I was associated with WinPoker for many years. It was, and is, a good product. Our breakup happened when Video Poker for Winners invited me along and promised to have a strategy calculator — a feature I think is important.

So I left WinPoker. I’ve remained on good terms with Dean Zamzow, the man in charge of all things related to WinPoker, but have no remaining financial interest in that product.

Still, Video Poker for Winners has terminated its run and will not be coming back. If it still works on your computer, great. When you change your computer, there will be no way to bring VPW along with you. So the best option for a lot of players is WinPoker (www.zamzone.com).

I received a question from somebody who was having difficulty adding Triple Double Bonus to WinPoker. There are two different methods to accomplish this, and I’ll describe both here.

One method is to use the base of Double Double Bonus Poker and treat it as a pay schedule change. Here are the pay schedule categories that are different between the games:

To enter these changes, go to the DDB game, click on ‘Options ?? Change Pay Tables,’ click on ‘Set to Default,’ and make the alterations. Then go to ‘Analyze ?? Game,’ click on ‘Run Analysis.’ If you’ve done everything correctly, the number should come out 99.5778%. If it comes out a different number, check to see that you’ve entered the numbers shown above.

Notice that you’ve done away with DDB, because you’ve set it to TDB. If you want to have both games on your computer at the same time you need to go to ‘User Defined Games.’

This will bring up a Jacks or Better game. Which is okay to start from. You’ll need to name the game. I recommend 9-7 Triple Double Bonus, or maybe 9-7 TDB, but if you want to call it Green Bananas, that’s perfectly okay.

Using User Defined Games is a longer, more tedious, method, but one that will keep the game on your computer and let you also practice DDB. The User Defined Games are found beneath the other games. Pick one. Now click on ‘Define . . .’

Jacks or Better has only one 4 of a Kind category. TDB has five. So you’re going to have to add four more lines. You do this by clicking on ‘Add Payline’ four times.   

You’re going to need to label these five 4 of a Kind lines. How you label them is up to you.  On each of these four additional lines, you’re going to set the Hand Type to ‘4 of a Kind.’ The Hand Type is already set that way on the 4 of a Kind line you retain from the Jacks or Better game.

For each of the five 4 of a Kind lines, you’re going to need to tell the computer which 4 of a Kinds you’re talking about, with which kickers, if any. Below is how I label these five lines and how I define them:

               Four Aces w 2, 3, 4                         800 1 coin           4000 Max Coins

                              Quads: A                  Kickers: 2, 3, 4

               Four Aces with 5-K                         160 1 coin           800 Max Coins

                              Quads: A                   Kickers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K

               Four 2s, 3s, 4s w A, 2, 3, 4            400 1 coin           2000 Max Coins

                              Quads: 2, 3, 4            Kickers A, 2, 3, 4

               Four 2s, 3s, 4s w 5-K                      80 1 coin             400 Max Coins

                              Quads 2, 3, 4              Kickers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K

               Four 5s – Ks                                      50 1 coin             250 Max Coins

                              Quads: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K        Kickers: All

Those are the only additional lines you’re going to need to add. Personally, I click on ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ buttons enough times so that the five lines for quads are all together. But mathematically it doesn’t matter.

You’re going to have to adjust the pay schedule in three additional places. Flush (change to 35), 3 of a Kind (change to 10) and Two Pair (change to 5).

Once you’ve entered all of these numbers, click on ‘OK.’ Then go to ‘Analyze ?? Game ?? Run Analysis’ and look for the same 99.5778% we were looking for before. If you get it right the first time, you’re amazing. I’ve done this for maybe 50 games through the years and have gotten about five completely correct the first time. I then re-check the numbers and the definitions, and eventually it becomes correct.

It’s a bit tedious, but it works. And it gets easier when you practice.