x ante).

At this point, the final River card is played. The dealer turns up their hole cards and both hands are compared. Each must come up with the best possible 5 card hand using any 5-card combination of the 7 cards available to them – these being their own two hole cards plus the five community cards.

Don’t worry, the computer will automatically generate the best possible hand for player and dealer. At this point, the two hands are compared, and the following win, loss and payout rules apply:

If…	Then…
Dealer wins	Player loses all Ante and Play bets.
Player wins	Player wins even money on Play bets (Flop, Turn, River); Ante is a push.
Player wins with Straight or better	Player wins even money on all Ante and Play bets.
Dealer and Player tie	All Ante and Play bets push.

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Live Dealer Texas Holdem Bonus Side Bets

Evolution’s live dealer Texas Holdem Bonus Poker comes with a pair of optional side bets known as the Bonus Bet and the First 5 Jackpot Bet. These wagers are entirely optional. They have no bearing on the base game, nor does the result of the base game have any bearing on the side bets. They can be won or lost irrespective of each other.

Bonus Side Bet

The Bonus bet is based on the player and/or dealer’s hole cards only. The best starting hands in Texas Hold’em are the ones you’re aiming for with this bet, including any pair, or any A with a Jack or better (A-A, A-K, A-Q, A-J), with suited hole cards paying more. You cannot combine the player and dealer cards. Either the player’s and/or dealer’s hand must match one of the winning hands shown in the pay table below.

Hole Cards	Payout
A-A, Player’s and Dealer’s Hand	1000 to 1
A-A, Player’s Hand Only	30 to 1
A-K, Suited	25 to 1
A-J or A-Q, Suited	20 to 1
A-K, Mixed Suits	15 to 1
J-J, Q-Q or K-K	10 to 1
A-J or A-Q, Mixed Suits	5 to 1
Any Pair 2-2 thru 10-10	3 to 1

First 5 Jackpot Side Bet

This $1 side bet carries a progressive jackpot, paying out to any hand of high enough rank. Only the player’s hand rank counts towards the First 5 Jackpot bet.

The jackpot grows with every First 5 side bet placed, and pays out 100% of its girth when a Royal Flush is dealt (assuming at least one player made the bet). Since all players are sharing the same hand, all players who have placed the bet will share in an equal portion of the total jackpot. A progressive counter display on the right of the screen will show exactly how much of the jackpot each player is privy to if a Royal Flush is dealt.

The following hand ranks and pay table apply.

Hole Cards	Payout
Royal Flush	100% of Jackpot
Straight Flush	2,500
4 of a Kind	250
Full House	50
Flush	25
Straight	10
3 of a Kind	3

Overall RTP

Each eligible bet within this game carries its own theoretical return to player. The Play bets have the highest return rate of 99.47%. The Ante bet only has an RTP of 97.96%, but is required in order to get the higher RTP on any Play bets.

The side bets are sucker bets, of course. The Bonus side bet will net you an RTP of 91.46%, equivalent to a house edge of 8.54%. If you think that’s bad, the First 5 Jackpot is far worse at 81.84% RTP (house edge 18.16%).

Don’t be fooled into making this bet. Many players feel the urge to place it, thinking the odds of winning at least a share of the jackpot will be so much higher with a large number of players participating, but it is nothing like the Bad Beat Jackpots on a traditional live Texas Holdem game (PvP). There is only one player hand being dealt – not one hand to each active player. The odds of a Royal Flush being dealt are still an incredibly low 1 in 43,316, no matter how many players are at the table.